A strategy innovation process may not be right for every company. However, it is difficult to cite what type of company would not benefit from understanding their customers better, gaining valuable foresight about their emerging marketplace, and considering how changes in their business model could provide a competitive advantage.

If your company fulfills these requirements, you can benefit from a strategy innovation initiative or an ongoing strategy innovation process.

Listed below are those types of companies where strategy innovation would be most valuable:

• Companies that no longer want to compete on the basis of a similar, ‘‘commodity’’ product in the market
• Companies that seek a sustainable competitive advantage
• Companies looking to change their strategic direction
• Companies searching for the next growth platform for their business
• Companies that need new growth opportunities to meet long-term revenue goals
• Companies that are in declining markets
• Companies that have streamlined and downsized their businesses to improve the bottom line and now need to find profit improvements in growing the top line
• Companies facing a competitive threat and that need to respond with new ways to deliver customer value
• Companies looking to aggressively increase market share
• Companies that need to define a corporate mission or vision
• Companies that value management collaboration in the development of strategy

The following corporate environments are impractical for, or resistant to, a strategy innovation process and the new thinking it provides:

• Companies with a command-and-control management style
• Companies that have chosen to be a ‘‘fast-follower’’ or ‘‘lowcost provider’’ in their markets
• Companies where the collaborative culture is overshadowed by corporate politics