Craft your Competitive Positioning
Take a dualistic look at business with fresh eyes
Many swear by market research or similar in crafting future businesses. It is insufficient, because competitors have the same information. We need a “bigger hammer” to forge some real competitive edge.
Matthews promotes a dualistic view, constantly swapping the viewpoint from business concerns to technology, and vice versa: “What kind of business are we in?”, “How can we create added value and keep our customers?”, “How is competition changing and how does it affect technology?”and so on.
The objective is to gain an understanding of the external and internal business environment, and to get ready for the critical challenges.
KANNUS™ helps to define
- critical must-win and cannot-lose issues
- market position over a five-year span
- technological competence after five years
- success factors to reach the objective
Many advise on how business and technology strategies should run in parallel. It is seldom enough; the strategies should be intertwined, affecting each other in a recursive manner.
What for KANNUS?
Kannus (also arpakannus or arpa) was a ceremonial drum used by the shamans in Lapland, northern Finland, for fortune-telling.