Can “Strategy Replication” be a good STRATEGY?
Here’s why replicating / copying strategies of competition / other orgs. may not be such a great idea after-all…
Ok, picture this.
An org. understands and identifies the need to onboard a strategic thinker (that’s what they would perhaps call it if they don’t associate with the term product manager) owing to how they are unclear over which route to take & the situation mirroring a maze they’d want to bail out of.
Times like these is when the ability of generating ideas dynamically could end up looking like a total waste of talent & time. And it is interesting how that did hold good for most entrepreneurs who have betted (the use of this word “BET” here is deliberate) on start-ups or ideas that they thought would turn into the next big thing landing them a billion-dollar cash pile.
I can safely say that I speak for the entire product community when I look at some of the answers that reference the use of frameworks in total disbelief when a question like “how do I generate a billion-dollar idea for a business / product?” gets popped on a platform like Quora.
Q: Come to think of it, is there a means / framework to land sure-shot billion-dollar ideas, time and again with zero chances of failure?
A: The simple & a one-word answer is “NO”.
But there are cases where some people claim to have built such frameworks which is surely meant for their own use & not to sell it to the world & there ought to be no arguments & no doubts raised on their abilities given their extensive experience reflecting it thoroughly. Not to mention their experience in cofounding, building, scaling, exiting or holding a portfolio of start-ups.“A strategy without execution can never augur well for anyone, whatever the circumstance”
So, given how strategy is the art of making choices with rich relevance & feeding off a deliberate aim to be different in the market, how can copying a strategy from the competitors augur well for a product or a business, irrespective of the phase of the PLC / the stage the org. is in?
Also, that question equally holds for strategies being copied from product (x) to product (y) within the same org as well [And believe me when I say that is happening around us even today in 2024].
Over my mentoring sessions I spend my time talking to a wide array of PMs who are working at F-20s to budding start-ups across the hierarchy & across the world. And one question that I repeatedly encounter from time to time is “how do we approach situations where we are served everything hand to foot and tasked with just blind implementation of it, which is purely indicative of the tactical side of product management?”
As an exception, if the product is a pretty established one and one happens to find themselves chasing an outcome immediately in the first month of their joining I may give it the benefit of doubt, albeit only marginally though, as I’d still be puzzled over their hiring in that case.
Otherwise, it is sad that this has to happen and a few PMs find themselves at the receiving end of this storm. But having said that PMs ought to step up and shoot a few questions pertaining to the strategic bit as well:
Why is this so important right now?
Who is going to be impacted and by what magnitude?
What would change for us post building & releasing this successfully?
What metrics would be suggestive of / vindicate that success?
But operating sans acquiring this clarity could prove to be detrimental for PMs and the orgs. alike, akin to driving on a blindfold on a busy highway. To say it would most surely fail appears like an understatement given the gruesome end one is most certain to encounter.
And here are 5 aspects you could to pit yourself against, prior to blindly jumping in & aping those strategies implemented successfully elsewhere (same goes if you were tasked with such a thing):
1) Timing
Strategists would tell you how timing is everything in a given market & there’s nothing that governs the success of products as much as that, bringing it down to the DF&V test (aka “sweet spot of innovation”).
A certain product could be the most desirable one and could include a really large market segment but may not be feasible to build given the lack of technology or knowhow or may fail viability test given the cost of building & operating it. Unless the new opportunity passes all these tests one more assuredly can’t expect the needle on metrics to move in one’s favor even if one happens to have the early-mover advantage.
For ex: AIR TAXIS.
Given the problems with population explosion & lack of properly planned infrastructure the one thing that’s common in most world cities that have turned into urban jungles today is endless traffic woes and at ungodly times of the day (/night) as well. The average time a person spends in traffic in the top cities of the world will startle you if you check those stats online.
So, the most desirable solution here could be to airlift people & drop them at specific spots via Air Taxis. But the feasibility of that across cities straddled with these problems could look like a distant dream for now given the legalities, logistic challenges & it does score pretty low on the viability as well.
2) Market maturity
At times it is possible that the market isn’t ready for a solution although the problem does resonate with them pretty well. In such cases a product if launched could end up being a terrible overfit. Those could even end up getting featured on the covers of magazines peddling with topics like Tech / Innovation but may not be good to build and launch given the headspace the users find themselves in the current market. Such products often get prioritized lower & get parked as “for consideration later”.
For ex: SPACE TRAVEL.
With the headwinds an org. like SpaceX has made & is making in this area on a daily basis, the number of sign-ups already for POLARIS DAWN MISSION (a trip to MARS & back targeting year 2024 according to a latest press release) looks enterprising alright given how it looks like a frame taken out of a timeless Sci-Fi classic movie where protagonists are brushing shoulders with aliens. But for most of the world right now, given its price point, it is bound to be sky high.
But supposing the question of affordability is put aside for a second, how many people would be committed to booking that trip? Many people may not just be ready for it as yet given how it is entirely new and nobody wants to feel like an experimental lab rat / guinea pig when they purchase a product / sign-up for a service. So yes, product maturity is most certainly linked to market maturity.
3) Expectations
When you talk of a market you very obviously are referring to users who are all flesh & blood, carry emotions that frame the very soul of their expectations as they are the ones who’d be paying for it & reaping the value & benefits.
For ex: BRAND-NEW COLA!
Assume you are gearing up for a marketing campaign eyeing the launch of a brand-new cola at the cusp of the upcoming summer season. You may strike a chord with a certain audience as it is possible that they may be inclined to try something new given the monopoly of cola companies serving a consistent taste for years now.
Post launch, it is very possible you witness a tremendous initial interest followed by a steep drop-off rate in adoption. On careful analysis you realize how there aren’t any takers / new buyers but also see how you don’t have any repeat customers either.
Reason: your cola looks, feels, tastes JUST LIKE the ones that are prevalent. And now the only way for you to survive in this market is to perhaps think about lowering your price points & it is most certainly bound to set you up for failure in the near term as input costs would eat into your margins.
“Aping a super successful strategy of another org. may result in you gathering a few eyeballs but that initial interest may not prolong & is sure to wane as one realizes how there’s nothing new on offer, leading to poor – zero value addition”
4) Problems
At a very basic elementary level a product ought to identify & then methodically solve a problem for the users you are targeting, the larger the magnitude of the problem they are facing, the higher the probability of the product hitting pay-dirt w.r.t the growth metrics.
For ex: THE SMARTWATCH.
There were tons of orgs. manufacturing digital watches since a long time albeit with limited capabilities sporting a single-line-like display. And then came the calculator wrist watches. The very fact that those calculator watches didn’t find runaway success didn’t have anything to do with the durability or build quality. They were sturdy alright although the size of the buttons on the calculator made it tough for anyone to punch them & use them for calculations (even for kids), if anyone was inclined towards using such a watch for calculations that is.
But that didn’t stop innovation & we have smartwatches that boast of a full-sized AMOLED display, much superior to those digital watches. The advent of smartphones made it compulsory for some watch aficionados to rethink their choice of watches pushing them to hop on to the bandwagon of these smart wearable devices that address more than one problem apart from a basic function that it was meant for – which is time keeping.
5) Targeting
A strategy works well because it is targeted at the right people / the right sample space which could be a result of months of tireless research, which is the underlying root cause for all the success that follows. But if one apes a strategy & tries to apply / retrofit it into their mold, there could be tons of aspects they overlook right from the users, their expectations, their current underserved needs, the choices available as a part of the ecosystem given today’s timelines.
For ex: A PHOTOGRAPHY COURSE
A very famous well-known photographer is sure to have gained precious knowledge as a part of all the tribulations faced over the years, learning the hardest way possible.
One could think of making it available as a course to all budding photographers or aficionados. It could be very feasible to shoot all videos as a part of the course material & sort / organize them topic-wise.
But could it be a viable proposition to put it on a CD / DVD & release it in the market?
NO
Given the advent of social channels in 2024 where consulting / training / coaching businesses have turned on their head & have taken to making the social media tools like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook their forte, the idea of a CD / DVD seems retro & could prove to be a misfit for sure given how that channel isn’t in circulation anymore. The advantages social media offers here is really seamless. Not to mention the feasibility of staying connected with all audience & users at the same time over the same platform. There is no better & cheaper PR than that, is there?
“A shortcut to success will most certainly cut your success short”
Conclusion:
So, you see the number of aspects you’d be compromising on if you look to ape a strategy from elsewhere. But having said all of that it still is advised that PMs keep an eye out for other orgs. & gauge a thing or two about their strategies & initiatives for there could be no other source richer than that, tearing it down, deciphering, understanding, learning & improving one’s thought process & adding to the endless repertoire of skills a PM is expected to be in possession of.