mega mantra

vinay kamat

Name the mother of all management mantras. Name the mantra that companies and individuals can’t do without. Name the slogan that has the highest recall. Name the chant that's a wellness recipe as well.

It's called Positioning and it was introduced by Al Ries and Jack Trout in 1972. Until then, nobody had even thought of structuring the idea of positioning. What they said was pretty obvious: "To succeed in our over-communicated society, a company must create a position in the prospect's mind, a position that takes into consideration not only a company's own strengths and weaknesses, but those of its competitors as well."

Since then, Nike has positioned itself as the "just do it" brand, Apple as the "think different" company, Volvo as the purveyor of "safety." The idea of positioning was further simplified by Jack Trout in his book Differentiate or Die. “Being different,” says Trout, “often requires going against conventional thinking. You have to have the guts to go against what is often conventional wisdom.”

Needless to say, positioning is the world’s most powerful survival, or revival, mantra. It’s your lifebuoy-cum-booster. Positioning could be an ideological statement like Coca-Cola’s (the classic image) or Pepsi’s (the new-generation persona). It could be a cultural manifestation like Toyota’s (operational excellence) and Sony’s (innovation). It could be the assertion of identity like BMW’s (driver’s car) and Merc’s (top-class engineering). It could even be a connect with legacy like Cadillac’s (standard of the world) or VW’s (think small).

Positioning is the company’s belief in itself, its competencies, its people, and its vision. Some have called it shop-floor spiritualism; others have fondly referred to it as the wellness recipe. For, employees can motivate themselves only if they are encouraged to position themselves within the company so that the company can, in turn, position itself in the marketplace. An organization that articulates its positioning well to its employees has no stereotypes; it buzzes with individuals.

Michael Porter’s strategic fit (configuring your value chain to reflect strengths and strategic trade-offs) and C.K. Prahalad’s and Gary Hamel’s core competence (your basic strength that gives a competitive edge) are all manifestations of positioning.

Positioning is an attitude that is hard to miss. It becomes a war-cry when you are sure of yourself. China’s online guru-cum-entrepreneur Jack Ma is definitely sure of his. “Ebay may be a shark in the ocean, but I am a crocodile in the Yangtze River. If we fight in the ocean, we lose--but if we fight in the river, we win," he told Forbes magazine.

Jack Ma’s stance is not just strategic intent. It is a positioning statement for a local firm that is preparing for battle with a transnational. It defines the game, the domain, the players’ strengths and weaknesses, and the game-plan.

Indeed, it’s not just positioning. It’s an awakening. That is the power of positioning yourself in you adversary’s mind.