What We Frequently Observe

Cost reduction often reaches the wrong conclusion first

We frequently see visible expenses cut rapidly while structural complexity and economically weak products or customers remain untouched.

2026 1 min read Author: KeynesMoore

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Focus

A positioning strategy becomes meaningful only when the answer changes customer preference under realistic competitive conditions.

Ownership should have a strategic rationale beyond history, reported revenue or the cost and inconvenience of changing the portfolio.

Strategic challenges

Budgets reveal which businesses the organisation actually believes in more clearly than portfolio narratives or strategic aspirations.

Pricing, channels, delivery and cost structure can each appear rational while producing unattractive economics when combined.

POV

Corporate strategy should ask whether the parent is the best owner, not simply whether the underlying business is attractive.

Defensible positioning must eventually connect to capabilities, economics, assets or choices that are harder to replicate than language.

Strategic impact

Shared customers, capabilities or infrastructure create value only when their benefits outweigh coordination, compromise and managerial overhead.

Moving from transactions to subscriptions or outcomes affects cash flow, risk, capabilities and customer relationships far beyond pricing.

What we observe

We frequently see long stakeholder lists without clear prioritisation of which relationships can materially affect strategic outcomes.

We frequently see strategies built around expected customer outcomes while competitor retaliation, imitation and repositioning remain implicit.