Why do companies fail to execute against their strategy? Key reasons include a 1) a lack of a specific implementation plan with clear owners, milestones, and KPIs, 2) a knowledge gap between the strategy and implementation teams, 3) politics that create the illusion of a zero-sum game, 4) an unwillingness to take risks in the spirit of self-preservation and 5) being bound by conventional, outdated thinking. Companies who fall victim to one or more of these issues often end up mortgaging away their future. There are a number of ways to solve for these issues, but here are a few steps to help you begin to bridge the strategy-execution gap...
Sustaining profitable growth over the long-term is challenging in both product and service markets. Why? Because, over the long-term, markets move towards commoditization as the “best” products and services gain traction and individual competitors do their best to mimic the clear front-runners. As they look to shake off stagnation or actual declines in their share, companies face two choices. The first is competing on price. The second is pursuit of additional clear points of differentiation....
New product and service commercialization efforts fail all the time. Companies get excited about innovation opportunities, become focused on somewhat arbitrary milestones they want to hit and believe internal knowledge (which there tends to be a lot of) is substantial enough to navigate the market. They rush to get a product to market - one doomed from the start. To avoid similar missteps, it is imperative that you pause early in the process and consider the following four things first. You need to make sure that your product solves an actual need, occupies a meaningful position within the market, has a solid and achievable plan and goals, and that you identify the means to evangelize lead customers...
The biggest reason for product failure tends to be lack of customer and market-centricity. Said differently, companies often excel at building technically competent products and services but fail to do so in the context of what the market actually values. We see this time-and-again, including in instances where we are called on to diagnose and course-correct failed new product and service introductions. While such course-correction is often possible, it is a far more complex and challenging solution than integrating rigorous product and market testing into the development cycle...
