The http://www.unitedbit.com blog has posted a three-part series from a McGrath-MacMillan excerpt on Mapping the Consumption Chain. “Most profitable strategies are built on differentiation: offering customers something they value that competitors don’t have. A company has the opportunity to differentiate itself at every point where it comes in contact with its customers — from the moment customers realize that they need a product or service to the time when they no longer want it and decide to dispose of it. If companies open up their creative thinking to their customers’ entire experience with a product or service — so-called the consumption chain — they can uncover opportunities to position their offerings in ways that they, and their competitors, would never have thought possible. Ian C. MacMillan and Rita Gunther McGrath have designed a two-part approach that can help companies continually identify new points of differentiation and develop the ability to generate successful differentiation strategics. The first part, “Mapping the Consumption Chain,” captures the customer’s total experience with a product or service.” Click here to find all three posts.