I have had several interesting opportunities working in industries that have business units selling products and services that become extremely commoditized.  I am defining “extremely commoditized” as a situation where there are four or more competitors owning at least 80% of the market with a current average selling price that has decreased for 8 consecutive quarters. These industries include base chemicals, generic pharmaceuticals, and software-as-a-service (Saas).  In each of the engagements, we have been working with managers to develop business leadership and business acumen skills that will help participants to make better business decisions and lead their teams and companies to success.

Setting and flawlessly executing a business strategy is extremely difficult under the best of circumstances; it’s even harder and perhaps close to impossible if your business is having a crisis. Over the past few years, hundreds of companies have experienced some sort of business-related crisis that has impacted their brand equity, including Chrysler, Toyota, Taco Bell, Jet Blue, Apple, and FIFA.

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.