Product Strategy for High Technology Companies

Prime Computer is a classic example. It stated in 1988 that it had a “clear goal: to make money for its customers, and through that, for its owners.” That “clear” goal was too vague and too general. Some within Prime may have had a more specific vision of where they thought the company should go, but theirs was not the company’s vision. Prime was a

Some companies appear to be blind or at least sleepwalking. They just keep moving along contentedly until they hit a wall without ever seeing it coming. Because they lacked a vision to show them what was…

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Another shortsighted company was Ampex Corporation, which invented the video tape recorder (VTR) in 1956. Even

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

Product strategy is like a roadmap, and like a roadmap it’s useful only when you know where you are and where you want to go.

In many ways Digital was like a frog in gradually boiling water. If you drop a frog into already boiling water, it will jump right out, but if you put the frog into cool water and then start to boil it, the frog will not notice that the water is heating up until it is too late. One of the likely reasons that Digital did not change its strategy in t

By looking at your vision as inclusive and exclusive of certain conditions that you either impose (internal facing) or accept (external facing), you can align your strategies with the realities of your company’s “condition” at any given time.

Every company has a core strategic vision (CSV), whether it has identified it as such or not.

The CSV Boundary Framework The CSV Boundary Framework has two very important purposes. First, it makes sure the strategic vision is achievable. A good CSV may be aggressive and it may be a stretch to accomplish, but it shouldn’t be impossible or even unrealistic. A realistic CSV is aligned with the company’s strategies, as well as the outside world