Articles published in academic journals are rich in research that can be invaluable for business management, operations, and strategy. But managers often consider the publications to be too theoretical and impractical. This note can help business practitioners how to approach academic articles and quickly extract relevant information they can apply in their decision-making to benefit their organization.

The culture-strategy-execution framework, known as the Trio Model, offers organizations a powerful, adaptive approach to navigating today's complicated global issues. By considering culture as an integral part of strategic thinking, executives and practitioners adopting the model can take a holistic approach to solving practical problems.

The diamond framework can be used to develop strategies in multibusiness enterprises at all organizational levels and across markets or products. This note demonstrates how the framework yields insights that managers and executives need in order to make critical strategic decisions. The power of a single integrated approach lies in its transformative ability to unite a firm with one template based on a common language and shared lexicon.

Nearly every dollar Bill and Elaine Jardine had earned over the previous decade had been invested in their farm and warehouse. They had spent more than $150,000 in land and equipment. And they had sunk into their business, Quail Cove Farms, immeasurable amounts of what Bill Jardine considered to be their biggest asset: their labor. They had lost nearly everything. Now, the couple had some soul-searching to do. The Jardines gave hard thought to which direction they wanted to go-if, for that matter, they even had a choice. What was the value, now, of the sweat equity they had gained from pursuing a dream of organic farming?

This case continues the story of Bill and Elaine Jardine from "Quail Cove Farms (A): One Night and a Big Decision." The Jardines, having moved into distribution, now face two decisions. First, they must evaluate whether they should continue to pursue each of their three channels of business (farming, retail sales, and distribution); second, they need to decide if they should shift their sales and marketing efforts to the internet with the help of an employee, Becca Williams.

Now in his mid-40s, Tom Bandy was not a novice entrepreneur. He was a veteran of the IT revolution two decades earlier. He had started a company after college that successfully exploited a market niche in database management. But by his late 30s, he had lost the business. Now he was ready to launch a new business. And guided by experience, he had some thoughts about how to finance it.

Marjorie Burnett knew she was taking a gamble and wondered whether the potential new business she was considering would be worth the investment. Was expansion-offering even more products-the answer to increasing revenue, and would that decision be more profitable than her present business?