Every company has to have a strategy. Specifically, you need one that is effective and will create a buzz in the marketplace without the complexities and the numerous graphs. A successful strategy should create significant value and lead to sustained growth and returns, investor enthusiasm as well as customer fanaticism.
First and foremost, strategy should generate a unique value. This is especially important in crowded markets, where competition is widespread and the numerous choices can overwhelm the customers. A cutting-edge strategy demonstrates that the company is doing something special, different and suggests greatness.
Dell Computer created unique value incredibly well in the 1990s with their built-to-order product customization and direct-to-customer sales channel. As a result, they restructured conventional value propositions and chains that catapulted the company to a dominant role in the technology sector that has continued to the present day.
Not only should a strategy be unique but it should create new markets as well. In order to gain new customers in a marketplace where so many competitors are vying for each and every one, producing breakthrough value is essential. FedEx did this effectively with their overnight delivery, and have profited handsomely as a result. Cutting-edge strategies demonstrate value by leading markets and its consumers, instead of just responding to their current desires.
Strategies should create value by providing things that inspire excitement, intrigue and joy via exceptional functionality, design and execution. For example, Sony created the Playstation game system that was both incredibly electrifying and thrilling, and setting off a $20 billion computer game industry in the process.
Another aspect to consider with a strategy is that nowadays, it’s no longer about mass markets but instead “markets of one” as the principle value driver. Currently, Capital One has 29 million holders of its credit cards, and no two have the same terms. The company’s digital capacity allows it to canvass thousands of possible combinations instantaneously. For example, a person with a bad credit history and a fondness for fusion jazz will receive a card with an entirely different set of financial marketing arrangements apart from someone with a great credit history and a love for the Chicago Bulls.
Therefore, a cutting-edge strategy should center in constant innovation with a constant focus on the consumer’s needs. It should be unique and ahead of the current trends with all hands working together as strategic partners, possess on speed. When the management brass kindles and energizes this process, strategy becomes an agile, market-centered collaborative process that’s exciting and revs up everybody involved.