Thinkers 50 Strategy: The Art and Science of Strategy Creation and Execution

CHAPTER2

Understanding Competitive Advantage

What makes some companies successful while apparently similar companies fail? How do you achieve long-term success? In the 1970s these were questions that taxed corporate executives, yet no one had a persuasive or authoritative answer. In the past, technological innovation—mastering mass production, for example—management science, exemplary leadership, and rearrangement of organizational structures all conferred temporary advantage on companies. Yet there was no systematic decoding of the strategies that delivered competitive success.

In the 1960s strategists were predominantly planners, attempting to map out routes to a prosperous future, often many years ahead. Igor Ansoff and a small number of other ...