Must-Have Capabilities
Box four of the Strategy Choice Cascade: the specific activities the company must perform at a distinctive level to deliver its Where to Play / How to Win pair. Two disciplines: They flow from the strategy, they don't define it.
Two disciplines:
They flow from the strategy, they don't define it. A capabilities inventory ("we have great engineering, strong brand, deep relationships") is an asset list, not a strategy. Capabilities earn their place by being load-bearing for the HTW.
They must be distinctive, not generic. Every company needs competent finance and HR. Must-have capabilities are the ones a competitor would have to replicate to copy your strategy, the substance behind The Cant-Wont Test.
In the Olay Case Study: R&D partnerships and the "technical marketer" role, a capability invented for the masstige HTW, useless as a generic aspiration.
Capabilities decay without Enabling Management Systems to build and reinforce them, the muscle needs the nervous system.
Seam with the OKR system: capability-building is where many OKRs should concentrate, quarterly bets that build the muscles your strategy needs.
Our synthesis of Roger Martin’s published work, sources credited. Read the originals: they’re excellent.
Reading about method is not the same as running it. We install this system and build the capability that stays.
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