IDG Contributor Network: The not-so-secret strategy behind Walgreens’ ecosystem advantage

Disclosure: Walgreens is a customer of my employer, Apigee.Sometimes, strategic advantage relies on concealment. The formula for Coca-Cola, for example, is a famously well-kept secret.In other cases, a company's secret advantage is as plain as day, and their success is premised on focused execution (as well as, perhaps, competitors hesitating to pick up the gauntlet and raise their game to the same level).Consider Amazon’s emphasis on its third-party retail marketplace — a not-s