Edge Strategy: A New Mindset for Profitable Growth

Stay focused. Stick to your knitting. Go with what works. In today's volatile economic environment, filled with uncertainty and sudden change, the forces pushing us to keep focused on the core business become extremely powerful. And, of course, profiting from the core is crucial. But the danger is, over-focus on the core can blind companies to the substantial opportunities for growth that are often hidden in plain sight, at the edge of the core business.

Edge Strategy is uniquely positioned at the intersection of marketing and strategy, focusing on the myriad opportunities that are internal to the business, and showing leaders how to recognize and then leverage these opportunities at the margins. Crucially, the customer's experience of a company and its products is central to what makes the Edge Strategy work. Strategy experts Alan Lewis and Dan McKone have a sharp, practical way of characterizing and visualizing the different kinds of edges:
• Product edge. Value that's realized by gauging the customer's “value perimeter” specifically in relation to your products—highlighting bundling and unbundling opportunities.
• Customer Journey edge. Here, you gauge the customer value perimeter in relation to the customer's experience of your overall offering and brand, capturing value at different points in the “journey.”
• Enterprise edge. This edge creates value when assets, competencies, and capabilities developed for your offering can be used in a different context, for a different offering, or for a different set of customers.