Companies that do not make such a choice run the risk of being caught in the middle. They may be good at everything, but excel at nothing. In business, however, success comes from developing competitive advantage, in particular sustainable competitive advantage. Firms therefore should focus their limited resources on excellence in one particular area, and be the best in the industry in that area.
In Porter's generic strategies, a firm that is neither a cost leader nor adequately differentiated will be beaten by other firms on both counts. By falling in the middle, the firm essentially condemns itself to failure by virtue of having no source of competitive advantage -- nothing compelling to offer the consumer.
In that respect, Porter agrees completely with Treacy and Weiresma. Their value disciplines also speak directly to what a firm can potential offer to customers, or from where they can derive a competitive advantage. Treacy and Weiresma warn that a firm must excel at one value discipline in order to be successful. They will thus only be "ok" at the other two. If they attempt to excel at more than one discipline, organizational constraints will mean that they cannot excel at any of them. These constraints can be financial or with respect to personnel, but may also...
Treacy and Weiresma are convinced that an organization, collectively, cannot be the best at two different disciplines.
Both theories attempt to isolate the key ways in which businesses become successful. Porter's generic strategies are just that -- generic. Treacy and Weiresma are more specific in their value disciplines. There are points where the value disciplines and generic strategies appear to overlap, but they are not completely analogous to one another.
Both, however, agree that no matter which approach to success is chosen, that approach must be strictly adhered to. Any attempt to be the best at more than one discipline/strategy will result in the company falling into the middle in terms of performance. Firms that are caught in the middle have no solid value proposition -- another firm in the industry will always be better -- and therefore they will ultimately fail.
Works Cited:
No author. (2007). Porter's Generic Strategies. QuickMBA.com Retrieved April 4, 2009 from http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/generic.shtml
No author. (2009). Value Disciplines Model. Value-Based Management.net. Retrieved April 4, 2009 from http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_valuedisciplines.html
