Where to Play and Where Not To: The Power of Focused Choices

The path to enduring success almost always requires making explicit choices about where to compete—and just as importantly, where not to. Procter & Gamble’s Bounty paper towels illustrate this perfectly. Once aspiring to conquer global markets, Bounty’s team realized their true strengths lay in North America, serving only certain segments of picky consumers. When resources were spread too thin—chasing food containers in Europe or paper cups in Asia—the core paper towel business started to stagnate. It took a leadership shake-up and some honest questions: who are our real customers, and where do we win (not just survive)?

After long meetings and piles of data, the team mapped every segment, channel, and geography. They found three consumer segments where Bounty already had a lock: people who cared about both absorbency and strength, those wanting soft, cloth-like towels, and a price-sensitive group satisfied with practicality. Tough calls followed: the business gradually cut its international bets, refocused R&D, and built differentiated products for each of the North American segments—and stepped away from the truly price-driven commodity tier, where scale mattered more than perceived quality.

The payoff? Instead of half-hearted expansion, Bounty dominated its chosen turf, growing market share and unlocking real innovation. Behavioral economists might call this a principle of 'resource allocation under constraint'; strategy experts call it competitive positioning. Either way, the evidence is clear: the courage to focus, and to let go, turns complexity into an advantage.

To focus your energy for real results, first map every possible area you could serve—even the longshots. Then, look at where your unique strengths give you an edge and boldly circle just a couple to invest in. The hard part is drawing a line: pick one area you’ve clung to out of comfort, and start saying no. You might feel temporary loss, but soon you’ll sense greater momentum and pride in what you deliver.