With time, professionals from several industries’ margins are set to get cut due to the ubiquity of automated suites. Chief executives in such a scenario will need to choose between sticking to broad solutions or reestablishing their firms as niche specialists. Mobility for example will be hit hard by self-driving solutions. In fact, a report after much research by business consulting leader PwC confirms that more than a third of kilometres clocked by the year 2030 will be by such self-driving or autonomous cars. At present, the industry is worth over two trillion dollars, but due to high capital expenditure and intense competition, margins are already getting squeezed, but set to reduce further. A lot of carrier firms such as fleet operators will revamp their businesses into design shops. The cost of electric battery will within a decade fall below that of internal combustion engines. Players in the mobility industry are likely to be ones with local solutions, with global players unlikely to dominate. The US and the EU are leading the race for now on autonomous cars, but China will soon enter as a dominant player. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in order to survive, will need to work on externally driver innovation, similar innovation in R&D, talent recruitment of people with the relevant skills and the establishment of a services business.

Source:https://www.strategyand.pwc.com/reports/fast-and-furious

Uploaded Date:03 March 2018

It has been observed, that unfortunately for most firms, the process of business transformation goes awry. In spite of this transformation being on top of the agenda for CEOs across organizations, the end result has not been all that effective to effect changes in the TSR (Total Shareholder Returns). Some factors have however been identified which can help improve the rate of transformation success. First of all, companies need understand that to effect short-term success, efficiency and satisfying investor expectations are a must. But in the long-run, it is revenue growth that really impacts the case. This has been proven after a detailed business research undertaken jointly by S&P Capital and the Henderson Institute of the BCG. During times of business turbulence, the strategy research and development aspect becomes especially critical. Transformation success can be highly impacted positively by the involvement of management consulting firms’ hands-on role. Formal transformation programmes can be effective, provided enough scale and scope have been added on.

Source:https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-truth-about-corporate-transformation/?article=the-truth-about-corporate-transformation&post_type=article

Uploaded Date:01 March 2018

While several companies go on to streaks of hot performances, sustaining such levels are a key challenge. This is why business consulting industry leader BCG has come up with a report on how to make this a success. This involves various stages of the journey such as how to organize the back-end for repeated success and how to do well in the medium-term before stabilizing for the long run. How to manage change and the methods for building capacities are also discussed. Restructuring around the newer norms is important so needs to be engaged collectively. No one can ignore the digital side of transformation. And finally, no change effected now can be complete without focus on its execution in the emerging world markets.

Source:https://www.bcg.com/publications/collections/transformation-breakthrough-performance.aspx

Uploaded Date:01 March 2018

The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) is one of the most futuristic organizations today, looking typically to insure themselves against major future disruptions. Unlike, say the banks helping in China’s OBOR project, investing in traditional infrastructure likes roads and bridges, the BNDES prides itself on developing intangible assets for the digital age. While Brazil and a lot of developing countries may have missed the boat during the industrial age, one of the directors of BNDES believes that the country can directly leapfrog into the digital age with cutting-edge new technology like 5G infrastructure. BNDES has already invested more in developmental projects in Brazil, than the World Bank has on the entire globe. Three components make up for future-proofing any country’s development. They are- physical infra, the right talent recruitment of creative people and organizations that are less risk-averse. This will ensure integration between healthcare, smart cities and smart grids through the IoT. Development banks need to focus on provision of growth inducing financial instruments, funds for corporate training programmes to ensure continuous education for professionals, and plan for the upcoming business transformation. The continent of Africa has benefitted from investment on digital products, such as the M-Pesa application in Kenya, so it is time Latin America does likewise.

Source:https://knowledge.insead.edu/blog/insead-blog/leapfrog-into-an-innovative-future-8391

Uploaded Date:27 February 2018

The digital world of today is largely concentrated on two poles- the west coast of the USA and the east coast of China. Nine out of the top ten and eighteen of the top twenty tech companies are located in either of these two centers of gravity. These companies are poised for further growth as we move deeper into the digital era. Older industries are getting disrupted by newer technologies in a Schumpeterian cycle. The digital era has led to a winner-takes-all approach where some companies are reaping all the benefits. This may not be suitable to the existing giants for long, as that will breed resentment among the regions left out. Europe for example has seen fewer of its tech startups turn into unicorns, compared to China, in a reversal of the colonial era. And India is proving to be the coveted marketplace, having moved on from being a competition between England and France, to now USA and China. These digital giants are feeding on huge treasure troves of data warehousing, as this information is the fuel for every business. The concentration of wealth is also leading to prosperity within those countries as majority of the tech giants are employing people who reside within the country, even if in some cases they are foreign born. This is more the case in China than in the USA which retains its place as the most attractive talent recruitment hub. The challenge for the Chinese tech giants such as Baidu, Alibaba or Tencent will now be expansion abroad. The US firms are collectively known as AFAMA for Alphabet as Google has rebranded itself as, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and Apple. These firms need to be weary about digital walls or protectionist policies that the as-yet-losers in the digital age may put up.

Source:https://www.bcg.com/publications/2017/strategy-globalization-new-digital-world-hegemony-harmony.aspx?linkId=46179907

Uploaded Date:27 February 2018

Industry incumbents proud of their past performances, need not be so sanguine about the future-proofing efforts of their work. This is because digitalization at work has led to established firms getting vulnerable to the rising tide. Such companies with declining vitality need to regenerate themselves in order to grow sustainably. That is why the Fortune magazine has created the Fortune Future Index to assess the long-term growth of US-listed companies. This table is based around two principles which are- potential and the capacity to deliver potential. Potential factors in the Present Value of Growth Options (POGO), while fourteen independent factors make up the capacity to deliver this potential. Extensive use of non-financial business analytics has been made in order to gauge this index. This index is further split into two categories which are the Leaders and their Challengers. Majority of the leaders have been observed in healthcare and technology. The US west coast has the maximum of such companies. These companies have performed extremely well in recent times, being listed on both the Fortune as well as S&P lists.

Source:https://www.bcg.com/publications/2017/strategy-strategic-planning-measuring-managing-corporate-vitality.aspx?linkId=46182712

Uploaded Date:27 February 2018

The usual perception is that human beings connect with other people, but not with business brands in a similar vein. Business research conducted by academicians Susan Fournier and Jennifer Aaker suggests otherwise They say, that intimate relations are also forged with brands which explains the repeatability of those purchases. This phenomenon has also been explained in a recent book titled Romancing the Brand: How Brands create strong, intimate Relationships with Consumers written by marketer Tim Halloran. Those marketers are successful who understand this concept and create brands which connect with the consumers. Radio Shack is one such example, where the marketing team knew that the branding was terribly dated, yet they leveraged on the old-world charms rather than completely rejecting the work done till then. Their ads beamed during the Super Bowl projected a sense of nostalgia among the consumers.

Source:https://www.strategy-business.com/blog/Hows-Your-Brands-Love-Life?gko=6f0c3

Uploaded Date:19 February 2018