Treacy-wiersema frame

There are three strategies that companies can implement to create leadership and separate from the competition:

• Operational Excellence
• Product Leadership
• Customer Intimacy

Operational Excellence leads to lower prices, shorter delivery times, etc.

Product Leadership means higher quality standards, or unique features.

Customer intimacy is achieved through different means, not just good sales pipelines, also the online presence, support, etc.

For a company to be successful, it should balance the focus on the three pillars. Excelling in only one will not be enough. Startups may struggle to be efficient in all, but customer intimacy can be worked on with low friction. Whether they focus for product leadership or operational excellence will depend on the business strategy.