Notwithstanding all the carefully plotted doctoral dissertations, countless hours of research, and contentious discussions among serious management thinkers, strategy boils down to three fundamental questions: First, how can you differentiate yourself from the competition in the way you create value? Second, what capabilities do you have that are distinct from those of your rivals and essential to your particular way of creating value? Third, what businesses should you be in, and what products and services should you offer, given your chosen approach to creating value and your particular set of distinctive capabilities?
Most companies fail to fully answer these questions—particularly in a fashion that views them as an integral whole. This leaves leaders without guideposts to navigate the most pivotal challenges of corporate management, including transformation, change, agility, and invention. As a result, instead of growth and innovation, there is only incoherence and inefficiency.
Click to Add the First »