RGM

Guerrilla strategies - 2009 version

Many fans of our work together have heard my colleague Ian MacMillan talk about an entrepreneurial business he was involved with in his younger years as a perfect example of a ‘guerrilla’ strategy.  Guerrilla strategies imply that you have a defensible market niche that you can exploit, which other organizations would find difficult to address, or inappropriate for them to address.  In Mac’s case, his entrepreneurial business was a travel company catering to people who get a thrill from taking risks—danger seekers, in other words.  Great customers, except that they suffered from modest attrition rates.  Mac’s not been involved with the business for some time, but the instincts are still there.

I had to smile when he sent me a news clip about a brand-new entreprenuerial venture that could have come right out of his playbook.

“Dammit,” he said to me, “we missed this one in our travel company”.

Here’s the concept, reported by the Austrian Times:

Pirate hunting cruise

Luxury ocean liners in Russia are offering pirate hunting cruises aboard armed to the teeth private yachts off the Somali coast, it emerged today (Weds).

Wealthy punters pay 3,500 GBP per day each to patrol the most dangerous waters in the world hoping to be attacked by raiders so they can let fly with grenade launchers, machine guns and rocket launchers, reports Austrian business paper Wirtschaftsblatt.

Extras include an AK-47 machine gun for 5 GBP a day and 100 rounds of ammo for just 7 GBP while passengers are protected by a squad of ex special forces troops.

Austrian Times

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• Posted: Sunday, July 19, 2009
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