This year will be different from 2010. The need to respond to the residual effects of the crisis is forcing many companies to hit the reset button. With renewed discipline, senior leaders are examining their product and service portfolios, business and operating models, process fitness, and cost structure - focusing on what truly creates value for their companies and  customers. They are figuring out where their companies can excel, based on their distinct capabilities: the things they do better than anyone else. They are using those capabilities to go after opportunities in areas where they know they can win, and scaling back the products and services in areas where they can't.

The companies that succeed will also work vigilantly to identify and mitigate the risks - to their supply chains, sources of capital or credit, currency strategies, reputations, regulatory compliance, and so on - that could potentially derail their path forward. And they will proceed with a new, hard-earned understanding that their fortunes - and those of their employees, customers, investors and other stakeholders - are irrevocably linked with those in other industries and around the globe.

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