[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh6G4NqrAck&w=560&h=349]

When someone says, “I teach companies how to conduct organizational warfare,” I interview them. That was the case when I bumped into Simon Wardley, a researcher for the Leading Edge Forum. With that tease I asked him about the different techniques for the "fighting?" Here’s what he said:

• Ecosystems - Create utility services and encourage innovation in the space.
• Out Commoditize – This is an often an open source play, with multiple providers, with a common area that everyone gains from. Amazon is like this, even though it’s not necessarily “open source.”
• Tower and Moat – Create a standard revenue stream and then build a moat around it with differentiated services. An example of this is Salesforce.com, which differentiated itself by buying Radian6.