"market-shaping devices"

Leitura de "Value propositions as market-shaping devices: A qualitative comparative analysis" 

"Both value propositions and markets have been conceptualized as configurations of interdependent elements. The complexity of the studied phenomenon is best captured by the configurational perspective, which is increasingly employed across business disciplines. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to identify the configurations of value proposition characteristics that are effective for focal firms engaging in market-shaping strategies.

...

Our principal contribution is to distinguish the VP's role as a key device for market-shaping; more specifically, we identify four characteristics of market-shaping VPs. We also show that even though VPs can shape markets without displaying all four of these characteristics, no single characteristic alone can create all the expected outcomes. Further, our study extends our understanding of the nature of the VP concept. Specifically, we identify that market-shaping VPs are complex configurations rather than unidimensional constructs aimed at differentiating the firm in the market. Practically, we distinguish distinct configurations of VP characteristics that are successful in either: (1) changing the elements comprising the market system, or (2) inducing an overall market change at the system-level.

Research is progressively recognizing markets as systems or ecosystems, suggesting a need to look beyond the seller-buyer dyad and to see the dyad as part of a larger system of actors. This transition from dyadic relational thinking to complex systems thinking reveals that nobody can fully predict or control the development of a market system.

Market systems do not obey simple laws of cause and effect. Furthermore, they have no center and no central control mechanism. Rather, they evolve from a mix of deliberately designed influence and random emergence."

Segundo o artigo:

• As empresas podem moldar activamente os seus mercados criando e implementando propostas de valor fortes. Essas propostas envolvem a oferta de combinações únicas de produtos, serviços ou experiências que ressoem nos clientes e diferenciem a empresa dos seus concorrentes. Claro que quem aposta em dominar os biombos e carpetes do poder, perde a oportunidade de se especializar na moldagem do seu mercado.
• Há quatro características essenciais que tornam as propostas de valor eficazes na modelação do mercado: integração acrescida de recursos, (a velha densificação de Normann), processo colaborativo de proposta de valor (customização, interacção), promessa de valor sistémica e verificada (é como fazer uma grande promessa de que se pode mudar o jogo para muitas partes interessadas, e depois provar que realmente se consegue fazer isso), e novas representações utilizadas na comunicação.
• Há que empregar uma abordagem configuracional, sugerindo que estas características podem ser combinadas de várias maneiras para atingir os objetivos de formação do mercado. Nenhuma característica por si só é suficiente; a combinação e interacção entre eles são cruciais. Num sistema complexo como o mercado, os resultados resultam de uma combinação de factores que trabalham em conjunto e não apenas de uma causa. Diferentes combinações desses fatores interligados podem levar ao mesmo resultado, mostrando que múltiplos caminhos podem atingir um objetivo. 

O papel das redes e as organizações de Mongo

Em Mongo, terra de tribos e de artesãos, as organizações vão ser diferentes das criadas para o Normalistão.

"network forms of organization - typified by reciprocal patterns of communication and exchange - represent a viable pattern of economic organization.
…
Pre-existing networks of relationships enable small firms to gain an established foothold almost overnight. These networks serve as conduits to provide small firms with the capacity to meet resource and functional needs.
…
I have a good deal of sympathy regarding the view the economic exchange is embedded in a particular social structural context. Yet it is also the case that certain forms of exchange are more social - this is, more dependent on relationships, mutual interest enter, and reputation - as well as less guided by a formal structure of authority. My aim is to identify a coherent set of factors the make it meaningful to talk about networks as a distinctive form of coordinating economic activity.
…
When the items exchanged between buyers and sellers processed qualities that are not easily measured, and the relations are so long-term and recurrent that it is difficult to speak of the parties as separate entities, can we still regard is as a market exchange? When the entangling of obligation  and reputation reaches a point that he actions of the parties are interdependent, but there is no common ownership or legal framework, do we not need a new conceptual toolkit to describe and analyze this relationship?
…
Network forms of exchange, however, entail indefinite, sequential transactions within the context of a general pattern of interaction. Sanctions are typically normative rather than legal.
…
In networks, the preferred option is often one of creating indebtedness and reliance over the long haul. Each approach does devalues the other: prosperous market traders would be viewed as petty and untrustworthy shysters in networks, while successful participants in networks who carried those practices into competitive markets would be viewed as naïve and foolish. Within hierarchies, communication and exchange is shaped by concerns with career mobility - in this sense, exchange is bound up with considerations of personal advancement.
…
Networks are “lighter on their feet” than hierarchies. In network modes of resource allocation, transactions occur neither through discrete exchanges nor by administrative fiat, but through networks of individuals engaged in reciprocal, preferential, mutually supportive actions. Networks can be complex: they involve neither the explicit criteria on the market, nor the familiar paternalism of the hierarchy, basic assumption of network relationships is that one party is dependent on the resources controlled by another, and that there are gains to be had by the pooling of resources. In essence, the parties to a network agreed to forego the right to pursue their own interests at the expense of others.
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In networks forms of resource allocation, individual units exist not by themselves, but in relation to other units. These relationships to establish and sustain, thus they constrain both parters ability to adapt to changing circumstances. As networks evolve, it becomes more economically sensible to exercise voice rather than exit. Benefits and burdens come to be shared. Expectations are not frozen, but change as circumstances dictate. A mutual orientation - knowledge which the parties assume each has about the other and upon which day draw in communication and problem solving - is established. In short, complementarity and accommodation are the cornerstones of successful production networks. … the “entangling strings” of reputation, friendship, interdependence, and altruism become integral parts of the relationship.
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Networks are particularly apt for circumstances in which there is a need for efficient, reliable information. The most useful information is rarely that which flows down the formal chain of command in an organization, or that which can be inferred from shifting price signals. Rather, it is that which is obtained from someone whom you have dealt with in the past found to be a reliable. You trust best information that comes from someone you know well. … information passed through networks is “thicker” [Moi ici: Como não associar este "thicker" ao densificar das relações em Normann] than information obtained in the market, and “freer” than communicated in a hierarchy. Networks, then, are especially useful for the exchange of commodities whose value is not easily measured. Such qualitative matters as know how, technological capability, a particular approach or style of production, a spirit of innovation or experimentation, or a philosophy of zero defects are very hard to place a price tag on. They are not easily traded in markets nor communicated through a corporate hierarchy. The open-ended, relational features of networks, with their relative absence of explicit quid pro quo behavior, greatly enhance the ability to transmit and learn new knowledge and skills."

"Neither Market Nor Hierarchy: Network Forms of Organization" de Walter Powell, publicado por Research in Organizational Behavior, Janeiro de 1990.

"the resourceness of resources" (parte II)

Parte I.

"the paper conceptualizes a resource not as a substance or thing, but rather as an abstraction that describes the function that a substance or idea contributes to achieve a desired end. Hence, to integrate resources, resource-integrating actors must first be able to recognize the resourceness of the potential resources available to him/her. Therefore, the process of affording potential resources their resourceness becomes a prerequisite for resource integration and value cocreation. For this reason, a deeper understanding of resources is critical for the further development of S- D logic and its service ecosystems perspective.
...
The basic argument of the paper is that resourceness is not an intrinsic characteristic of a resource, but is a socially constructed and institutionalized phenomenon
...
S-D logic’s systemic view on value creation posits that for value to emerge, resources from multiple sources must be integrated. Hence, value is cocreated among multiple actors who potentially possess institutional arrangements that differ in terms of the included practices, symbols, and organizing principles that enable and constrain resource integration. Resource integration, therefore, takes place in the complex, multidimensional, and dynamic context of service ecosystems composed of multiple institutional arrangements.
...
‘resourceness’ is inseparable from the complex institutional context in which it arises. When connected to this omnipresent process of potential resources gaining their ‘resourceness,’ the institutional approach demonstrates its applicability to a wide range of social phenomena. This conceptualization reveals the need for more holistic, systemic, and multidisciplinary perspectives on understanding the profound implications of the process of resources ‘becoming’ in value cocreation, innovation, and market evolution."

Trechos retirados de "The evolution of markets – A service ecosystems perspective" de Kaisa Koskela-Huotari

"the resourceness of resources"

"the starting point of S-D logic is the idea that service is exchanged for service to cocreate value; that is, to increase the wellbeing and viability of an actor or system. Central to this view is the idea that value creation as a process emerges and unfolds over extended periods of time as a multi-actor effort of integrating resources through the exchange of service, either directly or indirectly. Value, as an emergent outcome of this process, is contingent on the integrated resources as well as contextually determined by each actor in a specific instance of the process, making value perception potentially quite unique and asymmetric.
...
An important part of the service-centered view is to understand that the nature of resources is contextual. In other words, resources are not, they become. This means that actors’ knowledge and skills - that is, other resources - determine the resourceness of resources."

Como não relacionar estes sublinhados com o salazarismo corporativista que sabe o que é que é melhor para o cliente

Trechos retirados de "The evolution of markets – A service ecosystems perspective" de Kaisa Koskela-Huotari

"um mosaico vai emergir para densificar as interacções"

"Porter, in his classical work on competitive strategy, built the concept of the 'value chain' according to which various economic actors working in a sequential, chain-like configuration 'add value' all the way until the customer is finally reached. Porter duly and clearly recognized that a company's position in this 'chain' may be challenged not only by its traditional competitors but also by actors representing substitute technology, by suppliers, and by customers themselves. And in his work on the competitiveness of nations Porter, with his 'cluster' theories, begins to develop notions of actor systems which can only fit the value chain model mom or less by forcing them to do so.
...
In fact, today's market game is much more about who can most creatively design frame breaking systemic solutions than about who can position himself in a 'chain'. The value chain was a stronger metaphor in a production- and materials-based economy than in a knowledge- and service-based one."

Relacionei logo estes trechos com um vídeo delicioso que o @icyView me fez chegar ontem à tarde:

This is truly incredible.#nature #SundayMorning #October1st pic.twitter.com/j21OkF5dGL

— Fredon Moniteau (@FMoniteau) October 1, 2017

Quando se monta um ecossistema acredita-se que vão surgir relações não lineares um pouco por todo o lado, e um mosaico vai emergir para densificar as interacções entre os seus actores.

Retirei estes trechos do capítulo 4 de "Reframing Business - When the Map Changes the Landscape" de Richard Normann. O capítulo 4 tem o sugestivo título de "Chained to the Value Chain?"

Apostar na densificação

In #complex systems, improving the interactions
between the parts is more important than
improving the parts.
Period.

— Niels Pflaeging (@NielsPflaeging) September 30, 2017

Leio e sorrio...

Ainda ontem numa empresa enquadrei e sublinhei neste âmbito, uma estória que me tinham acabado de contar: cliente que tinha acabado de comprar máquina usada e, ligou a alguém da empresa para que lhe prestassem apoio para a colocar de acordo com o DL 50/2005 (questões de segurança).

Depois, à noite, li um bocadinho de Richard Normann e sublinhei:

"the 'principle of density'. The best combination of resources is mobilized for a particular situation — e.g. for a customer at a given time in a given place — independent of location, to create the optimum value/cost result. 'Density' expresses the degree to which such mobilization of resources for a 'time/space/actor' unit can take place. Offerings can be ever more individualized. [Moi ici: O destino é Mongo]"

Ao final da manhã dei um salto a uma loja iStore para pedir ajuda na aquisição de um acessório para poder trabalhar com um audio e microfone num MacBook Air (que só tem uma entrada para o audio). E a reacção foi: não temos, não vendemos, não é nada connosco.

Empresas que apostam na densificação não pensam só naquilo que se traduz numa venda imediata, pensam em tudo o que podem mobilizar para uma interacção.

Densidade e ecossistemas

Ao ler "Creating the competitive edge: A new relationship between operations management and industrial policy" publicado por Journal of Operations Management 49-51 (2017), encontro uma citação de uma velha conhecida minha, Suzanne Berger:

“rich and diverse set of complementary capabilities in the industrial ecosystem: suppliers, trade associations, industrial collective research consortia, industrial research centers, Fraunhofer Institutes, university-industry collaborative, technical advisory committees. It's impossible to understand the different fates of manufacturing in the United States and Germany without comparing the density and richness of the resources available in the industrial ecosystem across much of Germany to the thin and shrinking resources available to U.S. manufacturers across much of our country” 

Ao ver o termo ecossistema, (palavra usada com especial carinho neste blogue), ao ver o desfilar de actores que povoam os meus esquemas sobre ecossistemas da procura (Malta da ISO 9001:2015, estão a ver porque aprecio a cláusula 4.2 da norma? E como a aprecio!) associados à palavra densidade não pude deixar de imediatamente recordar dois nomes: Richard Normann e Rafael Martinez e o seu "Reframing Business: When the Map Changes the Landscape". Bastou uma pesquisa no Google para chegar a "Designing Interactive Strategy":

"In so volatile a competitive environment, strategy is no longer a matter of positioning a fixed set of activities along a value chain. Increasingly, successful companies do not just add value, they reinvent it. Their focus of strategic analysis is not the company or even the industry but the value-creating system itself, within which different economic actors—suppliers, business partners, allies, customers—work together to co-produce value. Their key strategic task is the reconfiguration of roles and relationships among this constellation of actors in order to mobilize the creation of value in new forms and by new players. And their underlying strategic goal is to create an ever-improving fit between competencies and customers.
...
The result is an integrated business system that invents value by matching the various capabilities of participants more efficiently and effectively than was ever the case in the past.
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What is so different about this new kind of value? One useful way to describe it is that value has become more dense. Think of density as a measure of the amount of information, knowledge, and other resources that an economic actor has at hand at any moment in time to leverage his or her own value creation. Value has become more dense in that more and more opportunities for value creation are packed into any particular offering."

E as suas ideias acerca das constelações:

"IKEA is more than a link on a value chain. It is the center of a constellation of services, goods, and design.
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The image of a value chain fails to capture the complexity of roles and relationships in the IKEA business system. IKEA did not position itself to add value at any one point in a predetermined sequence of activities. Rather, IKEA set out systematically to reinvent value and the business system that delivers it for an entire cast of economic actors. The work-sharing, co-productive arrangements the company offers to customers and suppliers alike force both to think about value in a new way—one in which customers are also suppliers (of time, labor, information, and transportation), suppliers are also customers (of IKEA’s business and technical services), and IKEA itself is not so much a retailer as the central star in a constellation of services, goods, design, management, support, and even entertainment. The result: IKEA has succeeded, arguably, in creating more value per person (customer, supplier, and employee) and in securing greater total profit from and for its financial and human resources than all but a handful of other companies in any consumer industry."

Densificar e organizar a criação de valor

Nas empresas, muitas vezes, remeto a perspectiva para o ecossistema da procura e

para o desenvolvimento de relações ganhar-ganhar-ganhar. Por exemplo:

• densidade e modelos de negócio
• "A competência crucial passa a ser a de organizar a criação de valor" 

Ganhar-ganhar-ganhar porque passa por orquestrar uma relação que traga vantagens não só à clássica interacção diádica, cliente-fornecedor, mas também a outras combinações:

• prescritor-fornecedor-cliente;
• fornecedor-cliente-cliente do cliente;
• fornecedor-parceiro-cliente-cliente do cliente;

Isto tudo por causa de "Can Pandora’s Focus on Artists Keep Apple and Spotify at Bay?":

"But since Pandora depends upon its inventory of musicians to keep listeners loyal to the service, the company has been working hard to provide other, non-monetary benefits to artists. One way to do that: become a service that’s as useful to musicians as it is to listeners.
...
Pandora snatched up Next Big Sound, a music analytics service
...
Even before it bought Next Big Sound, Pandora was already focused on building out its own artist-focused tools"

Dores de crescimento (parte II)

Acho que foi com Ortega Y Gasset que li que nós não começamos a viver, nós apercebemos-nos a viver, nós vamos tomando consciência de que somos, de que vamos sendo.
.
Há coisas que leio que fazem-me pensar nesta reflexão... há coisas que desenvolvo com as empresas como uma tentativa, como o resultado de fuçar e mais fuçar em busca de uma oportunidade, à procura de uma alternativa. O que interessa é a acção e muitas vezes a acção é clara e está já teorizada e testada por alguém. Cada vez mais, vou encontrando a teorização à posteriori... engraçado o sentimento de deja vu, de confirmação, de pensar que "eheheh afinal aquilo era mesmo uma novidade" ou "eheh ainda andam às voltas com isto e nós já lá estivemos"
.
Quatro palavras para as próximas reflexões:

• densificação 
• performativity
• marketness
• market making

E pensava eu que não havia teoria sobre isto da "balanced centricity", há muita e boa... muito boa mesmo.