Ask the CSCA Community

According to Michael Porter, it's not best it's unique that differentiate your business with competitor and required to success in business but when you discuss with senior management, they require everything best in company. What do you think, are both contradictory words or require to include both approaches in company's vision and strategies, if yes, how?

Here's what I think.

Striving for the best or the pursuit of excellence could itself be a path to discovering and unraveling a unique business offering. This is however rare and not always the case. In order for "best" to be equivalent or close to "unique", it should not be based on existing market benchmarks, but rather on the organizational vision and ambition. If that's the case, a journey to accomplish "best" could take you to a road to uniqueness. 

"Best" and "unique" can be used interchangeably and is naturally observed in start-ups and corporates driven by high growth mindset where they knowingly or unknowing follows differentiation. Also, paraphrasing a quote from the Gita, "do your duty, but do not concern yourself with the results", is what most eccentric businesses and entrepreneurs do! But for companies that are in mature stage and are not in a mood to grow exponentially, "best offering" and "unique offering" could mean entirely different things to them :)

According to Michael Porter, it's not best it's unique that differentiate your business with competitor and required to success in business but when you discuss with senior management, they require everything best in company. What do you think, are both contradictory words or require to include both approaches in company's vision and strategies, if yes, how?