The pattern is easy to miss if you only read the summary slide: competitive strategy is no longer a specialist concern inside strategy lab, it is a whole-company one. That reframing is showing up in hiring, tooling and, increasingly, in valuation conversations.
Skeptics point out that some of the reported gains reflect better measurement rather than better performance — in other words, companies are simply seeing competitive strategy more clearly, not necessarily improving it. That distinction matters for anyone benchmarking against these figures, and it is one reason analysts are pushing for standardised reporting before drawing firm conclusions.
Internal benchmarking data shared with this desk shows median improvement in the 12–19% range over the trailing four quarters, with the top quartile of companies posting gains closer to 30%.
The near-term test will be whether these gains hold once growth slows and budgets tighten. Early evidence from teams that have already been through a slower quarter suggests the discipline built around competitive strategy survives the pressure better than looser, dashboard-only approaches.