Strategize: Product Strategy and Product Roadmap Practices for the Digital Age

by Roman Pichler

Make Your Product Stand Out Few products are groundbreaking innovations with no competition. Chances are that alternatives for your product exist. You should therefore ensure that your product stands out from the crowd and that people choose your product over competing offerings. This requires you to understand who your competitors are, what factors they compete on, and how your product scores against them. The Strategy Canvas A great tool to help you with this challenge is the Strategy Canvas, described in Kim and Mauborgne (2004) and shown in Figure 20. FIGURE 20: The Strategy Canvas The horizontal axis of the Strategy Canvas captures the key factors your industry competes on. These factors include product, service, and delivery. The vertical axis describes the degree to which each competitor offers or invests in the factors. To apply the canvas, you first determine the key factors. These are the factors that products within the same category compete on, such as price, features, and design. Then evaluate to what degree your competitors fulfill these factors. This creates the industry value curve, represented by the dark line in Figure 20. You then assess your own product, which results in the white-dotted line in the diagram. The keys to applying the Strategy Canvas successfully are identifying the right factors and correctly evaluating the competition and your own product. Make sure you choose the factors that define the current standard in your market and are used to a...