Playing to Win
How Strategy Really Works
David Ogilvy remarked: ‘Without a strategy you don’t know where you go, without an idea you will not get there’.
Strategy is an integrated set of choices that uniquely positions the firm in its industry so as to create sustainable advantage and superior value relative to the competition. Strategy is about making 5 key choices:
What is our winning aspiration?
Guiding purpose of the enterprise, its motivating aspiration
Where will we play?
A playfield where you can achieve that aspiration
How will we win?
The way you will win on the chosen playfield
What capacities must we have?
Key activities and competencies that create a competitive advantage. A set and configuration of capabilities required to win in the chosen way
What management systems are required?
Systems measuring structures that enable the capability and support the choices
