Rapidly changing market dynamics fuel the need for improving performance on the fly. This, in turn, demands that traditionally separate capabilities be integrated.

Market research, business strategy development and go-to-market planning are key to determining effectual action. Execution means delivering against the plan. The early phase of execution is primarily about learning - testing, discovering new realities, calibrating your program and messaging to be congruent with the new realities and testing again - over and over again.

Traditionally, research, strategy development, planning and start-up execution have been in separate hands. But that makes no sense in today's dynamic environment. It's important to learn from new markets and new strategies by staying with them long enough to see outcomes and to adjust strategies if necessary without delay.

Integrating the full spectrum, as we do, makes strategy accountable. It also enables you to improve performance from one day to the next. As a result, you can succeed more quickly than when research, strategy, planning and start-up execution are in separate hands. You save time, avoid misunderstandings, and prevent political sabotage of efforts to effect change.

Perhaps most important, sustaining a competitive advantage today requires more than innovation; it calls for continuous improvement. And the knowledge base you build more quickly by integrating capabilities enables you to continuously improve - and thus to outperform rivals by continuously differentiating against commoditization.