PositionSolve™:
Our Core Decision Support Tool that Undergirds Our Strategic Approach
to Positioning.
Critique of
the Traditional Approach
In the real world (the world outside
of textbook examples!) a product may have over a dozen relevant features.
Moreover, in many markets there may be dozens of competitors. This,
in turn, requires that we simultaneously understand hundreds of numbers
in order to get our arms around our product's positioning in the marketplace.
Quite aside from the analytical complexity of understanding this many
numbers, the traditional approach to positioning does not easily let
us "see" how we should reposition our product. Consequently,
over 30 years ago the technique of perceptual mapping was devised.
This technique allows the visualization of relationships between products
on a "map." But even this advanced approach to positioning
has notable limitations:
Standard perceptual maps are like photographs. They are static,
not dynamic. They don't let us see where a product moves when
we change its features (simulation). Additionally, they don't
let us solve for the way(s) to repositions our product (solving).
Standard perceptual mapping is not optimized; it does not eliminate
noncontributing outliers; and doesn't place the maximal amount
of information in the lowest dimensions.
Standard perceptual mapping is based usually on only one technique
(e.g., factor analysis).
Standard perceptual mapping cannot identify where market opportunity
(e.g., revenue opportunity) resides on the perceptual map.
