For years, strategy meant locking into a market, building share, and scaling.
Pick a segment. Build a moat. Defend your turf.
That model’s breaking down.
Now?
The ground shifts faster than most leadership teams can update their slide decks.
At RJP Consulting, we’re seeing a fundamental shift: growth no longer depends just on where you play—but also on how fast you can adapt when that playing field changes.
🌍 The Old Rules Don’t Hold
The traditional approach looked something like this:
- Identify your core market
- Build a portfolio around it
- Optimise the model
- Extract value over time
But in today’s climate—defined by geopolitical volatility, AI-driven disruption, rising costs, and buyer fatigue—static focus becomes fragility.
Markets evolve faster than most organisations can execute.
According to a 2024 BCG report, over 60% of business leaders say their core market assumptions have changed in the past 18 months. Yet only 1 in 4 have meaningfully adjusted their strategic plans.
The danger? Treating volatility as temporary—when it may be the new baseline.
⚠️ The Strategic Risks We See Weekly
- Companies over-invested in declining customer segments
- Products still aimed at problems that no longer exist
- Sales teams targeting too many verticals with unclear positioning
- Ops stretched across multiple delivery models that no longer scale
- Boards sticking to 3-year plans written for markets that have already moved on
In uncertain markets, complexity isn’t a hedge—it’s a cost. Strategic indecision becomes operational drag.
🔍 Focus Doesn’t Mean Narrow
When we talk about “where to play,” we’re not just talking about geography or industry.
Strategic focus means clarity on:
- The customer problem you’re solving
- The buyer type you’re targeting
- The delivery model you’re resourced to execute
- The value chain position you can defend and scale
And critically—what is your core competency?
Are you operating in areas that play to your strengths, or drifting into offers and markets that dilute what you do best?
If your strategy isn’t anchored in your competitive advantage, your execution will suffer.
Many businesses confuse opportunity with strategy. Just because a market is growing doesn’t mean you should be there.
Strategy is about fit—not just size.
📉 What Happens Without Focus
- Bloated portfolios with no clear core
- Sales collateral that tries to speak to everyone—and connects with no one
- Teams constantly pivoting between priorities
- Leadership wasting time “chasing tail” rather than doubling down on what works
According to McKinsey, companies with high strategic clarity outperform peers by up to 30% in EBITDA growth over five years. Yet most leadership teams spend less than 15% of their time on strategic focus and portfolio decisions.
It’s not just about being right. It’s about being lean enough to move quickly.
Look at Elon Musk’s approach at Twitter (now X): he stripped out huge numbers of staff who weren’t materially contributing to profitability. Costs plummeted almost overnight. Revenues dipped slightly, but profitability surged.
The message? You don’t need everyone—you need the right ones.
🔎 A Harvard Business School study found that just 20% of employees typically drive 80% of a company’s value-creating output. When lean, focused teams align behind a clear strategy, agility and execution improve exponentially.
Whether or not you agree with the tactics, the principle is clear: you can’t pivot if you’re bloated.
🛠 So What Should You Do?
✅ Pressure-test your current focus
Ask:
-
- Is this segment still growing profitably?
- Are we genuinely differentiated here?
- Can we scale without reinventing the model?
- Does this align with our core competencies?
If the answer’s “sort of” or “maybe”—you’re exposed.
✅ Re-align resources
Growth doesn’t come from spreading thin.
It comes from placing sharper bets with clearer execution.
Kill zombie projects. Re-deploy capital and people to where the real opportunity lies.
💡 Gartner found that companies who reallocated 20%+ of budget annually toward high-potential segments saw 2x the revenue growth of those who didn’t.
✅ Be prepared to pivot
Focus doesn’t mean rigidity.
Build optionality into your strategy—adjacent segments, modular offers, delivery flexibility.
If the ground shifts again, you’ll want room to move.
✅ Cut complexity and automate where possible
Ask:
-
- Can we automate repetitive or low-value processes using AI or workflow tools?
- Can our sales process be standardised to avoid bespoke offers?
- Are our products and pricing creating unnecessary complexity across ops?
- Lean strategy means simplifying how you operate—not just what you offer.
✅ Review the supply chain and channel model
Look hard at your routes to market:
-
- Are there middlemen or channel partners adding cost without value?
- Could you shift to a direct-to-customer model—or consolidate partners?
- Are your distribution and service models aligned with how customers now want to buy?
The best strategies don’t just focus outward. They simplify inward.
🚀 How RJP Consulting Helps
We work with leadership teams to:
- Run strategic focus and market fit assessments
- Align product, sales, and delivery models with highest-fit segments
- Identify segments that have outlived their value
- Strip out complexity and unnecessary costs from operations
- Develop modular execution plans that support focused scaling—with flexibility built in
- Automate internal processes and rationalise delivery models
Final Thought
“Where to play” is no longer a one-off decision. It’s a discipline—and the businesses that get it right don’t just grow. They stay alive longer than their competitors.