Customer Intimacy and Other Value Disciplines

To today's customers, value can mean any number of things, from convenience of purchase to after-sale service and dependability. But that doesn't mean companies have to excel at everything. A study of over 40 companies found that market leaders like Dell Computer, Home Depot, and NIKE succeed by narrowing their business focus, not by broadening it. They concentrate on one of three value disciplines--operational excellence, customer intimacy, or product leadership--and align their entire operating model to serve that discipline. Companies should choose a value discipline that fits with their existing capabilities and culture and then push themselves relentlessly to sustain it. And they should willingly change their operations to support that value discipline.