Many companies never stop and reflect on what makes them great. So most of them exist in continuous improvement (”we need to be better”) or continuous arrogance (”we are the best”). In my years of consulting the answer to the question “what is it you really do well?” always astounded me. But not as much as the silence I got or the “not so sure”. Companies that win really go beyond empty mission statements to actually sharing their operating models with the world stating this is how we work and what we do well.
Answerthink publishes their business model on their website. Nike is famous for organizing strategic supplier summits and saying “this is our strategy help us execute better”. They know what they do well (design, marketing) and what others should do better (manufacturing, supply chain).
Maybe it is the decade in Silicon Valley that makes me believe that competition is the warfare of business models and not products and services.
Anyone venturing into business should know their business model cold. There is a fascinating study from University of Pennsylvania called Business Model Warfare on how companies create and sustain market leadership. Very interesting read.
GE Healthcare CEO, Joe Hogan recently published their strategic direction. This should be on example to all CEOs on clarity of vision and eloquence of communication.
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