Understanding Michael Porter

CHAPTER 4

Creating Value:

The Core

STRATEGY’S FIRST TEST, HAVING a distinctive value proposition, is so intuitive that many managers think they have a strategy if they can get this far. Choosing the particular kind of value you will offer your customers is the core of competing to be unique. But recall the definition of competitive advantage: a difference in relative price or relative costs that arises because of differences in the activities being performed. Your value chain must be specifically tailored to deliver your value proposition. A value proposition that can be effectively delivered without a tailored value chain will not produce a sustainable ...