Woolworths Australia

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

Primary Evidence

"Again, Heatley reached for the phone. He got through to George Roberts, one of the world’s foremost names in leveraged buyouts. The pair had never met, but Heatley said he would like to fly to Roberts’ San Francisco office and sit down with him to talk about the possibility of Rainbow buying a stake in Woolworths Australia. Roberts agreed but told Heatley he could promise him only 10 minutes. He was polite but not encouraging. ‘If you want to come all this way, well, okay.’ Then he added, ‘I wouldn’t make the trip if I were you.’"

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

"For Rainbow, the pleasure of sealing the Woolworths Australia deal masked an ominous downside. Brierley’s had gone after the same 20 per cent stake for which Rainbow had successfully bid. Via its Australian investment arm, Industrial Equity Ltd, BIL already owned 20 per cent of Woolworths and was keen to increase its stake in the Australian supermarket chain. So soon after BIL had been forced to pay more for Rothmans than it had expected, Rainbow had again irked its bigger competitor by getting in the way of a deal that Brierley’s thought it should have clinched. Whether or not Heatley and Lane were aware of it at the time, their Woolworths purchase turned Rainbow into a Brierley’s target."

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

Appears In Volumes

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