One of the few ways left for companies to protect their margins is through business model differentiation. According to Kay Plantes, business models have become the new basis of competition, replacing product features and benefits as the playing field on which companies emerge as dominant or laggards.
According to a recent survey of 65 senior executives of global companies, the large majority of firms are looking for innovation to drive growth. But they're not necessarily looking for the next great product or product feature. Instead, companies are putting greater focus on business models that create value for customers in new ways.
For companies desiring organic growth and whose innovation efforts are not yielding the results demanded, using a Strategic Innovation approach using structured tools and methods will produce higher value products, services, systems, and environments that will resonate deeper with people to encourage them to become loyal customers. This approach delivers better solutions that are feasible to build, viable for profit, and desirable to the user.
It never ceases to amaze me. I’m meeting with the executive committee of a major global company. I’ve just asked if innovation is one of their top strategic priorities. Their unanimous answer is “yes”. I then ask about their individual responsibilities. “Which one of you is the CFO?” “Who is head of HR?” “Where’s the CIO?” One by one their hands go up. Yet when I ask to see their global director of innovation, nobody raises a hand. Everyone just looks at me with a blank expression. So, sure, this company understands the innovation imperative. But nobody in its leadership team is directly responsible – or accountable – for making innovation happen across the organization. And they don’t even seem to be aware of the paradox.
Rowan Gibson explains how intellectual capital has become an outdated way to measure an organization's worth. What's needed are new measures used to create value today, such as imagination capital, entrepreneurial capital and relationship capital.
Companies are increasingly recognizing that today’s turbulent times require nothing short of continual reinvention. Weathering today’s storm isn’t enough. Companies need to develop repeatable processes that regularly renew their firms before the next crisis hits. This kind of renewal must begin with the leaders themselves.
One area with tremendous economic potential is to create a new business model. Here are some ideas on how you can create new businesss models in your organization and uncover new profit potential.
The key element in developing business strategy is to define your intent. A company's intent could be to lead in some markets, and be a follower in another. A company can be a niche player, or a low cost leader, or the high value leader. Whatever the selection, it should be based on the desire to win and to determine what can be versus what is.
Chances are, you've heard of business model innovation. But what is it, really? Peter Skarczynski and Rowan Gibson, in their new book, Innovation to the Core: A Blueprint for Transforming How Your Company Innovates, provide a very clear and understandable explanation of this concept.
In most business ideas, there is a direct correlation between how audacious and risky an idea is and its innovativeness and reward potential. In this article, Jeffrey Baumgartner explores the relationship between audaciousness, risk and reward, and provides some advice on what the right mix is.
