CARTES ESTRATÉGICOS

MAPAS ESTRATÉGICOS

What are they?

A strategy map, often referred to as a perceptual map in marketing, is a tool for visually displaying

the position of a company or a line of business relative to competitors. Strategy maps generally place

firms based on two or three dimensions that capture either critical elements driving consumer

preferences or important attributes characterizing competition.

When do we use them?

Strategy maps find wide use in strategic analyses. They may be used as part of a broader competi-tor or industry analysis. In marketing, strategy maps are frequently used to highlight differences

in consumers’ perceptions across various product lines. Strategy maps are particularly useful for

understanding and illustrating a company’s competitive position relative to rivals and may be used

to identify the generic strategies of firms (e.g., whether a firm is a low-cost competitor, a differenti-ated player, or a niche player within an industry).

Why do we use them?

Strategy maps are useful visual tools to quickly communi-cate a large amount of information on a collection of firms.

They are a flexible tool that are fairly easy to generate and

that appear in a number of different formats and for a num-ber of different uses. One of the primary uses in a strategic

analysis is to identify the “generic strategies” of firms (see

matrix to the right). Arguably, there are four main ways

a firm can position itself within a market, defined by the

source of competitive advantage a firm pursues and the

firm’s competitive scope within an industry.

COMPETITIVE SCOPE

WITHIN INDUSTRY

Broad

Cost

Leadership

Differen-tiation

Narrow

Focused

Low Cost

Niche

Cost Uniqueness

SOURCE OF COMPETITIVE

ADVANTAGE

TH E STR ATEG I ST ’ S TO O LK IT

50

Broadly speaking, there are two types of competitive advantage a firm may pursue: low cost or

uniqueness. A low-cost strategy is one in which the firm simply tries to have lower costs than

the marginal producer in the industry. The marginal producer is that firm that is just viable in

the marketplace—generating revenues at roughly its opportunity cost. A uniqueness strategy is

one in which a firm tries to command a higher willingness to pay (i.e., prices, from customers). A

uniqueness strategy usually entails offering products of higher quality or with more features than

other products in the marketplace.

Firms may choose to target a broader or narrower segment of the market. Most markets can be

segmented into smaller product markets defined by geography, buyer characteristics (e.g., age,

race, income, and gender), and other product line characteristics. Broad-scope firms tend to deliver

products and services that appeal to a wide number of these segments. They may do so by offering

individual products and services with broad appeal or by offering a portfolio of products that cover

the product space. For example, Henry Ford’s Model T automobile was built with a broad target

market in mind: people who wanted a simple, affordable car. Alternatively, General Mills offers a

broad array of cereals to try to appeal to each market segment. Both are examples of broad-scope

strategies. On the opposite end of the spectrum are narrow strategies that target one or a few market

segments. Porsche manufactures and sells high-end sports cars to a narrow segment of affluent

automobile owners. Nature’s Path Organic sells healthy cereals to a narrower environmentally and

socially conscious consumer base.

These two dimensions, broad versus narrow and low cost versus unique, define four generic strategies:

1. Broad-scope, low-cost players are referred to as cost leaders. Wal-Mart is a classic example of

a company trying to appeal to a wide audience with the lowest-cost products. Others include

Dell Computers, McDonald’s Restaurants, and Nucor Steel. Cost leaders typically engage in

aggressive cost-cutting, build market share to gain economies of scale, use low-cost inputs

and labor, minimize overhead such as R&D, and invest in low-cost state-of-the-art opera-tions and continuous improvement initiatives.

2. Broad-scope, unique players are referred to as differentiated players. The Target Corporation

is illustrative of this strategy. A mass-market retailer, it offers higher-quality products in a

more refined setting (and at higher prices) than Wal-Mart does. Other examples include

Apple, Intel, and Goldman Sachs. Differentiators often invest heavily in advertising to build

brand awareness, develop innovative capabilities so as to stay on the cutting edge, and invest

heavily