Strategy used to be about protecting your existing competitive advantage. Today, it's about finding the next advantage. Strategy starts to decay the moment it's created. That's why corporations must develop strategies that address tomorrow's business realities. Strategic actions that companies take belong in one of three boxes:

Box 1 = managing the present
Box 2 = selectively abandoning the past
Box 3 = creating the future

The first box is about improving your current businesses. Boxes 2 and 3 are about innovation, breakout performance, and growth. Most organizations restrict their strategic thinking to Box 1...

In some ways, to understand these three boxes is to understand Hinduism . Though the Hindu religion recognizes 330 million gods, there are only three main Hindu deities: Vishnu, the god of preservation; Shiva, the god of destruction; and Brahma, the god of creation. The correspondence between the three boxes and the three Hindu gods is clear...

According to Hindu philosophy, preservation-destruction-creation is a continuous cycle without a beginning or an end. The three gods play an equally important role in all three phases of that process.

I found this recent HBR blog post by Vijay Govindarain wonderful and fascinating.

Over the years, much has been made of the link between religion, culture, and economic success. However, most of this has focused on the West and, specifically, the U.S.

From de Toqueville to Weber, scholars have praised the Protestant Work Ethic and Americans' proclivity toward self-help and civic engagement. While these may in fact contribute to the U.S.'s economic success, they are far from the full list of necessary and sufficient conditions for growth.

The post above sheds light on the fact that a range of cultural factors can contribute to economic growth. Some societies will score higher on certain elements while other societies will benefit from a special advantage in other areas.

All in all, a fascinating and important idea.

Relative to my previous post, the "demographic dividend" is the idea that underlies the theory that India's economic expansion has barely begun. Looks like Sub-Saharan Africa also holds major potential, though it surely lags well behind India in terms of governance, health, education, and infrastructure.