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Strategy / Free mini-course
Choose a customer promise, identify the request you will decline and connect the choice to daily activities. Practise a decision under a real capacity constraint.
Free · ₹0 · about 20 minutes · self-paced reading + practice
By Dr. Swapnil Sahoo · for adult learners · no account required
01 / Read and try
‘Better service for everyone’ does not tell a team how to allocate limited time. State which customer problem the business will solve and what dependable experience it promises. In the case below, scheduled collections for local shops and urgent one-off deliveries require different operating patterns. Neither is inherently the best strategy. The useful question is which promise this team can serve distinctively and economically. Porter’s strategy reading offers a lens for examining positioning, trade-offs and fit among activities; the case still needs evidence and judgement.
02 / Read and try
Translate the promise into three activities and one boundary. A scheduled shop service might use fixed collection windows, a compact service area and repeat weekly accounts. Declining urgent cross-city requests protects those activities. A premium urgent service might instead keep spare rider capacity and charge for unpredictable routing. A trade-off is the commitment you knowingly limit to make another commitment feasible. An irritating inconvenience is not automatically a strategy; explain why the boundary supports customer value and the operating model.
03 / Read and try
A defensible choice can be provisional. Identify the uncertain fact most likely to reverse it: sufficient repeat demand, route density, contribution after waiting time or customer acceptance of the service window. Design a bounded test that measures that fact. Comparing headline prices alone misses travel, idle time and reliability. Before the test, specify what would make you continue, revise the boundary or choose a different model. A competitor list becomes useful when it explains the customer’s actual alternative and its implications for your choice.
04 / Make a decision
Put the idea to work · guided practice
A public demonstration using original hypothetical material. Explore choices and compare your reasoning. This activity does not submit work, count towards assessed progress or issue a certificate.
Original hypothetical exercise: Routewise’s two riders are committed to a scheduled collection round for four shops. A customer offers a higher fee for an immediate cross-city pickup. Accepting would make two shop collections late. There is no spare rider. Routewise is testing whether reliable scheduled service creates repeat business. No actual company or market outcome is described.
Choose a response to the urgent request and state what evidence could change the strategy. Try a different choice to see how the reasoning changes. Feedback is written instructional guidance, not AI-generated advice.
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This is one defensible response. Your recommendation may differ if you explain the assumptions and evidence.
Keep the momentum
Separate sales from contribution, find a simple break-even point and test a discount against capacity. Use transparent arithmetic to improve a business decision.
Try the next course →Explore the proposed full programme, its capstone and assessment rubric. Dates and enrolment details are separate from this free course.
Explore the programme →This course provides self-practice and written guidance. It does not submit work, certify completion or promise a professional outcome.