Adaptive Strategies Blog

I just finished reading Beyond Price (Plantes and Finfrock) and was taken with their use of the term “value promise.” Now I’ve been banging around business for years and have often heard (and used) the term “value proposition.” Doesn’t replacing the word proposition with promise make this a much stronger statement? “Proposition” is nice and soft and full of good intentions. “Promise” is hard-nosed and goes way beyond good intentions.

Think about your internal and external customers. What have you promised them? Uncomforable with that quesiton? Maybe your services are not as good as you think they are. Go ahead, promise them something. I double-dog-dare-ya!!

Apple, a “computer company,” launched the iPod phenomenon by combining music and computers and consumer electronics. Sony, the icon of portable music in the 1980s and 1990s owned a computer company, a record company and a consumer electronics company. Why didn’t they see the potential that Apple saw?

What combinations of assets (skills, knowledge, products,etc) do you own that you should combine before a competitor does?