The short answer is, “yes” and even more so if you expect to be in business for a long time.

Taking the definition from an earlier blog post, let’s define strategy again.

According to Porter, “The essence of strategy is choosing to perform activities differently than rivals do”

Consider a chess match (or any game). If you use the same strategy (series of moves) as your opponent each time you play, how long do you think it will take before your opponent catches on, changes his series of moves, and beats you?

Deciding what you will do differently is important if you expect to play the game for an extended period of time (btw – that period of time is getting shorter any shorter since the rate of change in business is accelerating).

How do you decide what activities (strategic moves) you are going to do differently in the coming year?

That will be the subject of my next post.

As always if you need help developing your strategy, contact us.