In his article titled ''What Is Strategy?'' (1996), Michael Porter states that,''Strategy is the creation of a unique and valued competitive position.'' He andother experts in the field of strategy formulation agree that an effective strategy,a breakthrough strategy, must enable an organization to achieve both a uniqueand valued competitive position.The Universal Strategy Formulation Model (USFM) includes the four essen-tial elements of strategy formulation: desired outcomes, constraints, the desiredcompetitive position and solutions. We have established that desired outcomescan be obtained from customers and that the methods required to capture themhave been created. We have established that constraints, which often result fromtime, resource or capital limitations, can be imposed on a strategy or solutionby the organization itself or by a third party. Solutions, as we have learned,come from many sources including customers, employees, managers, consult-ants, technologists and others. We now know how to obtain each of these es-sential elements of strategy formulation, but one question remains, how do weobtain the information that is needed to define the desired competitive position?Before we begin to explain how this information is captured, let's define whatwe mean by the desired competitive position. We define the desired competitiveposition as a unique and valued position that an organization desires to achieverelative to its competitors.

The organization's desired competitive positionshould be unique in that it should be different from the competitive positionthat is occupied by other organizations. It should be valued in that it shoulddeliver value to the internal and external customers for whom the strategy isbeing devised.