Reliable, responsive, and required

Most of what a business says about itself is an entry requirement dressed up as a reason to choose it, and the two behave very differently.

By Steve 5 min read
Abstract bridge artwork for Reliable, responsive, and required

Ask a business why customers choose it and you tend to get three answers: quality, service, and reliability. Ask its closest competitor and you get the same three. Both are telling the truth. Both are describing things they genuinely do well, and both have mistaken the price of admission for the reason anyone walked through the door. The distinction worth drawing here comes from Terry Hill’s work on manufacturing strategy, and it travels well beyond factories. Hill separated order winners (the attributes on which a customer actually decides between shortlisted…

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