Beyond Strategy: Configuration as a Pillar of Competitive Advantage

內容大綱
One company can copy another's strategy, reverse engineer its technology, or benchmark its systems. But it cannot duplicate the way strategy, systems, technology, and processes are configured into a synergetic whole. Competitive advantage results from a powerful unifying focus that pulls together the company's core mission and the systems and structures that support the core. Marshall Industries provides an excellent case study of how a company achieved a compelling configuration that goes beyond strategy. Three prototypes of effective configurations are suggested: the pioneer, the salesman, and the craftsman (specific firms illustrate these prototypes). Ideally, a configuration demonstrates consistent emphases: across mission, means, and market; in support systems that direct attitudes and attention; in the prioritization of resources; and in the directing of effort, motivation, and influence. But configuration can be excessive; symptoms of this include too much attention to a single narrow goal and failure to reexamine assumptions and methods. A good configuration permits periodic reassessment and provides the means for renewal and revision. A suggested "configuration audit" is offered as a guide to managers.
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