Business Models
Positioning strategies and value discipline
Companies do not have to excel at everything. One cannot be a master of all value disciplines and strategies in today's marketplace. This bit of wisdom from Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema's 1993 Harvard Business Review article "Customer intimacy and other value disciplines" is good news to members of the green building industry, striving to reach a specific consumer segment that is interested environmental sustainability and/or savings through energy conservation. After doing extensive market research, however, the question is what consumers in your specific area of the green housing market desire. Do they want operational excellence, the effective delivery of a particular objective, such as lower utility bills? Do they want greater customer intimacy in their relationship with the builder and suppliers and the customization of products and services? Or are there expanding potential market segments with an interest in the most innovative 'grey water' technology in the southwest, or energy efficient windows to save on heating costs in the northeast? Is the market simply focused on innovation, and a thirst for the next new thing or are there other value drivers?
Different market segments may define what makes a green house valuable in different ways. For example, someone interested in green technology from a cost perspective might value operational excellence in a company -- seeking the lowest price replacement windows in the least amount of time with the least amount of disruption to their family. Someone interested in the greenest home possible may be interested in innovation, and still others might be attracted to the idea of a custom-built home. Just as there is no one housing market, even within the market of green housing consumers, many different segments and demographics exist, along with conceptions of what conveys value.
Works Cited
Treacy, Michael, Wiersema, Fred. (1993, January). Customer intimacy and other value disciplines. Harvard Business Review, 71(1), 84. Retrieved April 3, 2009, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 1102472).
