Competing on the Edge: Strategy as Structured Chaos

The perspective outlined in the book “Competing on the Edge” by Shona L. Brown and Kathleen M. Eisenhardt proposes a new approach to developing, monitoring and quickly adjusting business strategies in order to stay current in today’s market and the future market conditions. This approach to describing “strategy” seems the most realistic as it is applied inside the current pace of business compared to many strategic frameworks of the past.

The framework outlined provides a planning and decision making approach and best practices. The framework is purposed to support managers to successfully compete in the world of rapidly changing pace and market dynamics. Older decision making models for managers were highly dependent on historical views.

The model outlined identifies the focus areas that a manager needs to be vigilant and deleverage in order to fully optimize their business opportunities over time. The ten laws outlined are most valuable in outlining a new way of managing and optimizing any given business strategy across a competitive timeline.

The Ten Laws of Competing on the Edge

Strategy:

Rule 1: Advantage is Temporary – Treat any strategy as temporary therefore it is important to continuously generate new sources of advantage. This perspective respects change as an opportunity, not a threat.

Rule 2: Strategy is Diverse, Emergent, and complicated – Rely on diversity in any strategic series of moves in a semi-coherent direction. Strategy emerges for managers who can compete on the edge.

Rule 3: Reinvention is the Goal – Opportunities to reinvent businesses is a good first place to start when seeking new sources of advantage. An emphasis on reinvention evidences in performance measures that track the sales of innovative products.

Organization:

Rule 4: Live in the Present – Today’s launches, performance, orders and bookings matter the most. A focus on managing today is to maximize minimum structure. Managers employ just enough structure to keep things from flying apart, keep the business poised for change, and keep teams aware of unfolding new opportunities.

Rule 5: Stretch out the Past – Learning from the past is critical as well as leveraging longer time frames by keeping products in the market longer, exploiting derivative products and extending offerings into new geographies or customer segments.

Rule 6: Reach into the future – Reaching into the future involves more experimental products and services, creating more strategic alliances, nascent markets and technologies, and include futurists on their teams.

Rule 7: Time Pace Change – Very aware managers understand best how to pace their businesses. Pace is distinct from speed. A rhythm and tempo regarding the number of products or services launched in any given year is also critical to optimizing metrics.

Leadership:

Rule 8: Grow the Strategy – Organic growth, pruning and revamping product lines are also an area of strategic focus. Setting priorities, major responsibilities, and operating measures becomes core to understanding that strategies will be successful.

Rule 9: Drive Strategy from the Business Level – The two key questions that represent core planning conversations include these; “Where do you want to go?” and “How are you going to get there?” Best practices in high velocity markets show that strategy cannot be driven top down because to much changes too fast. Success comes from skilled, fast, and agile moves at the business level.

Rule 10: Re-patch Businesses to Markets and Articulate the Whole – In the rapidly changing world we know, market opportunities come and go, collide and divide, and merge and morph. Continuously realigning businesses with emerging opportunities and articulating and occasionally shaping emergent strategy are best practice for senior managers.

Reference: Competing on the Edge; Strategy as Structured Chaos, Shona L. Brown, Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, Harvard Business School Press, 1998.