A lot of companies confuse between customer and business strategy. While customer-centric corporate strategy is needed, the two terms mentioned do not always co-exist. This can best be illustrated using the example of the 2008 housing crisis where customer demands led to excessive quoting at the mortgage market, eventually leading to lots of loan defaults. Instead a customer-centric approach must be adopted. A study claims that according to CEOs, it is company cultures that prevent customer-centricity especially the formation of self-serving silos. The focus towards short term gains or company convenience, a lack of engagement with the work or empathy with the customer, the comfort on working on processes rather than for people, not having a Customer Value Management system in place, and even executives considering company requirements more important than customers’ are reasons commonly cited for such failures. Thus systematic changes need to be brought in. This includes a sort of a bill of rights for the customers, continuous service improvement programmes, focus on creating value for all forms of stakeholders, developing customer centric circles and asking executives to spend about a sixth of their total work time interacting directly with the customer.

Source:http://customerthink.com/how-customer-strategy-relates-to-business-strategy-and-customer-culture/

Some innovative companies have developed models where value can be co-created by involving customers. FedEx for example pioneered the concept of customers checking the status of their packages themselves instead of via any company rep. This led to the involvement and empowerment of the customer, while the company itself saved on staffing costs. Now in the platform based economy, the potential for this model has increased in application. Service providers such as Uber, Airbnb, Amazon, Facebook and LinkedIn are already following this model. New business innovations are allowing B2C, B2B and even C2C models flourish. For this co-innovation platforms have been set up as GE and Microsoft have already implemented. One such model is the Customer Value Foundation (CVF) which creates value by enabling collaboration between customers, employees and vendors. An upgrade on this is the Total CVF model where the entire value chain of the organization gets transformed to cater to increasing shareholder value.

Source:http://customerthink.com/the-value-co-creation-platform-welcome-to-the-platform-economy/

In order to foster a sense of business innovation across an organization, the leader needs to be creative oneself but also must induce such experimentation as a habit. The conventional regulated and compliance oriented work processes may not be able to unlock people’s hidden potential at innovation. Thus four key steps must be taken to ensure this does happen. First of all, the company must have a clear vision as to how it foresees itself and its branding. Here the leader plays the explorer’s role. He/she needs to play the gardener’s role when creating the proper work culture. This includes the sense of collaboration, empathy and networking. The leader turns into a player coach when he/she organizes specific management training programmes to ensure learning takes place from the experiments, smart risks or even failures. Finally there is technology, the appropriate bit and the right amount of which needs to be used up. With the right technology, employees can execute innovations to everyday activities.

 http://innovationexcellence.com/blog/2016/11/17/making-innovation-a-habit-the-birth-of-the-creative-leader/

A lot of large sized companies fall under their own created traps of success. Due to their success, they get amplified from global trends, and suddenly when challenges occur they are unable to deal with it. Examples abound of big brands collapsing under their own weight but there are others which have fought off this trend.  Apple is one such example where the i-Phone literally disrupted its previously successful i-Pod. Facebook another as the company used a variety of offerings within its family to stay competitive even during downturns. Within its portfolio, exist Messenger, Instagram, Whatsapp and of course the mother brand itself. P&G similarly has cannibalized its own products by launching products that compete with one another. This business innovation of theirs ensures that their brands get cannibalized by their own upgrades rather than competitors’. A common failing of legacy brands is that they expect the audience to lap up any product they launch. They even think that customers’ tastes can be modified according to the product developed which they can monetize to best benefits. Such organizations suffer from creation of silos such as sales, marketing, finance or customer support all existing in their own spheres. This hinders development of ideas while individual team members focus more on themselves rather than the bigger picture. In addition to those mentioned, the likes of Amazon and Netflix have also done similar brand cannibalization. Others such as Dropbox, Line, Spotify and Snapchat will soon enter the phase where they need to diversify into a family of products.

Source:https://backchannel.com/how-companies-can-avoid-the-innovator-s-dilemma-3f980ae533a7#.fkj8oj4mg

Terms related to values and beliefs of the organization are trending in businesses these days. Business consulting giant Ernst and Young along with the Oxford University found out that public discourse on organizational purpose has increased five times since the year 1995. Thus a new research was conducted by the Great Place To Work (GPTW) Institute to measure whether purpose had a genuine tangible impact on the bottom line for organizations. Out of all surveyed, those who confessed to believing in the value system of their organization, two broad categories were found out. Then high purpose-camaraderie group shared a common purpose at work but also mutual camaraderie within the organization. The other such type was the high purpose- clarity type. Like the previous group, they too scored high on purpose but also did well on management clarity. On further analysis, it emerged that only the latter group genuinely displayed high performance in the stock market and followed better accounting practices

Source:https://hbr.org/2016/10/the-type-of-purpose-that-makes-companies-more-profitable

Businesses could have continued flourishing in spite of a hard-line sales orientation. That is no longer the case as customers want personalized attention. Companies can no longer escape the real feedback of the market thanks to social media and instant gratification or fall due to the same. A management publication has recently published a list of five traits which companies must have in order to project a positive corporate strategy. Its mission and vision statements must be inspirational in content. Its marketing strategy needs to be based around a proper segmentation so that the right people are targeted. Customers and employees must feel a certain value has been delivered to them by the organization. No organization must be satiated with the current condition but must instead prepare for future contingencies. Plans must be afoot on how to deal with possible business disruptions. Importantly, the leadership at the organization must be geared up to develop and further leverage a competitive advantage unique to the firm. Due diligence needs to be conducted on developing the strategy part before plunging headlong into the nitty-gritty of tactics.

source:http://www.huffingtonpost.in/entry/a-positive-business-strat_b_12446122

There are three steps that need to be undertaken in order to build the organization around existing core competencies. They include- differentiating or critical capabilities, core competencies and work competencies. Critical capabilities involve differentiating the firm from its competitors and those abilities which are unique enough to contribute substantially towards success. They give the organization a particular character in the eyes of customers. Some such qualities could be – risk management, social responsibility, simplicity in operations, connection and business innovation. Core competencies involve such aspects where the organization really excels in. These could alter depending upon periodicity. The third aspect – work competencies- focuses on growth of individuals across the board. Such talent management needs to be addressed in sales, stakeholder relations, cost efficiencies, quality control, reputation management and processes or systems. This layered pyramid is the best approach towards developing quality personnel within the organization.

Source: http://www.humanresourcesonline.net/design-organisation-around-core-competencies/

A recent advert on GE clearly reflects how the brand is generally perceived as. It is perceived as an industrial age manufacturer and not a modern workplace where employees create new models. The company wants to change this perception and is investing heavily into new age businesses. Digital platforms such as Uber, Amazon, Betterment and Wealthfront have revolutionized public perception.Business consulting giant McKinsey clearly states that 15-20% of companies today present in the S&P 500 list did not exist fifteen to twenty years back. Existing giants failed to integrate newer business models. Tradition bound models have not yet been challenged in several industries but will soon be. It includes real estate that is still about location, manufacturing that is about owning the factors of production, the airline industry which is about miles and seats or the cable TV industry which measures subscriber growth. The core belief and the underlying systems must be inverted to assess what kind of new models can blend well with the philosophy of the organization.

Source: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/industrial-firms-can-pivot-digital-business-models/

The term ecotone in biology suggests an area which lies in the transition zone between two major ecosystems. These are amongst the biologically most diverse and richest hotspots leading to interactions between vast species of flora and fauna. In business, similar ecotones exist on the edges and it is here that several opportunities for growth exist. First of all is the space where customers and the organization come together. Several opportunities exist to either manipulate the other or to add genuine value. Then there are temporal transition zones between business seasons of relative slump. Finally, there is the use of tangible and intangible assets of an organization which go beyond the core work itself. The example of Toyota may be cited. The technology the company as using to conduct business analytics led to enormous data being delivered which the company soon realized could be leveraged by other firms also. This data the company sold to earn revenue but was also important for such clients such as municipalities in Japan monitoring traffic data with a view to reducing accidents.

Management consulting provided by the Forbes publication clearly asserts that it is toxic work cultures that are far more harmful than individual dissidents or non- performers in organizations. It is a work culture riddled with employees who fear rather than those who are motivated. The staff eventually ends up underperforming. There is competition over unnecessary aspects leading to cross-team as well as intra-team tension or dysfunction. Knowledge remains in silos due to the lack of collaboration. Targets are often missed as employees cannot dedicate their efforts towards the actual work. Systemic thinking must thus be applied across organizations.

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kathycaprino/2016/09/23/ready-to-heal-your-organization-leverage-systemic-thinking-for-new-solutions/#140b68f760ee

Unicorns as opposed to established giants, are organizations that have sprung up recently, use private money and are VC (Venture Capital) funded. The Wall Street Journal has published the full list but some of the top unicorns in global business today include Uber, Snapchat, Airbnb, Xiaomi and Flipkart. The growth of such firms has been exponential and this has brought the focus on how big companies can learn from their successes. The first major learning is that unicorns are small in size, allowing quick decision making. They are led by serial entrepreneurs who love developing one business before moving on to the next. They may not be great administrators which is why they leave the day-to-day running to others, but they excel at business innovation. They have raised massive quantities of VC funds. Crucially, they focus on specific solutions and excel in them rather than trying out a bouquet of services.

Source: https://hbr.org/2016/03/what-big-companies-can-learn-from-the-success-of-the-unicorns