Practical Insights from 'Playing to Win': A Strategy Framework for Business Growth

The takeaway

In today’s dynamic market, many strategy frameworks promise growth, but few are as practical and adaptable as Playing to Win by Alan G. Lafley and Roger Martin. This framework breaks down success into five essential questions, creating a clear process where each decision shapes the next. It has guided companies like Procter & Gamble, Nike, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft and others through strategic challenges, proving its effectiveness across various industries.

I have been instrumental in adapting this framework to the unique challenges of our market. Drawing from my hands-on experience, I’ve refined the Playing to Win approach to address the specific needs of local businesses, focusing on aligning their strategic aspirations with market realities. This blog shares my insights on the most frequent challenges related to these five essential questions and how companies can overcome these common obstacles—such as misaligned goals and unclear value propositions—by applying the framework effectively. By tailoring the framework to each company's context, I can help businesses not just adopt a proven strategy but make it their own for sustained long-term growth.

Q1. What Is Our Winning Aspiration?

This question focuses on defining the ultimate purpose of the company. It goes beyond stating the classical mission, vision, objectives, etc; it is rather about articulating how the company perceives success. A winning aspiration clarifies what winning looks like and sets the stage for all subsequent strategic decisions and investments. It requires a clear understanding of what the company seeks to be and achieve, not just in terms of financial metrics, but also in its purpose (Why it exist) and the value it creates to its customers, stakeholders, and society.

Answering this critical question can be challneging due to multiple reasons. Examples are:

• Avoiding accountability. This is typically associated with defining business objectives with the related targets and KPIs.
• Setting unrealistic targets that are not grounded to reality, which can lead to frustration and disconnection.
• Inability to align on specific objectives, mainly when boards consist of diverse members with varying opinions.?

To overcome these types of challenges and define clear winning aspiration, businesses can consider the following guideline:

• Start with purpose: Identify the core purpose of the company. Why do we exist? This should come ahead of the What, the vision and the How, the mission.
• Focus on impact: Think about the impact you want to have on our customers and the market, and what difference do we aspire to make?
• Be ambitious yet realistic: Aim high but ensure that the aspiration is grounded in reality rather than considered as exaggeration.
• Engage the stakeholders: Involve key stakeholders in the process to ensure the aspiration resonates with everyone in the company.
• Communicate clearly: Ensure the aspiration is clear, concise, and easy to communicate.

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Q2. Where Will We Play?

This question concerns the choices about the locality in which the company will compete. It defines all the playing fields by specifying the geographic regions, product categories, customer segments, distribution channels, and stages of the value chain where the company will focus its efforts. This decision is so critical because it determines the scope of the business and allocates resources to the most promising opportunities. By being choiceful about where to compete, the company can better align its resources and capabilities with market opportunities. To assess such a choice, we need to consider the opportunity attractiveness through the following criteria:

1. The Profitability associated with the opportunity and how healthy the margin can be.

2. The Momentum of the opportunity and does it have the potential to sustain the forecasted growth.

?3. The Size of the prize, meaning is it big enough to reward and payoff?

One of the key challenges companies facing is using data effectively to analyse the landscape such as: markets size and trend, products performance, competitions’ capabilities, channels growth, and target audience needs. This analysis is crucial for identifying the most promising and relevant business opportunities, and without it, the decision-making can be like shotting in the dark. However, many companies struggle due to either no having the required data and lack of the necessary capabilities to access and analyse the business data they could have to develop the needed insight.

To overcome this challenge, it is recommended that companies to invest in building robust data management systems. These systems should be designed to collect, store, and process large volumes of data from various sources, ensuring that the information is accurate and accessible for the decision making. Additionally, acquiring talents with strong analytical and problem-solving skills is very critical. These professionals will be able to interpret data effectively, providing insights that drive strategic decisions and enable the company to focus on the most promising market opportunities.

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Q3. How Will We Win?

By choosing where to play, the company will identify groups of important fields to target and invest in, like markets, categories, products, trade channels, customer segments and so on. How-to-win involves defining what the company will do to win in that playing field-- it’s the recipe for success. This involves choosing a distinct value proposition that will differentiate the company in the mind and hearts of its customers. The answer to this question often includes considerations of benefits the company can deliver to its customers in the context of pricing, quality, experience, innovation, brand positioning, and other elements that contribute to building sustainable advantages.

The most frequent challenge I mostly come across regarding answering this question is the failing to identify, build and communicate a meaningful and sustainable value proposition.This can be attributed to:

• Lack of focus, where many businesses fall into the trap of trying to offer too many value propositions, believing that more is better. This, however, often leads to unclear value proposition that fails to resonate with customers. Alternatively, companies might constantly switch between different value propositions, never fully committing to one, which confuses customers and undermines the offering's credibility.
• Not realizing the importance of identifying the value proposition. Some businesses fail to define their value proposition, leaving it up to the market to decide for them. This often results from a lack of capability of the team assigned to lead the strategy exercise.

The recommendation here to overcome this challenge by following this simple approach: to consider the value proposition as the most single benefit that their product or service can offer to their customers. Essentially, the promise they make to improve their customers' lives or experiences. This benefit can be classified as either of the followings:

• Functional: The practical, tangible advantages a product offers to meet consumers' needs. Apple MacBook’s value proposition centers around its sleek design, reliable performance, and intuitive interface, making it a practical tool for professionals and creatives who need high-performance computing.
• Emotional: The feelings or emotional responses that consumers experience when using a product. Nike’s "Just Do It" slogan evokes strong emotional responses tied to motivation, personal achievement, and empowerment. It connects emotionally with consumers who aspire to overcome challenges and push their limits.
• Relational: Reward the willingness of the consumers to associate themselves with the product. Harley-Davidson offers more than just motorcycles; it provides a sense of community and identity. Its strong brand loyalty allows customers to associate themselves with a lifestyle and a sense of freedom.
• Process-Oriented: The efficiency and ease of transactions between the buyer and the seller. Amazon’s value proposition focuses heavily on the ease and efficiency of shopping. Features like one-click purchasing, fast delivery, and easy returns provide a seamless and convenient shopping experience for consumers.

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Q4. What Capabilities Must We Have?

This question identifies the critical skills, technologies, and resources that the company needs to possess to execute its strategy. It includes the capabilities that are unique to the company and essential for building its competencies and hence delivering the chosen value proposition. These capabilities might include advanced technology, a strong brand, efficient supply chain operations, advanced distribution network, or innovative R&D processes. Ensuring these required capabilities are established and sustained is crucial for the company's success.

One of the most common challenges is the missing link between the value proposition a company identifies to win in the market and the necessary capabilities required to deliver and sustain that value proposition. It’s crucial to consider these capabilities as core competencies or competitive advantages that should be continuously innovated and maintained over time. Without this alignment, a business may struggle to position and differentiate itself and effectively fulfil its strategic choices.

Examples of essential capabilities include:

• R&D excellence: Continuously innovating and improving products and their offerings.
• Distribution strength: Ensuring wide, efficient and reliable access to the product.
• Operational efficiency: Optimizing processes for consistent quality and cost-effectiveness.
• Superior brand positioning: Establishing a strong and distinct brand identity that resonates with the target audience, creating a lasting impression and preference over competitors.

By clearly defining and committing to a single and meaningful value proposition and sustaining the competencies required to deliver it, companies can ensure they are consistently staying true to their promise to customers and maintaining a competitive advantage that drives long-term success.

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Q5. What management systems are required?

The final question focuses on the internal systems and processes needed for translating strategic choices into actions, enabling the organization to execute its strategy effectively. This can include detailed governance structures, performance measurement systems, project management support, and budgeting and resourcing. The management systems should align with, and reinforce, the chosen strategy through the previous four questions, ensuring that the company operates in a coordinated and efficient manner. These systems help in managing and tracking progress, making needed intervention and adjustments, and ensuring that the strategic choices are effectively implemented throughout the company.

A common challenge related to this question is that the strategy implementation plan could lack the necessary elements to manage stakeholder relationships, clarify employees' accountability, monitor and report the progress of the strategy over time, and assess the company culture along with other internal systems. These components are essential for effectively supporting and executing the strategy, and without them, the company may struggle to align efforts and achieve its winning aspirations.

The recommendation here is to develop a comprehensive Implementation Plan for delivering the strategy capturing and linking the answers for the five questions and detailing all the must have capabilities and required management systems.