As 7 questões estratégicas - parte Ia

A revista Harvard Business Review de Novembro passado traz um artigo de Robert Simons "Stress-Test Your Strategy - The 7 Questions to Ask":
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(Moi ici: A primeira questão que Simons levanta é fundamental e é presença frequente neste blogue: Quem são os clientes-alvo? Quem servimos?)
Who is Your Primary Customer?
Choosing a primary customer is a make-or-break decision. Why? Because it should determine how you allocate resources. The idea is simple: Allocate all possible resources to meet and exceed your primary customer’s needs.
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many companies resist choosing just one customer. Executives often attempt to avoid the adjective “primary” by announcing,“We have multiple customers.” This is a sure recipe for underperformance. Allocating resources to more than one customer results in confusion and less-than-optimal service.
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Of course, your choice of primary customer may change over time ... But you need to recognize that such a change will probably require restructuring your business.
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The flip side of maximizing resources for your primary customer is that you should minimize the
resources devoted to everything else—including all external stakeholders and all internal units that do not create value for your primary customer. They should receive enough to meet the needs of their constituents, but no more."
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Quem tenta ir a todos e servir todo o tipo de clientes cai na armadilha da polarização dos mercados e fica atolado no meio-termo (stuck-in-the-middle).
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Agora, do mesmo autor e do primeiro capítulo "Who Is Your Primary Customer?" do livro "Seven Strategy Questions - A Simple Approach For Better Execution":
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"The company's [McDonald’s] successful turnaround is an example of the importance of the first implementation imperative: allocating resources to customers. If you get this wrong, nothing else can make up for your error.
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The starting point is to ask yourself (and others) the most basic, and important, question for any business strategy: Who is your primary customer?
When confronted with this question, it's easy to answer simply, "We have multiple customers." But this answer is a recipe for underperformance since it ducks the issue highlighted by the adjective primary. If you try to serve multiple customers in a single business, you will be forced to spread your resources across too many functions and units in an attempt to meet different customer needs. This "peanut butter" approach to resource allocation - spreading resources evenly over everything - will result in a lack of focus where it really matters.
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If your competitors are dedicating every ounce of their resources to create a laser-like focus on a single primary customer, they will beat you every time. Think about it. If you were a potential customer, who would you choose to serve your needs - the business that gives you 100 percent of its attention and resources, or the one that gives you only a fraction?
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Clarity about who its primary customer was - at each stage in its evolution - has provided the foundation for continued growth and profitability.
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Attempting to serve multiple types of customers within a single business can mean only one thing: you will serve no customer well.
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Who should you choose as your primary customer?
Your choice will depend on the history of your firm and its founders, the preferences and skills of executives, the nature and intensity of competition, the availability of technical resources, and emerging opportunities that only you can see.
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Customers rightfully expect the undivided attention and resources of businesses that compete to serve their needs. So it's vitally important to be clear about who is - and who is not - a customer.
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Who is our primary customer?
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You may disagree with this decision, or my analysis. But the point is that the reason this decision is so critical for us - and for you - is that it becomes the guiding light for determining how to allocate resources. (Moi ici: Para mim é tão claro e transparente. Uma empresa bem sucedida tem resultados financeiros sustentados. De onde vem o dinheiro? Dos clientes! Quem são os clientes que melhor podemos servir? Por que é que quererão trabalhar connosco? Como nos podemos transformar numa máquina concentrada, devotada, dedicada a servir bem esses clientes?)
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identifying your primary customer can be tricky because sometimes the individuals or organizations that use your products, and ultimately pay for them, may not actually be your primary customer. (Moi ici: Por exemplo, já trabalhei em projectos em que, à semelhança da indústria farmacêutica, o cliente-alvo era o prescritor, o técnico que não comprava o produto mas que redigia cadernos de encargos para projectos de gama média-alta)
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The second reason often given for not choosing a primary customer is to avoid offending other constituents - both internal and external - who don't make the cut. Tensions can build among competing interests. Multiple groups want your attention and resources. But you must make choices."
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Continua.