Here’s a question for you. Do you have set goals for your business? If so, does that mean you have a strategy?
According to Porter [1], “The essence of strategy is choosing to perform activities differently than rivals do.” So why should we listen to Porter? Why does it even matter? According to Porter, you may be just in a race to the bottom.
Michael Porter is a renowned strategist and academic.
A strategy is more than just deciding to be more efficient or grow. It’s a long term view of how you are going to outperform your competition. You can’t focus on being more efficient and expect to be around for a long time. It’s what Porter called cost vs. differentiation strategy.
Again according to Porter, “few companies have competed successfully based on operational effectiveness over an extended period, and staying ahead of rivals gets harder every day.” So if your “strategy” is to be the most efficient provider of your product or service, it’s basically a race to the bottom.
Take a look at your goals. Are they focused on how you will differentiate and add more value to the customer, or are they focused on just selling more of what you have at a lower price at a lower cost?
If that is the case, you don’t have a strategy; you have a set of goals.
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[1] Porter, M. (1996). What is Strategy? https://hbr.org/1996/11/what-is-strategy