Product Strategy for High Technology Companies

IBM’s Bill Lowe also suffered from tunnel vision when he maintained an IBM-centric view of the future. In 1985, he gave Microsoft the rights to sell the jointly developed DOS operating system to other manufacturers in return for IBM’s free use of it on IBM PCs. IBM, after all, had 80 percent of the DOS market. Microsoft’s Bill Gates saw that this w

The CEO should turn to the executive team for help in developing the core strategic vision. It is a mistake to develop a vision in a vacuum. We have found that the executive team of a business collaboratively develops the most effective core strategic vision with its CEO.

Focus A good core strategic vision is sufficiently focused. A broad vision is too general, sounding more like a mission statement than a real strategic vision.

Where are we going? How will we get there? Why will we be successful? Let’s take Cisco Systems as an example.

Completeness A good core strategic vision must be complete. We have found that completeness means that the vision can answer three questions: Where do we want to go? How will we get there? Why will we be successful?

Without any deliberate process for evaluating a core strategic vision, it’s all too easy for executives in a company to neglect it. They may have the best intentions and know that it’s something they need…

Some highlights have been hidden or truncated due to export limits.

In the late 1970s, Adam Osborne was considered by many to be a visionary of the fledgling microcomputer industry. He published his views on its technology and markets in books and magazine articles. In 1981, he introduced the Osborne 1, a portable computer with bundled software that sold for $1,795. His vision was a computer for the masses—not the

Tunnel Vision

A core strategic vision can be changed in several ways. It can be clarified, as the company moves closer to achieving its original vision. It can evolve, as the company learns more about itself and its markets. Technology may change enough that the original vision is no longer exciting or profitable. Whatever the reason, eventually all high-technol

The responsibility for a business unit’s core strategic vision rests clearly with the CEO or general manager of that unit. We specify business unit, because, in a large, diversified business, different units are likely to have different strategies and different visions guiding them. Successful companies are led by CEOs who are skilled at formulatin