A great corporate strategy must meet the “3 Cs test”. It must be Clear, Concise, and Consistent. Over the past 11 years, I have met with and advised CXOs at dozens of companies across a wide spectrum of industries, development stages, and geographies.
One of the most noteworthy differences is how they establish their strategic vision. The simplicity, clarity, and durability of Amazon’s strategy relative to most companies are remarkable.
Once Jeff and the S-team defined Amazon’s growth flywheel, every Amazon leader knew the strategy: to offer a vast selection of items at low prices that customers can quickly and easily find, buy, and receive.
There are three important attributes of the Amazon strategy definition that all companies can learn from and seek to emulate. It is Clear, Concise, and Consistent.
Clear:
There is no jargon, bizspeak, or ambiguity — a vast selection, low prices, easy, fast shopping, and delivery. It’s clear. Without naming names, here is an example from a Fortune 500 company that is not clear:
‘To combine aggressive strategic marketing with quality products and services at competitive prices to provide the best [product] value for consumers.’
This statement is so generic that I could apply it to any company, and so vague that 100 leaders would have 100 different ideas about how to execute it.
Concise:
It can be expressed in a single short sentence that can be spoken in less than six seconds. I have seen many examples of a company’s strategy expressed in half a page or more, comprising five or more concepts. How is anyone supposed to memorize that?
Consistent:
The Amazon retail strategy was established in ~2001, and it remains in place today (as far as I can tell). No portion of the strategy is achieved through a single act or masterstroke. It is a series of countless initiatives, experiments, and actions spanning more than two decades. It is durable because it taps into an atomic level of customer needs.
When discussing the consistency of our strategy, Jeff pointed out that it was unlikely there would ever be a time when customers say something like ’… given my options, I would rather shop at a store with fewer choices, higher prices, a more complex shopping process, and slower delivery.’
The strategy is consistent and constant because it delivers customer value at the most atomic level. By comparison, I see so many companies that seek to revisit or reinvent their strategy each year or every few years. Jim Collins would say that these companies are in a doom loop.
Readers– what are examples of good and bad strategies you have seen?
