Are you matching your AI strategy to your reality?

1. Focused differentiation: sharpen your edge

Applies to: Companies that typically operate in a mature industry that have limited control over the value chain and low technological breadth. These companies have deep expertise in one part of the value chain – such as product formulation, upstream sourcing, or consumer insight – but don’t control the full path to market. While they’re not at the frontier of AI, they have data and the know-how to use it. They can’t redesign the system, but they can make it smarter.

Such companies should:

• Use AI to fine-tune and optimize products or processes within a defined domain.
• Focus on precise, high-impact use cases, such as a better label, a smarter sensor, or a more adaptive formula.
• Win with AI by going deep, not broad.

2. Vertical integration: wire the machine

Applies to: Companies with strong value chain control but relatively limited technological breadth. Such organizations are often ideal candidates for enterprise-wide AI adoption. They may not need to track every tech trend, but by embedding AI into the processes they already own, they can create significant impact.

Such companies can:

• Use AI to link insights across internal systems, revealing synergies and efficiencies between data, departments, and processes.
• Focus on scale as a multiplier of impact – the larger the operation, the greater the cumulative gains from even small efficiency improvements.
• Win by deploying AI across a tightly controlled system – the ability to connect the dots becomes a unique source of competitive advantage.

3. Collaborative ecosystem: leverage the network

Applies to: Companies that operate in technologically complex ecosystems but lack control over how their solutions ultimately reach the market. Such organizations are best positioned to unlock fundamental discovery – the kind of early-stage breakthrough that reshapes science, technology, or medicine.

These organizations should:

• Partner strategically to share innovation risk, infrastructure, and expertise.
• Share platforms, co-develop tools, and form alliances that align incentives, not just timelines.
• Unlock the powerful synergies that stem from deep collaborative alignment.

4. Platform leadership: shape the norms

Applies to: Organizations with great technological breadth and broad value-chain control. These companies have the scale, data, and architectural reach to see what others can’t and act on the insights before anyone else.

These businesses can:

• Create infrastructure and ecosystems as well as build products.
• Set standards, create open APIs, and design systems that others want to build on.
• Use their ability to detect weak signals and novel patterns to move into seemingly distant domains across geographies, industries, and sectors.