Dr. Uditha Liyanage

Differentiate or Die

See

Do

Get

• What is Differentiation?

• What is the nexus between S &

D?

• What is Strategy?

Triple Forci

• Competing to be the Best

What’s Not Strategy

• Strategy as Actiono “Our strategy is to merge…” o “… double our R & D spend”

• Strategy as Vision

• Strategy as Mission

o “Our strategy is to be no. 1”o “… to provide superior returns to s/h.”

o “Our strategy is to provide superior products ..”o “… to advance technology for mankind”

• Strategy as Standing ?

Then, what’s Strategy

• Strategy as Steps ?

Strategy as Stand

o “Stand as a Strategic Position taken by an organization on and in an industry/market”.

o Stand tells you, “who you are” and “what you stand for”.

“It is vital that you first define “who you want to be”, before you figure out “where you want to go.”

Because, the latter depends on the former and not vice versa.

Stand

Steps

Standin

g

o In turbulent times, no “deliberate” steps. Only “emergent” steps.

o The need for Complex Adaptive Systems.

o Emergent Steps. All the more reason for a clear Stand.

• Sri Lanka Tourism

• Singer Sri Lanka

Let’s Take …

• Sri Lanka Apparel

• Standing :

• Steps :

One Million tourists by 2012

X program for UK

Y program for India

Z program for …….

• Stand ? :

“Land like no other”

A land like no other …..

o To have ?

o To do ?

o To relate ?

o To see ?

o To be ?

• “being-seeing” compact

• To “be and see”

• Authentic “being-seeing”

• It’s in Asia

• It’s an Island

“Asia’s authentic being-seeing compact island”.

• Six key words that articulate

the Stand of SLT

• Why “Asia” and “Island” ?

• Taking a Position on the market.

So, in essence, strategy is about taking a stand –

a unique stand.

It is also about what you do NOT stand for.

Strategic position and trade-off’s.

Now, what is Differentiation and, what is its nexus with your Stand?

Strategy Differentiatio

n= =Unique

Stand

So, what exactly is Differentiation ?

First, what is not differentiation ?

• Differentiation is Not …

• Operational Effectiveness

• “Doing the same things better”

• C2 > C1

• C2 has CA over C1

• But, C2 is not differentiated from C1

Differentiation vs. Superiority

KPD C2 C1

Z

X

Y

8 10

7 9

6 7

• Better

Differentiation is not about being …

• Different“Differentiation is not doing the same things better”.

But, it is all about being …

• Best practice

Good but not quite!

• Benchmarking

• Outsourcing

• TQM

• Six zigma

o Competitive Convergence

o Zero-sum Competition

• CI

Productivity Frontier (Best practice)

Valu

e

Deliv

ere

d

Relative Cost Position

High

Low High

Low

(Porter, 1996)

Differentiation is Not …

• Operational Effectiveness

“Doing the same things faster and cheaper”

• Operational Efficiency ?

Operational E1 x E2

Operational (Value) Effectiveness (Being better)

(Cost) Efficiency (Being cheaper)

Differentiation and its “sweet spot”

Company Capability

Customer NeedsCompetitor

Offerings

“Differentiation is about doing

different things and/or doing things

differently, and not doing the same

things better, faster and cheaper”.

In Sum

Thank you!