““The preliminary conclusion here is that the profitability problem the client faces is a company-specific problem, not an industry-wide problem. Determining the root cause is important, because having to reframe it later could fundamentally shift your hypothesis and the subsequent issue tree or framework you use to test it. For example, if the problem is clearly a company-specific problem, it doesn’t make sense to analyze competitors. It makes sense to analyze the client’s operations and perhaps circle back to competitors later if something you discover about the client’s operations warrants a comparison to competitors.””
