Business Strategy Formulation: Theory, Process, and the Intellectual Revolution

As the dominant paradigm of economic activity is shifting to a focus on creating customer value, it is becoming increasingly clear that companies must be able to formulate business strategies, product and service strategies and internal operating strategies that accelerate the creation and delivery of customer value. The ability to create value has become the primary source of sustainable competitive strength. With this book, Ulwick introduces a strategy formulation theory and process that allows firms to create strategies that consistently produce breakthrough results. The application of advanced modeling and pattern detection techniques commonly reserved for physics and the behavioral sciences is used in both the design of the theory and in the process it initiates; its application can result in strategies and solutions that delivery up to ten times more value than those created with traditional methods. It is a process that can be broadly applied across an organization and a wide range of subjects or missions. Ulwick describes Outcome-Based Logic, which can transform organizational dynamics and the way an organization approaches the process of strategy formulation, and proposes a Universal Strategy Formulation Model which defines the four essential elements of strategy creation: desired outcomes, constraints, the desired competitive position, and solutions. Using this model, it becomes possible for an organization to first choose its desired competitive position and then work to uncover the strategy or solution that will enable it to occupy that position. The book also introduces a process called the Customer-Driven Mission Achievement Process (CD-MAP), now successfully used by many large companies to formulate and assess strategies at every organizational level of their organizations. This book, steeped in modern business theory and backed by years of practical experience, will help practitioners in any company improve their operations and their competitive position. Orginally published in hardcover by Quorum in 1999