Whether you’re a fan of Martha Stewart or not, you have to admit that she knows how to survive. When accused of insider trading, she didn’t wait for it to blow over. Instead, she set up a web site and put ads in newspapers to fight the charges.

In the summer of 2002, spurred by the desire for a homey, neighborhood haven after Sept. 11, the techno songwriter, musician and singer Moby opened a tea shop in lower Manhattan. With his ex-girlfriend as his business partner, Moby saw a niche for a teahouse that was neither English nor Asian, but American.

Your competitors can really help you a lot if you study them strategically, according to marketing consultant Donald Sexton. How well can you answer these four questions?

If your business is based, at least in part, on providing information or advice to clients, consider a tactic that’s making a mint for executive coaches: regular call-in hours.

Back when Bill Gates headed Microsoft, he served as the master strategist while Steve Ballmer worked as the tactical field marshal.

Ever been served by someone who couldn’t care less? Sure you have.

You’ve heard from the Silicon Valley crowd that leaders move fast, and you’ve heard from the Slow Leadership people that leaders move deliberately. Which is it?

Earlier this year, Howard Schultz, top dog at coffeehouse megachain Starbucks, sent a memo to his executives warning that the company’s growth had moved it too far from its core business: coffee.

It’s a rare bird who can both save a dying company and make it grow.

All successful organizations innovate. Otherwise, how could they survive? Yet winning organizations usually have one innovation that is especially visible:

Office-furniture manufacturer Steelcase recently suffered a few low-profit years. Even during that lean period, though, the company’s designers created many award-winning designs.

You sometimes can succeed in business by avoiding competition and swimming for “blue oceans”: new areas of endeavor where competitors are scarce.

Will customers benefit from your obsession with details? You bet.

It’s hard enough staying close to customers, but who would want to cozy up to their enemies?

It’s a savvy — and growing — marketing tactic: Hold short classes or workshops to draw customers to your business. By providing customers the tools they need to make smart decisions, you can build loyalty and your reputation, and attract new and steady customers to your goods or services.

As a child, Potter Palmer worked at his father’s dry goods store in a New York village, learning to set up displays and chat up customers. He loved to sell. He dreamed big. Palmer struck out for Chicago with a $3,000 family loan. This was his chance. To take advantage of it, Palmer tried strange new things:

Joe Horn, who co-founded Horn & Hardart automats in New York and Philadelphia, followed a simple philosophy that kept his restaurants full during the bleak Depression years: “Give people the highest possible quality at the lowest possible price.”

Many leaders are so busy with daily tasks that they fail to keep abreast of industry events and trends. Use these three tactics to keep that from happening to you:

It reached fever pitch during the dot-com boom, but it’s still true: Whatever advantage you have, someone will take it. So, keep moving … fast.

When clothing retailer Sy Syms founded Syms in 1959, he gained a competitive edge simply by doing things sooner than his competitors.

Cut through the fog of innovation by following these five principles to bring new products and services to market:

It happens all the time: One of your best clients or a prospective customer asks for a free product or service. You can either adopt an ironclad, no-freebie policy, or use the request to build business and good will.

Turn customer testimonies into compelling stories by including more than information about discounts, prices and how well a product or service works.

Many people say that you make real progress only by taking risks. But how about selling really risky ideas? Is it worth it?

Stay ahead of the competition by discarding the old rule of success