“Differentiation is the essence of strategy, the prime source of competitive advantage. You earn [revenue and marketshare] not just by performing a valuable task [or service] but by being different from your competitors in a manner that lets you serve your core customers better and more profitably.”
“The sharper your differentiation, the greater your advantage.”
“Every industry has leaders and laggards, and the leaders are typically the most highly differentiated.”
These words were written by Chris Zook and James Allen in an excellent article published in the November, 2011 Harvard Business Review. The article is titled, The Great Repeatable Business Model: leveraging a simple formula allows corporations to create new and more-lasting differentiation.
The article provides excellent food-for-thought, as well as excellent suggestions for action and execution, regarding the critically important strategy of differentiation.
This article would make an excellent discussion document for a board and/or senior leadership retreat or focused discussion. The article proves, without a shadow of doubt, the short and long-term importance and positive results of differentiation. The authors discuss the sources of differentiation, growth based differentiation, and supporting and reinforcing differentiation principles and culture via nonnegotiable principles and robust learning systems.
This is an excellent article that is relevant to every healthcare leader in America – and around the world.
Read the article, found in the November 2011 issue of Harvard Business Review, pages 107-114, or by clicking here. Distribute the article to your team. Lead a discussion of the article with your team. If you and your team are serious, you cannot help but learn and gain from this excellent and highly relevant article.
