Understanding and Applying Product-Platform Strategy

Since 1994 when I first published the concepts of product-platform strategy, Product Strategy for High Technology Companies (McGraw Hill, 2001) has become a mainstay of strategy in many industries, particularly for high-technology companies. Some of the most successful companies implemented a product-platform strategy, and many of those who didn't failed as a result. In this new book, as well as others in this series, I expand and update these concepts, adding new lessons learned in the past decade, and illustrate them with current examples. Since there are several new concepts and so many great examples, I've decided to update Product Strategy through a series of new books, each focused on a particular product strategy topic. This first book, Understanding and Applying Product-Platform Strategy, starts with the core underlying concepts of platform strategy, based on workshops I have been giving around the world over the last few years. There are several new concepts that I added or expanded on in this book. The concept of platform layers expands on original concept of elements in complex platforms. As product platforms evolved to be more complex, organizing them into layers became logical. Platform robustness is introduced to address the issue that not all platforms are created equal, and this builds on the concept of vectors of differentiation in my original book. Competitive advantage can come from having a more robust product-platform strategy than a competitor. The issues around a platform as part of an ecosystem are now more relevant and discussed in more detail. This has become increasingly important, as more companies have implemented platform strategies that are linked with others. Also as more companies have leveraged product-platforms into new markets, the concepts of derivative platforms have become more important. So we will examine derivative platforms in more detail.