Roger Martin
Professor emeritus at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, where he served as dean for 15 years. Named Global Dean of the Year in 2013 and the world’s number one management thinker by Thinkers50 in 2017. Spent 15 years as a leader at Monitor Company (the strategy consultancy founded to commercialise Michael Porter’s work). Long-term advisor to Procter & Gamble, and board member of Thomson Reuters for 14 years. Co-authored Playing to Win (2013) with A.G. Lafley.
His central contribution is the Strategy Choice Cascade — five interlocking questions (winning aspiration, where to play, how to win, capabilities, management systems) — and the insistence that strategy is a learnable, practicable skill available to anyone at any organisational level, not a natural gift.
Key ideas
- Strategy = an integrated set of choices that compels desired customer action.
- Every company must win on one of two axes: differentiation or cost leadership; any middle position is indefensible.
- Capabilities and management systems are what build and maintain the competitive moat.
- The resource-based view of the firm — dominant in business schools — is theoretically fashionable and practically useless.
- Strategic skill is built through practice and deliberate gap-closing (betterment), not innate talent.
Appearances
| Source | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Roger Martin on Strategy | ~2023 | Strategy Choice Cascade; playing to win; capabilities as moat; betterment |
Books
- Playing to Win (2013, with A.G. Lafley) — foundational text on the Strategy Choice Cascade.