Playing to win: How strategy really works

by A.G. Lafley

Ultimately, there are four dimensions you need to think about to choose where to play and how to win: The industry. What is the structure of your industry and the attractiveness of its segments? Customers. What do your channel and end customers value? Relative position. How does your company fare, and how could it fare, relative to the competition? Competition. What will your competition do in reaction to your chosen course of action? These four dimensions can be understood through a framework we call the strategy logic flow, which poses seven questions across the four dimensions (figure 7-1). The strategy logic flow spurs a thoughtful analysis of your company’s current reality, context, challenges, and opportunities and leads to the development of multiple possible where-to-play and how-to-win choices. FIGURE 7-1 The strategy logic flow The flow runs from left to right as a framing mechanism and a rough order of operations—though as with pretty much everything to do with strategy, a lot of iterative back-and-forth is required.