Three highly-defensible Assets for Strategy Implementation
In a business context, culture, customer and market intelligence, and relationships are considered highly defensible assets because they are difficult for competitors to replicate, and they provide enduring strategic advantages.
By comparison, technology, financial capital, physical assets - even products, features and talents - are less defensible. Still very important, yes, but easier to replicate.
When working with a business on strategy implementation. I often ask and consider how we are layering activities in these areas, into a strategy implementation plan, in order to amplify and accelerate all the rest.
Here’s my perspective on why.
Culture: The Invisible Engine of Strategy Implementation
It’s nigh-on impossible to imitate
Organizational culture is deeply embedded in values, behaviors, rituals, and shared beliefs. It evolves over time and is shaped by leadership, history, and internal dynamics, making it nearly impossible for competitors to copy.
It drives execution
A strong culture aligns employees around a common purpose, enabling faster decision-making, better collaboration, and consistent execution.
It attracts and retains talent
Culture influences employee satisfaction and loyalty, which in turn affects productivity, innovation, and customer experience.
Done with intention, it can develop resilience in change, and strength in execution
Companies with a culture that has been cultivated to adapt more effectively to disruption, and excel at execution . Team members must be provided with the permission, skills and reward to get here.
Customer and Market Intelligence: The Lens for Decisions, Efficiency Gains and the Future
It informs better decisions and what to change, what to implement
Deep insights into customer needs, behaviors, and market dynamics allow businesses to make smarter marketing, product, pricing, positioning, service experience and innovation decisions. This lets a business make smarter bets and reduce wasted effort.
It enables niching and personalization
Companies that understand what they’re dealing with can get cuter and smarter with how they target and personalise - from marketing through sales and delivery, which all sounds very nice and fluffy, yes, but the real purpose behind this is efficiency. If you have data to be able to target and personalise, you can spend less time, effort and money on fewer things that ought to produce a better result. This frees up the resources to spend elsewhere. That’s all efficiency is.
It anticipates trends
Market intelligence helps firms spot emerging opportunities and threats before competitors do.
It builds knowledge moats
Proprietary data and insights is the best stuff - especially when gathered over time. This creates a knowledge advantage that’s hard to replicate.
Business Relationships: The Advantage Lever
It provides a time advantage
Strong relationships with customers, partners, suppliers, and stakeholders are built on trust, which takes time and consistent behavior to establish. Someone else can begin to develop these relationships, but
It provides access to opportunities
Relationships often open doors to collaborations, deals, and insider knowledge that aren’t available through formal channels.
Why else is this stuff valuable?
They are almost impossible to observe
Other things in the business landscape can be seen - messaging, pricing, even job descriptions
They are non-transactional
These assets are not bought—they’re built. They can’t really be shortcut. That makes them more enduring, less vulnerable to market fluctuations, and again, harder to replicate.
They tend to offer compounding returns
The more you invest in them, the more valuable they become over time.
They are a foundation for an innovation practice
Culture fosters creativity, intelligence reveals unmet needs, and relationships provide feedback loops—all essential for innovation. You can’t build an onnivation practice overnight; it requires some foundational elements to be present that unlock the door ffor innovation to be a real possibility, no matter the size of organisation.