---
id: "framework-strategic-centers"
type: "framework"
source_timestamps: ["§ Strategy Amid Radical Uncertainty"]
tags: ["strategy", "organizational-design"]
related: ["concept-strategic-centering", "concept-the-stuff-economy", "entity-rita-mcgrath", "quote-strategic-center-importance"]
speakers: ["Rita McGrath"]
steps: ["Mission", "Customer", "Technology", "National ecosystem", "Friction erasure"]
sources: ["tail1"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-tail1"
originDay: 1
articleStem: "hbr-tail-106-decision-frameworks-fail"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/06/gg-why-decision-making-frameworks-fail"
sourceTitle: "Why Decision-Making Frameworks Fail"
---
# Five Types of Strategic Centering

[[entity-rita-mcgrath]] identifies **five distinct types of strategic centering** — organizing principles a company can use to anchor itself in the post-'stuff' economy (see [[concept-the-stuff-economy]]). Leaders must choose *one* to provide clarity and coherence; per McGrath, this is the single most important strategic decision a leader can make today (see [[quote-strategic-center-importance]]).

The five centers:

1. **Mission** — organize around a purpose or cause.
2. **Customer** — organize around a defined customer and their jobs-to-be-done.
3. **Technology** — organize around a core technological capability or platform.
4. **National ecosystem** — organize around a country/regional ecosystem and its institutions.
5. **Friction erasure** — organize around systematically removing friction from a process or market.

This framework operationalizes the concept [[concept-strategic-centering]].

> **Counter-perspective:** A single center may oversimplify diversified firms, platforms, or regulated organizations, where multiple centers or a portfolio logic may fit the operating reality better.