Accelerating Increases in Competition
The preceding sections of this document describe why collaborative solutions development capability (CSDC) is an important resource that organizations must have in order to:
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remain competitive |
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design and execute strategy, and |
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operate with high effectiveness |
However, it is not enough for organizations to simply have collaborative solutions development capability. Organizations must continuously increase their collaborative solutions development capability in order to survive in the long term. And in today's competitive environment, the long term may be shorter than many organizations realize.
The reason for this is precisely because collaborative solutions development capability is a strategic competitive competency. It is a competency that is sought after and added to by all organizations that have a strategic competitive outlook. This leads to a continuous raising of the base level of CSDC that is required to simply stay even in terms of competitiveness.
However, the challenge is even greater than that. The rate of increase in the required level is of capability is not staying the same: it is accelerating. That means if an organization is able to "stay even" by increasing it's CSDC by X% one year, it will need to increase it by X+Y % the following year.
Again, the Choice
Organizations that wish to actually get ahead in terms of being competitive are faced with another version of the choice described in preceding sections of this document:
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They can treat collaborative solutions development as a supporting activity that occurs in an ad-hoc way, or through content-specific techniques, in association with other business functions, or |
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They can recognize collaborative solutions development as a strategic competitive competency and choose to develop this competency in a comprehensive, systematic way. |
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The chart below summarizes the context of this choice.
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Organizational operations |
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Required operational changes in response to strategy and changing externals |
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Collaborative solutions development to cause the required operational changes |
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Collaborative solutions development capability |
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Increased collaborative solutions development capability |
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A choice of approach to increasing collaborative solutions
development capability |
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| Challenges and Opportunities |
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CSDC as a Strategic Competitive Competency
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Challenge: Collaborative solutions development capability is used very widely across all industries, and therefore may not seem like a core competency for any industry. CSDC can be used in all levels of an organization by a wide range of organization roles, and so does not seem to be particularly related to strategy. CSDC is effective in helping to implement many types of organizational change, and so may not be associated with addressing competitive challenges. Because of these things, CSDC may not get attention as a strategic competitive competency.
Opportunity: Process knowledge is the core of any organization, and CSDC is the specific capability for leveraging process knowledge. The nature of strategy is to drive large-scale change, and CSDC is needed to make that level of change successfully. Steady, on-going performance improvement is the first step in increasing competitiveness, and CSDC is key in implementing performance improvement. Recognizing these qualities of CSDC can help gain recognition and support for it as a strategic competitive competency.
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CSDC as a Competitive Edge
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| Challenge: The amount and quality of collaborative solutions development capability that an organization has can significantly influence the success of competitive initiates, such as product rollouts, marketing initiatives, outsourcing and other activities. Compared to these activities, as an action point for increasing competitiveness, CSDC may seem undramatic or not be recognized at all.
Opportunity: If understood, developed, and exercised, CSDC can be a "secret weapon" that can have dramatic, large scale impacts on competitiveness.
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Rate your organization on its relative position in the following areas:
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Recognize that collaborative solutions development capability is a strategic competitive competency.
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Recognize that superior collaborative solutions development capability can be an advantage in directly competitive activities.
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