Strategy in a world of overlapping disruptions
How leaders can make sharper choices on where to compete, where to invest and what to stop when multiple structural shifts hit at once.
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Business strategy
Define business strategy through rigorous choices on growth, positioning, portfolios, resources and execution.
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Articles
Designing the next business model before the current one plateaus
How companies can identify new value pools and build business models that combine differentiated customer value with scalable economics.
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What still deserves to be saved?
Recovery becomes possible when management distinguishes valuable businesses and capabilities from activities preserved mainly through history or optimism.
What has to be true for this business to work?
The most useful venture plan identifies the small number of assumptions whose failure would make the opportunity economically or strategically unattractive.
Strategic challenges
Growth changes the business before it proves the business
Hiring, infrastructure and market expansion can institutionalise assumptions that were never properly tested at smaller scale.
Business models fail through interactions, not isolated components
Pricing, channels, delivery and cost structure can each appear rational while producing unattractive economics when combined.
POV
Scaling is not the reward for growth
Scale should follow evidence that the underlying system becomes stronger, not merely larger, as customers and complexity increase.
Trying to appeal to everyone usually weakens the proposition
Consumer strategy becomes stronger when the business is explicit about which needs it will serve exceptionally well and which it will not.
Strategic impact
Changing the revenue model changes the business
Moving from transactions to subscriptions or outcomes affects cash flow, risk, capabilities and customer relationships far beyond pricing.
The strongest move may change the game
Competitive strategy can create more value by altering customer choice, economics or market structure than by outperforming rivals on established terms.
What we observe
Companies often confuse uniqueness with relevance
We frequently see businesses emphasise differences customers can recognise but have little reason to value or pay for.
Strategic portfolios rarely stop enough work
We frequently see new priorities added without removing initiatives whose original rationale has weakened or disappeared.