In the commercial world, there is a constantly competitive environment. The game is ongoing, without the predictability expected from physical systems. Being able to play the game effectively requires very good judgment, under conditions of limited knowledge. Every business has its own rules, sometimes to be observed and sometimes to be consciously broken, but always to be known. It may be convenient to go with the conventional wisdom in an industry concerning margin structures and commissions, or elect to come in as the innovator in this area and upset long standing arrangements, but the consequences of actions must be known. Every business area has its stars, those who continue to do better than other companies, with the performance usually being accounted for by numerous areas of attention to detail. Hence, when entering an established industry, investors will usually place a premium on the detailed commercial industry knowledge that it likely to be possessed by the executive who has had successful profit and loss responsibility for a division or a business in the area. When entering a new business or seeking to upset the applecart in an established business, then of course the skill set can be quite different. The office superstore industry in the United States was, for example, started by executives from the supermarket industry, using these skills to revolutionise an established industry with new business models.

Inspec keywords: knowledge management; organisational aspects; human resource management

Other keywords: commercial judgment; commercial industry knowledge; leadership; margin structures; supermarket industry; office superstore industry; competitive environment

Subjects: Organisational aspects