A strategy of repeatedly delivering meaningful product improvements that advance what customers can achieve and influence their choice over alternatives. Innovation and commercialization must produce customer value. Replacing an existing successful product can support this strategy, but is not required.
How Product Leadership works
Product investment and repeated delivery create capabilities customers value over alternatives. Evidence should connect those capabilities to customer preference; a premium price or a feature list alone does not establish leadership.
How companies won with Product Leadership
From the win chains in Strategy Canon case studies: what the winner did, and what its rival did at the same step.
vs. Wix · 2004–14
Squarespace
Designed, hosted site for people whose site is their work
What it did
One subscription replaced blog, forum, host and database software (Dec 2004)
Wix
Flash drag-and-drop builder for anyone with 'zero knowledge of HTML coding' (2006–12)
What did the company implement, for whom, against which alternative, and how was this approach intended to change customer value or economics? Repeated product improvements influence customer preference over alternatives. Replacing the company’s own successful products is optional.
Who names it — 2 of the canon
Author
What they call it / where it appears
Porter
Differentiation (product form)
Treacy & Wiersema
Product leadership
Note. Choose the leading discipline for the specific business and meet acceptable standards in the other two. Examine staffing, measures and resource allocation for evidence of that commitment.