In most of Advantexe's business acumen skill development and business leadership engagements, we discuss several strategic frameworks for building a strategy and assessing markets. One of the frameworks we share is the Discipline of Market Leaders proposed by Treacy and Wiersema in their book by the same name. The core of this framework suggests that there are really only three different strategic approaches to business – Product Leadership, Customer Intimacy, and Operational Excellence. According to Treacy and Wiersema, choosing one of these value propositions and creating organizational alignment and focus through flawless execution is the key to success.

Our Subject Matter Expert (SME) was ten minutes early to our interview and sat quietly outside our room until exactly 2PM.  Of the 15 interviews we conducted as part of the design of a new state-of-the-art Senior Manager Development program, he was the only person who was early.  He came in, exchanged pleasantries, and sat confidently with a presence in the comfortable chair.  Although his face showed signs of some weathering, and his beard was more grey than dark, there was a young, energetic gleam in his eyes.

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there…”

In the game-changing business strategy book The Discipline of Market Leaders, Michael Tracey and Fred Wiersema present the concept that the best business organizations in the world choose one of three value propositions to their customers and execute it flawlessly in order to successfully compete in their market / industry.

Over the past week, India, China, and the United States have all reported their current and forecasted economic growth rates and business leaders are trying to determine the business impacts for the both the short and long runs.