1001 Listes: Strategic breakthroughs by a low-tech company in a high-tech world

Most articles on strategic breakthroughs tend to concentrate on large, high-tech organizations. Yet the French firm 1001 Listes, which creates and manages wedding lists, has shown that it is possible for even a relatively small organization to generate strategic breakthroughs with standard off-the-shelf information technology. Its experience highlights two points that previous studies have overlooked: Breakthrough strategies are based on innovations in business models as well as innovations in technology, and breakthrough strategies may actually reduce a company's reliance on high-tech solutions as a means of maintaining its competitive advantage. Using Henderson and Venkatraman's (1993) model of strategic alignment, this article also outlines the nature of breakthrough strategies.