New management ideas become all the rage and then seemingly fizzle out overnight. So how can you tell which ones to adopt to give you that competitive edge?

A groundbreaking study (the Evergreen Project) of 200 management techniques reveal a surprising result: most techniques have no direct impact on superior business performance. What does is the mastery of business basics. To achieve superior performance you have to excel in four primary practices  – strategy, execution, culture and structure. This week we focus on strategy.

Whatever your strategy, whether it product, cost, solution, convenience or experienced based, it will work if it is sharply defined, clearly communicated and well understood by employees, customers and partners. Some tips to achieving this:

• Build your strategy around a clear value proposition for the customer
• Develop your strategy from outside in, based on what your customers and partners say (and how they behave), not on gut feel or instinct
• Continually fine tune your strategy based on feedback from your marketplace, for example a new technology, a social trend or what your competitors are doing
• Clearly communicate your strategy through the organisation
• Keep focused