Rainbow Corp

Strategic Concepts & Mechanics

Relationship LeveragePay Consultants to Open Doors

Signature MoveGood Cop While Gibbs Plays Bad Cop

Competitive AdvantageMonopoly Infrastructure as Chokepoint

Capital StrategyHidden Cost of Frivolous Spending

Cornerstone MoveSell Before the Floor, Buy the Next Thing

Signature MoveNever Consider Failure as a Possible Outcome

Risk DoctrineBrierley's Bluff-Bid Brinkmanship Lesson

Cornerstone MovePhone Call to the Top, Then Show Up Anyway

Signature MoveStagger Contracts to Break Supplier Cartels

Cornerstone MoveExclusive Rights as Subscriber Magnet

Signature MoveResign from Everything When Time Becomes the Priority

Signature MoveCut-Throat Competition Even at the Dinner Table

Decision FrameworkRide Winners, Cut Losers at Ten Percent

Identity & CulturePhone Stops Ringing Test of Friendship

Strategic PatternState Broadcaster Arrogance as Opening

Operating PrincipleLucky Timing as Honest Accounting

Capital StrategySubscriber Economics Over Advertising

Risk DoctrineAnimal Intuition to Exit

Identity & CultureFree Market Conviction from Regulation Experience

Strategic PatternDiscontinuity Hunting as Core Strategy

Competitive AdvantageStructural Value Recognition Over Market Timing

Cornerstone MovePrivatization Partnership Arbitrage

Capital StrategyIntellectual Freedom Through Financial Independence

Signature MoveWalk Away as Negotiation Weapon

Signature MoveCash Preservation as Freedom Doctrine

Cornerstone MoveZero-Money Leveraged Takeovers

Signature MoveHands-Off Management Through Trusted Operators

Relationship LeverageRelationship Leverage in Government Asset Sales

Operating PrincipleManagement Avoidance as Operational Principle

Signature MoveSingle A4 Sheet Analysis

Risk DoctrineRisk Elimination Over Risk Taking

Decision FrameworkPsychology Over Numbers in Deals

Signature MovePartner Selection Over Capital

Primary Evidence

"While the corporate battle was deadly serious for Rainbow and BIL, it was entertaining to others. ‘Obviously there is little love lost between those daring Kiwi corporate raiders Craig Heatley of Rainbow Corp and BIL top banana Paul Collins,’ *The Sydney Morning Herald*’s CBD column opined on 26 March. ‘The two are locked in mortal combat over NZ retailer Progressive Enterprises, a battle which could prove costly to the loser. Collins claims that Progressive shares are worth twice as much as Rainbow shares (Rainbow is offering one share for each Progressive) while Heatley dismisses as “absolute bulldust” allegations attributed to Collins to the effect that Rainbow is about to fall in a heap.’[8](private://read/01jectdbce729daxqkxt7cbe8r/#mn13)"

Source:No Limits: How Craig Heatley Became a Top New Zealand Entrepreneur

"But if that wasn’t enough, 1990 had also brought Gibbs another wonderful business opportunity. Earlier in the year he’d taken a call from Craig Heatley inviting him and Trevor Farmer to invest in Sky Television, his latest business venture. Heatley, 34, had been one of the stars of the 1980s, having started out with a mini-golf course on Tamaki Drive. By 1987 his public company, Rainbow Corp, controlled 55 per cent of New Zealand’s supermarket trade through Progressive Enterprises, 20 per cent of Woolworths in Australia and significant property investments. Cannily he’d sold the business to Brierleys a few months before the stock market crash of October 1987.[28](private://read/01jrsfvkjy84rkprtbz9amfvj8/#rw-num-note-477273-050103421-28) Casting about for something to do in 1988, he started talking to someone who had a horse racing television channel in Australia called Sky. At that time, he was on Brierley’s board and they owned Dominion Breweries. He came up with the idea of having a horse racing channel exclusively in DB pubs. When his Brierley colleagues passed on the opportunity, he followed it up personally."

Source:Serious Fun

Appears In Volumes

No Limits: How Craig Heatley Became a Top New Zealand Entrepreneur Serious Fun