Playing to win: How strategy really works

by A.G. Lafley

As you begin articulating your strategic choice cascade, the obvious place to start is at the top. We’ve argued that it is essential to define a winning aspiration up front, and it does make sense to begin thinking about strategy by defining the purpose of your enterprise; without having an initial definition of winning, it is difficult to assess the value of any subsequent choice. You need a winning aspiration against which you can weigh different choices. But remember that strategy is an iterative process, and you’ll need to return to refine your winning aspiration in the context of the subsequent choices. So, rather than dwell on crafting the perfect definition of winning, sketch a prototype, with the understanding that you will return to it later with the rest of the cascade in mind. Then consider the real work of strategy as beginning with where to play and how to win—the very heart of strategy. These are the choices that actually define what you will do, and where you will do it, so as to generate competitive advantage. To define where to play and how to win, you’ll need to understand and reflect on your context. To do so, you have scores of tools at your disposal—from simple analyses like SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) to purpose-built tools like the Boston Consulting Group growth matrix and General Electric–McKinsey nine-box matrix to detailed frameworks based on particular strategic theories (the VRIN model, which assesses the degree to w...