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Compteting for the Future

by Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad, Harvard Business School Press, 1994,
is a book on strategic planning. It emphasizes the importance and need for strategic planning, especially following the "right-sizing" trend of the last decade.

In chapter 4, the authors describe the chart below. It illustrates the currently served clients, and the opportunities out there. The particular point they are making in the text is that client survey market research will rarely uncover the unarticulated needs. This area of opportunity is usually "invented" or discovered by individuals with insight and inspiration who also know their clients very well. What drives the successful planning process is not a desire to make money but a desire to serve clients better. The companies that succeed at this usually can make lots of money until all their competitors catch up or the market shifts in an entirely new direction.

An idea that follows from this chart is that the SERVED CLIENT segment will shrink since clients are changing constantly and articulating unmet needs. Unless we are constantly working to get there before the clients we risk losing them to more progressive providers.