Summary
1. Everything a firm does in its business must be supported by the necessary skills, resources, and capabilities. Thus, to carry out the activities that its strategy requires, a firm must first develop the necessary assets and capabilities.
2. The assets or capabilities that can provide the firm with sustainable advantage are those which are difficult for competitors to achieve: they are rare, they cannot be imitated, there is no real substitute for them. A firm must pay particular attention to developing these kinds of strategic capabilities.
3. New capabilities can be developed in a number of ways. One way is to build a strategic staircase, which can help companies identify and develop the capabilities they will need to achieve their long-term objectives in a sequential manner.
4. A strategy must have the emotional commitment of the people who will work toward its implementation. Merely asking for such commitment is not enough. To obtain real commitment, you must get people not only to accept and agree with the strategy but to buy into it.