"The central vehicle for value creation"

Em "Mental Representation and the Discovery of New Strategies" de Felipe A. Csaszar e Daniel A. Levinthal encontro:

"A mental representation is a model of reality held in the mind of an individual, who can use this representation to generate predictions about reality. Mental representations are especially important in strategy because they allow managers to consider alternative strategies in an `o -line' manner. That is, mental representations allow managers to consider the merit of alternative strategies without the need to actually invest in and carry out the various options. Of course, such `modeling' is inevitably imperfect and di fferent representations may off er better or worse characterizations of the likely payoff s in an actual business context. Thus the quality of managers' mental representations is a basis for performance diff erences, and a firm's prior history may have a considerable influence on the mental representations adopted by their managers.
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A fundamental characteristic of mental representations is that they account for only somedimensions of the represented reality. In strategy, the reduced dimensionality of mental representations helps explain why `frameworks' are pervasive in the field. Frameworks - which provide simple, typically two dimensional representations of the complex underlying strategy context - suggest the dimensions that a mental representation should include.
...
A framework is useful to the manager because it reduces the high dimensionality of strategic problems and so makes them tractable within the bounds of the manager's cognitive capacity. Because frameworks incorporate only a subset of the problem's actual dimensions, multiple frameworks can apply to a given strategic problem.
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Thus, an important problem that managers face is to choose the dimensions of the representation - the `lens' or `fi lter' - through which to view their business landscape. That any landscape looks much di fferent under diff erent representations exposes a problem with how the literature has conceptualized the process of searching for a strategy."

Isto está relacionado com:

"firms create value as they formulate, identify, and solve problems.
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At the firm level, scholars have looked at the origins of value held in resources, accumulating experience, and developing capabilities, as well as in a firm’s governance. Some have argued that the “locus” of value creation exists at higher levels and thus have placed emphasis on factors such as the evolution of industries or interorganizational relations and networks. In fact, one of the central trends to emerge from recent research is a diminished focus on the firm itself as a central unit and source of value and an increased focus on value creation that originates from linkages with disparate environmental constituents [Moi ici: Os ecossistemas] (e.g., users, customers, suppliers, and universities).
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Value creation only occurs when a focal firm somehow discovers a bargain, namely, a solution with value that exceeds the price paid. Moreover, even such value creation may be short lived if competitors can access these same solutions at similar prices. Thus, discovering firm-specific bargains among solutions demands some kind of firm specific filter, a filter that enables the firm to sift through the abundance of possible and ready-made solutions, to discover those that might offer the firm unique value.
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Vital to a firm’s capacity for value creation is its ability to generate value for customers or offer common value at a uniquely low cost. Uniqueness is the discriminator between creating value that flows solely to customers and creating value that is at least partially captured by the focal firm. Value creation for the focal firm therefore demands that firms discover or solve unique problems, namely, problems or solutions unseen by or inaccessible to others.
Identifying common problems and discovering common solutions are unlikely paths to value creation, because these common problems and solutions are accessible to direct competitors as well.
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We contend that, for a given focal firm, the path to value creation typically originates with a cognitive effort to compose and develop a unique and firm-specific theory of value creation, in other words, a theory of and for a specific firm. This theory may reveal assumptions about the evolution of consumer tastes, define an unmet customer need or unaddressed problem, offer insights into the under- or overvaluation of assets in markets, or highlight a problem in the production of a product or service. The theory essentially defines a set of problems for which resolution is hypothesized to create the value foreseen.
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The central vehicle for value creation, then, lies in composing and updating the firm’s theory and using it to formulate problems, organize solution search, and select from among available need–solution pairs.
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humans, including managers and entrepreneurs, have a unique capacity to engage in forward-looking theorizing about possibilities beyond extant realities, theorizing that uniquely guides attention and observations. We argue that theorizing, then, isn’t the unique domain of scientists but in fact a universal human capacity that shapes human perceptions and behavior more generally. Importantly, theorizing is not simply the process of environmental observation or representation, learning or information processing, which suggests a rather passive conception of rationality and mind. Rather, theorizing is an active effort to project into the future and to imagine possibilities beyond what might readily be observed. We thus build on a very particular view of the human mind, one that does not rely solely on stimuli but instead focuses on the unique expectations, guesses, hypotheses, and theories that the mind constructs as it interacts with the environment.
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In economic settings, an individual’s capacity to recognize valuable problems and solutions depends on beliefs and attention, which are in turn shaped by the unique theories actors hold."

Trechos retirados de "Crossroads - Strategy, Problems, and a Theory for the Firm" publicado de Organization Science, de Teppo Felin e Todd R. Zenger (2015)

Uma nova lógica competitiva

Em "The New Logic of Competition" encontrei uma figura muito interessante, muito rica:

"Today, artificial intelligence, sensors, and digital platforms have already increased the opportunity for learning more effectively—but competing on the rate of learning will become a necessity by the 2020s. The dynamic, uncertain business environment will require companies to focus more on discovery and adaptation rather than only on forecasting and planning. [Moi ici: Apostar mais em exploration do que em exploitation, apostar mais em experimentação e novidade do que em seguir o guião]
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Classical models of competition assume that discrete companies make similar products and compete within clearly delineated industries. But technology has dramatically reduced communication and transaction costs, weakening the Coasean logic for combining many activities inside a few vertically integrated firms. At the same time, uncertainty and disruption require individual firms to be more adaptable, and they make business environments increasingly shapeable. Companies now have opportunities to influence the development of the market in their favor, but they can do this only by coordinating with other stakeholders.
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As a result of these forces, new industrial architectures are emerging based on the coordination of ecosystems—complex, semifluid networks of companies that challenge several traditional business assumptions. [Moi ici: Algo que começámos a perceber quando descobrimos o papel dos influenciadores, dos prescritores, dos reguladores, e dos clientes dos clientes]
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New opportunities are likely to come increasingly from digitizing the physical world, enabled by the rapid development and penetration of AI and the Internet of Things. This will increasingly bring tech companies into areas—such as B2B and businesses involving long-lived and specialized assets—that are still dominated by older incumbent firms.
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Companies can no longer expect to succeed by leaning predominantly on their existing business models. Long-run economic growth rates have declined in many economies, and demographics point to a continuation of that pattern. Competitive success has become less permanent over time. And markets are increasingly shapeable, increasing the potential reward for innovation. As a result, the ability to generate new ideas is more important than ever. [Moi ici: Subir na escala de valor depende cada vez mais não do que se produz, mas das experiências que permitimos que o cliente sinta na sua vida ao integrar a nossa oferta na sua actividade]
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Looking ahead to the 2020s, uncertainty is high on many fronts. Technological change is disrupting businesses and bringing new social, political, and ecological questions to the forefront.
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Furthermore, deep-seated structural forces indicate this period of elevated uncertainty is likely to persist: technological progress will not abate; the rise of China as an economic power will continue to challenge international institutions; demographic trends point toward an era of lower global growth, which will further strain societies; and social polarization will continue to challenge governments’ ability to effectively respond to national or global risks.
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Under such conditions, it will become more difficult to rely on forecasts and plans. Business leaders will need to consider the larger picture, including economic, social, political, and ecological dimensions, making sure their companies can endure in the face of unanticipated shocks. In other words, businesses will effectively need to compete on resilience." [Moi ici: Mas a constituição e os partidos socialistas, da direita e da esquerda, consideram a flexibilidade e a resiliência crimes graves! ]

Como é que a sua organização se está a preparar para este mundo muito mais incerteza? O que está a fazer para ser mais criativa? O que está a fazer para conciliar digital e físico? O que está a fazer para construir ou integrar um ecossistema? O que está a fazer para aprender muito mais depressa?

Move ... to influential “orchestrators.”

"Much more complex than linear supply chains, business ecosystems are groups of companies and other actors (platform providers, government agencies, independent contractors, co-creating customers, and so on) whose contributions come together to produce value. The idea is that each of these parties could benefit if they took a more holistic view of their collective efforts.
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From research and practice, we are beginning to see evidence that managers who adjust their approaches to fit an ecosystems world are better able to succeed in it.
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leaders must move from being high-ranking delegators to influential “orchestrators.” In environments where leaders can’t exercise formal authority, and where collaborative triumphs trump individual achievements, they must become sharper in their ability to build communities and inspire alignment.
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To succeed in the era of platforms and partnerships, managers will need to change practice on many levels. And with the new practices of ecosystem management must come new management theory, also reoriented around a larger-scale system-level view. Both practitioners and scholars can begin by dispensing with mechanistic, industrial-age models of inputs, processes, and outputs. They will have to take a more dynamic, organic, and evolutionary view of how organizations’ capacities grow and can be cultivated.
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An economy, and in particular a capitalist economy, thrives not only when it has the right tools but when it has the right rules. Recrafting these for the era of ecosystems must be the priority of a group that is an ecosystem in itself—the scholars, consultants, regulators, and of course managers whose work shapes the enterprise of management."

Trechos retirados de "What Management Needs to Become in an Era of Ecosystems"

Ecosystem marketing

"In essence, ecosystem marketing is about understanding the market as a network of participants and being able to influence the right actors at the right time.
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Companies used to last 75 years.  Now the average company dies or disappears in 15 years.
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Companies die for a number of reasons.  One growing reason is that the company’s leaders do not understand the ecosystem that supports the company.
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Ecosystem marketing is the process of positioning your idea, message or product in the right ecosystems to gain visibility, engage prospects, capture attention, and create customers.  It is the process of discovering, analyzing, understanding, and taking marketing actions – in four distinct yet interrelated ecosystems:
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Company,
Competitor,
Category, and
Customer.
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Company ecosystems are defined as the digital neighborhood in which your business is located to include your partners, suppliers, and distributors. It is your business ecosystem.
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An economic community supported by a foundation of interacting organizations and individuals—the organisms of the business world. The economic community produces goods and services of value to customers, who are themselves members of the ecosystem. The member organisms also include suppliers, lead producers, competitors, and other stakeholders. Over time, they coevolve their capabilities and roles, and tend to align themselves with the directions set by one or more central companies."

Trechos retirados de "“Ecosystem Marketing: The Future of Competition” – Christian Sarkar and Philip Kotler"

Trabalhar o ecossistema do futuro

Quando animo reflexões estratégicas, e/ou apoio o desenvolvimento de sistemas de gestão da qualidade, desafio as empresas a pensarem como podem trabalhar o ecossistema da procura. Nomeadamente, por exemplo, como podem influenciar, seduzir, os futuros decisores, os futuros prescritores, os futuros influenciadores.

Por exemplo, de 2012:

"Esta abordagem pode ser fortalecida reforçando as relações entre a empresa e as universidades e politécnicos. Estas escolas fornecem os futuros prescritores e os futuros quadros dos empreiteiros. Desenvolver uma relação em que a empresa reforça a sua imagem de líder tecnológico, de solucionador de problemas, de inventor de novos produtos, de autoridade técnica."

Eis um exemplo de aplicação desta abordagem, "Vapesol lança concurso para jovens criadores de calçado":

"Nesta primeira edição da Academia Vapesol, devem os candidatos apresentar um projeto de design de calçado, masculino ou feminino, para a temporada outono/inverno 20/21 e o respetivo protótipo, os quais devem integrar solas da coleção da Vapesol.  A iniciativa conta com a participação dos alunos finalistas da Escola Profissional de Felgueiras, do Centro de Formação Profissional da Indústria do Calçado (polos de S. João da Madeira e Felgueiras) e do Instituto Politécnico do Cávado e do Ave.
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Os prémios atribuídos pela Academia Vapesol são, para o grande vencedor, um prémio pecuniário de 1.000 euros, uma viagem a Milão com estadia e um convite para a feira Lineapelle agendada para os dias 2, 3 e 4 de outubro próximo. Já o segundo classificado tem direito uma viagem a Milão, também com estadia, e um convite para a mesma Lineapelle."

To break through marketing clutter

"To break through marketing clutter, companies need to understand customer processes and the processes of their customer’s customer.
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Value chain marketing requires marketers to develop an enhanced understanding of their industry, including activity at successive steps throughout the value chain, and to apply marketing tools to maximize effectiveness of the marketing programme up and down the value chain. New analytic tools to understand the industry must be deployed, and new tools to maximize marketing effectiveness must be developed. Value chain marketing challenges marketers to step into a broader framework where the dividing line between business strategy and market development is sometimes blurred.
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The basic building block for understanding any industry is the macro business system. It includes all industry participants, connected in a successive chain of value added, from raw material production to OEM customers, wholesalers, retailers, retail customers and in some cases recycling. As in macroeconomics, where macro denotes the behaviour of the economy as a whole, the term ‘macro business system’ applies to an entire industry and all players upstream and downstream from a given competitor.
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No industry business system is likely to resemble another.
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Upstream component and material suppliers
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Downstream manufacturers and processors
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Secondary users or OEMs
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Wholesalers
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Retailers
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Consumers and end users
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Recyclers"

Trechos retirados de "Value Chain Marketing" de Jean-Pierre Jeannet

Value Chain Marketing (parte II)

Parte I.

Quando faz sentido aplicar o value chain marketing?

Em "Value Chain Marketing - A Marketing Strategy to Overcome Immediate Customer Innovation Resistance" de  Stephanie Hintze pode ler-se:,

"In order to target downstream customers, a supplier firm must offer added value. That is often the only way to create downstream customers’ preferences. If supplier products have no positive differentiation value compared to available alternatives or competition, the prerequisite to pursue VCM is not fulfilled. This implicates that supplier firms would have no ‘sales’ arguments, and downstream customers would have no reason to prefer final products that contain a particular supplier’s material. More to the point, products sold on price like commodities do not provide innovative attributes or distinguishing characteristics which can be promoted down the value chain. By contrast, specialty goods like coatings and sealants often provide a benefit for downstream customers by improving the performance of final products. Still, this benefit must be communicable to relevant end applicators. It implicates that only if they are convinced that using a specific supplier’s material is particularly advantageous, they are willing to change their buyer behavior. To overcome this problem, suppliers can present prototypes, delivers samples, or results of product tests to demonstrate the benefit of their products. Also, suppliers have to ensure the identification of their materials at subsequent stages."

Em "Which types of multi-stage marketing increase direct customers' willingness-to-pay? Evidence from a scenario-based experiment in a B2B setting" de Ingmar Geiger, Florian Dost, Alejandro Schönhoff, e Michael Kleinaltenkamp, publicado por Industrial Marketing Management pode ler-se:

"1) A supplier's offering has to offer superior value compared to competitors or substitutes to some actors down the value chain.
(2) This value needs to be communicable.
(3) The supplier's offering needs to be identifiable in downstream
market stages.
(4) The supplier needs to possess a minimum of relevant marketing
know-how.
(5) There need to be a sufficient degree of certainty that the desired
demand pull cannot be obstructed by opposing measures by intermediate market stages." 

Value Chain Marketing

O que tenho feito nos últimos 15 anos com tantas empresas, quando trabalhamos o ecossistema da procura.

"To deal with the consequences of derived demand, he argues that B2B sellers need to consider not only the next immediate customer in their marketing plans but also aim their marketing activities at subsequent stages.
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VCM goes beyond traditional marketing, missionary selling, as well as primary demand stimulation. It represents a holistic marketing strategy which covers the entire marketing mix and thus encounters the complexities of the value chain in which a firm operates. As mentioned before, the pull strategy is frequently limited to the promotional part of the marketing mix. The author uses the term VCM “to refer to the practice of influencing an entire industry value chain for the benefit of the marketing function”. The ultimate goal of VCM is to develop comprehensive marketing intelligence and to promote innovations across all levels of the value chain. To stay competitive in the market, B2B marketers have to cover a broader framework to analyze the chain. They “must understand not only the cost and revenue dynamics of its intermediate target buyer firms, but also the cost and revenue dynamics facing the buyers’ buyers, from whose demand the demand of the immediate market is derived”. [Moi ici: Recordar "aplicar a análise Value Stream Mapping o fizessem à utilização do produto durante o ciclo de vida do utilizador final,"]
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This mapping process requires a high degree of market orientation. [Moi ici: O trecho que se segue parece tirado aqui do blogue. Basta recordar a figura deste postal] Also, they should integrate influencers like procurement and engineering consultants, industrial designers, experts for complementary products, lawyers, or architects when mapping the value chain. Their special characteristic is to influence both the buying decision of immediate and downstream customers. They are well- informed on present upstream and downstream marketing projects and are open to innovative ideas. Furthermore, influencers establish relationships to manufacturers and applicators and are able to get them interested and to induce them to stimulate demand for supplier innovations.

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Instead of relying on just one marketing strategy, VCM comprises push and pull marketing equally and covers the whole marketing mix. It includes the kind of product, how it is promoted to customers in a value chain, the method for distributing products to customers, and the amount the customers are willing to pay for a product. The crucial point is that in VCM the adapted and tailored marketing activities of the push and the pull strategy complement each other and are incorporated into one universal marketing strategy.
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First, VCM reduces the risk of substitutability of suppliers’ materials or product inputs by demonstrating their importance for the end product. This means that suppliers no longer operate anonymously and address customers down the value chain directly. They create problem awareness among downstream customers by presenting the distinguishing features of their innovative products. As VCM allows a two-way communication, it increases the efficiency of the entire marketing mix. It implies that suppliers receive unfiltered feedback from downstream customers and the chance to better solve their problems in real time. As a result, suppliers gather valuable market information and translate this information into product improvements or innovations. If suppliers succeed in positioning and differentiating their products in a favorable way, substitutability becomes less likely. By creating preferences at the stage of downstream customers, VCM assures suppliers’ sales-political independence in the vertical production and distribution process. VCM allows suppliers to strengthen their position in a value chain and motivate downstream customers to invest in long-term partnerships. In consequence, suppliers are able to enhance control over different value-chain activities and anticipate fluctuations in demand more readily."

Trechos retirados de "Value Chain Marketing - A Marketing Strategy to Overcome Immediate Customer Innovation Resistance" de  Stephanie Hintze,

"suppliers are in a weak position in the value chain and operate anonymously"

Há cerca de 15 anos que comecei a ajudar empresas a fugir do push marketing:

Há cerca de 15 anos que comecei a trabalhar o conceito de ecossistema porque acredito que é fundamental para subir na escala de valor, para aumentar preços, para aumentar a produtividade sem ser pela via cancerosa do crescimento a todo o custo.

Ontem, ao ler os trechos que se seguem, retirados de "Value Chain Marketing - A Marketing Strategy to Overcome Immediate Customer Innovation Resistance" de  Stephanie Hintze, estava sempre a pensar: está aqui muita da razão porque temos uma produtividade tão baixa. Como não temos marcas somos fornecedores de materiais ou produtos que outros vão ainda processar e/ou vender e continuamos anónimos, sem capacidade de intervenção e com pouco reconhecimento:

"By solely relying on immediate customers, suppliers are faced with the problem of limited and distorted information and are also confronted with a loss of control over their product quality. More to the point, immediate customers withhold information about application trends and needs. They act as gatekeepers by controlling the types of information the supplier receives. Their aim is to remain the channel of communication between the supplier and the end applicator and thus stay in control of the business relationship. For that reason, supplier firms are unable to anticipate change and plan product improvements or new ideas. Due to isolation from the application market, suppliers are in a weak position in the value chain and operate anonymously. Even if they develop innovations, these rest with the intermediaries, i.e. the manufacturers, as the former are often unwilling to promote supplier innovations aggressively. That is why suppliers cannot demonstrate the importance of their product inputs for the final product. Manufacturers prefer to wait until they receive strong signals from their customers indicating the need for an innovation. They do not want to jeopardize their goal of efficiency. As a result, only standardized and highly substitutable materials that restrict suppliers’ profits and margins are sold in the value chain. Instead of pursuing a proactive product innovations management, suppliers are forced to be reactive. Due to the absence of suppliers’ contact with end applicators, the distance to the application market remains big. Suppliers have no chance to build long-term relationships with downstream customers which could reduce their dependence on manufacturers."

"no longer operate anonymously and address customers down the value chain directly"

"VCM [value chain marketing] is the marketing strategy that describes the practice of influencing the entire value chain to succeed in marketing innovations. This strategy requires a firm to have a deep understanding of the value chain in order to maximize its marketing performance. Adopting VCM implies at first that firms must cover a broader framework to map the value chain. They have to analyze and properly understand the players and their relationships at each level. This also includes identifying industry developments and drivers as well as government regulations.
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firms intending to practice VCM should adapt and tailor their marketing mix. This includes the type of product, how it is promoted to customers, the method for distributing it to customers, and the amount the customers are willing to pay for it.
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Customer intimacy is not only essential to understand the value chain and its processes but also to reduce the distance to downstream players. Therefore, a supplier no longer has to be separated from the stage of his downstream customers through his given position in the value chain. In fact, the value chain converts more and more into a value network and the distinction between immediate and down- stream customers becomes less clear cut. By acquiring knowledge in the surrounding fields, suppliers are able to increase the overlap between their knowledge base and that of the downstream actors. They learn about applicators and develop communication strategies to reach them and to persuade them. This enhances interpersonal interaction and the applicators’ feeling about the suppliers’ competence to discuss on innovative topics."

"VCM reduces the risk of substitutability of suppliers’ materials or product inputs by demonstrating their importance for the end product. This means that suppliers no longer operate anonymously and address customers down the value chain directly. They create problem awareness among downstream customers by presenting the distinguishing features of their innovative products. As VCM allows a two-way communication, it increases the efficiency of the entire marketing mix. It implies that suppliers receive unfiltered feedback from downstream cus- tomers and the chance to better solve their problems in real time. As a result, suppliers gather valuable market information and translate this information into product improvements or innovations. If suppliers succeed in positioning and differentiating their products in a favorable way, substitutability becomes less likely. By creating preferences at the stage of downstream customers, VCM assures suppliers’ sales-political independence in the vertical production and distribution process. VCM allows suppliers to strengthen their position in a value chain and motivate downstream customers to invest in long-term partnerships. In consequence, suppliers are able to enhance control over different value-chain activities and anticipate fluctuations in demand more readily."

Trechos retirados de "Value Chain Marketing - A Marketing Strategy to Overcome Immediate Customer Innovation Resistance" de  Stephanie Hintze.

"selling projects rather than products" (parte III)

Parte I e parte II.

Como são as coisas... não há coincidências, todos os acasos são significativos.

Ontem à tarde, estive numa reunião de exploração estratégica numa empresa num sector tradicional da economia.

Empresa desenvolveu um produto a pedido dum cliente-fabricante. Entretanto, esse cliente chegou junto da marca e resolveu declinar o convite para produzir.

Marca, com produto na gama média-alta, resolveu avançar com a produção em Itália. Empresa resolveu fazer algo que nunca tinha feito antes, entrou em contacto com a marca, apresentou-se e ofereceu-se para continuar a fornecer a produção.

A internet ajudou-os a resolver o problema da distância (engraçado que antes da reunião ouvi este texto, "The Problem For Small-Town Banks: Technology Has Redefined Community" e, durante a reunião recordei "O fim da barreira geográfica")

Ou seja, a empresa está a considerar entrar no mundo da venda de projectos, em vez da venda de produtos, ou de soluções.

Também ando a pensar na relação da venda de projectos com o último nível desta cadeia:

"selling projects rather than products" (parte II)

Na Parte I Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez deu o exemplo da Philips sobre como deixar de vender produtos e passar a vender projectos. Fez-me lembrar o fabuloso livro de Ramirez & Manervik e os seus ecossistemas da procura:

E a propósito de ecossistemas da procura, a minha primeira experiência, em 2004, de transformar a venda de produtos em projectos para "Subir na escala de valor". O mesmo "truque" usado pela Jofebar:

• Um sistema de gestão que começa no negócio (Novembro de 2015)
• A mensagem de quem sabe quem são os seus alvos (Setembro de 2016)
• Não esquecer (Dezembro de 2016)

Interessante que o sector da pedra tenha apostado na mesma estratégia (Portugal exportou mais 10,5% de pedra natural em 2018):

"Há uma inversão da exportação do material em bruto para uma tendência para o material transformado”
...
“Há quatro anos tínhamos a China como principal mercado”, pelo que “o setor exportava sobretudo bloco”. Agora, é França o principal mercado, com um crescimento superior a 5%, sendo que este país “consome sobretudo produto acabado”.
...
As associadas da Assimagra estão, neste contexto, “a fornecer sobretudo obra à medida”, aumentando o valor acrescentado face à venda mais indiferenciada de blocos de pedra. “Hoje o setor consegue estar nos principais projetos mundiais, disputá-los e vencê-los”, adiantou Miguel Goulão."

E volto a  "Selling Products Is Good. Selling Projects Can Be Even Better": 

"Clearly, the shift to becoming a project-driven organization and selling projects rather than products or services presents sizeable challenges to corporations and their business models. Working in projects throughout my career, I have identified these as the important ones:
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Revenue streams. Revenues will be generated progressively over long periods of time, instead of right after the sale of a product. This will affect the way revenues are recognized, as well as accounting policies and the overall company valuation.
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Pricing model. New pricing models will need to be developed. It is easier to price a product, for which most of the fixed and variable costs are known, than a project, which is influenced by many external factors.
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Quality control. Delivering quality products will not be enough to meet customer expectations. Implementation and post-implementation services will also have to be of the highest possible quality to ensure that clients continue to buy projects.
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Branding and marketing. Traditional marketing has focused on short-term immediate benefits. Marketing teams will need to promote the long-term benefits of the projects sold by the organization.[Moi ici: Estou constantemente a dizer isto às empresas, fujam do preço da troca, calculem o custo do ciclo de vida do produto/serviço. Ajudem "get the customer to appreciate a bigger picture"]
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Sales force. The buyer of the project will no longer be the procurement department of an organization. Sales will be pitched to leaders of the business, so the sales force and sales skills will have to be upgraded with strategy and project management competencies.
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Stop for a moment and consider what your organization is selling. Is it a project? Increasingly, the answer is clear and affirmative. If not, beware, your products might soon become part of a project sold by someone else."

"Ecosystems require a shaping strategy"

"Ecosystems are attractive partly because of the new possibilities they create for products and services spanning traditional boundaries — often using digital platforms, APIs, internet of things technology, and new tools for data gathering and analysis.
...
The essential characteristics of business ecosystems are the following: They are multi-entity, made up of groups of companies not belonging to a single organization. They involve networks of shifting, semipermanent relationships, linked by flows of data, services, and money. The relationships combine aspects of competition and collaboration, often involving complementarity between different products and capabilities (for instance, smartphones and apps). Finally, in ecosystems, players coevolve as they redefine their capabilities and relations to others over time.
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In order to make use of ecosystems, organizations need to shift from using a traditional, static, company-centric perspective, and instead apply new ways of thinking about strategy from an ecosystems perspective. This perspective is distinctive in multiple ways:
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Dynamic: Based on a coevolutionary rather than a static view of relationships and capacities.
Collaborative: Driven by crafting novel product combinations drawing on complementary offerings.
Influence based: Shaped by partial influence rather than full ownership or control.
Indirect: Profits from system transactions or involves cross-subsidies, as often monetization occurs indirectly.
Emergent: Generates and embraces unanticipated shifts, reversals, and unintended consequences.
Network oriented: Involves overlapping networks, rather than discrete, linear value chains.
Externally focused: Focuses strongly on activities beyond individual company borders.
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Ecosystems require a shaping strategy, which refers to collaborating with others using indirect influence (including being influenced by others), being responsive to unpredictable changes, and evolving the ecosystem for mutual benefit. Enacting such a strategy can feel counterintuitive, as we are likely much more familiar and adept with the practices of a classical “plan and execute” strategy.
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The shift to ecosystems thinking challenges the very idea of “industry” that we inherited from the industrial revolution — a discrete set of broadly similar players competing to produce a common end product in a vertically integrated fashion. The coming decades will likely see the further spread of ecosystems, with companies coevolving in temporary clusters of semifluid relationships, spanning traditional industry boundaries. We should therefore be wary of inadvertently applying assumptions from more classical environments or overgeneralizing from a handful of well-known precedents. Instead, we should adopt an ecosystems perspective and consider the specific strategic choices we face, based on our particular situation, aspirations, and capacities."

Trechos retirados de "The Myths and Realities of Business Ecosystems"

Não há receitas (parte II)

Parte I.



Kevin O'Leary com as suas ideias tem tido muito mais sucessos que insucessos. Só quero sublinhar que não acredito que a maioria das PMEs possa ter sucesso seguindo estas ideias.

Kevin O'Leary segue as ideias do Normalistão, segue as ideias do século XX, trabalha para criar gigantes.

Trabalhar em Mongo é trabalhar num outro mundo, é trabalhar para ganhar clientes, não para esmagar concorrentes.

Não há receitas

Um bom exemplo da variedade de abordagens estratégicas e de como o que pode funcionar perfeitamente num sector pode falhar completamente num outro, "What the Wine Industry Understands About Connecting with Consumers".

Depois recordo a estória do sucesso dos vinhos australianos e complemento a afirmação lá de cima com: O que pode funcionar perfeitamente num sector para uma empresa, pode falhar completamente no mesmo sector, com uma outra empresa com uma diferente proposta de valor para um tipo diferente de clientes-alvo.

"It’s the new business model that is stealing your customers, not the product”

“Car dealers now make hardly any money on car sales themselves—less than 10 percent of total net profits. Rather, their profits arise from the sale of financing, insurance, extra warranties, and maintenance, which now represent 67 percent of their net income. Car dealers have evolved and today resemble banks selling financial services much more than they do auto retailers.
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After all, Uber, Amazon, and Birchbox are all regarded as technology companies, right? I decided to talk to these firms and learn about the new technologies they developed and were leveraging. It soon became clear to me that the initial success of these companies didn’t hinge on new and innovative technologies, but rather on the power of their business model innovations. Similarly, others have argued that even well-regarded “tech” companies such as Google, in their early days, didn’t invent completely new technologies, but rather invented or perfected new business models. These innovations represented the real engine of disruption.
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Business model innovation is a powerful force of abrupt market-level change, in some cases more powerful than technology. Technology, as Jim Collins put it more than a decade and a half ago in his bestselling book Good to Great, “is an accelerator, never a creator of momentum and growth.
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Likewise, don’t let an excessive focus on your products prevent you from paying attention to your business. Many executives at incumbent businesses, wedded to their business models, react to disruption by blaming their products. As they see it, all the newfangled lemonade stands out there are stealing customers because they have created better-tasting lemonade. Stop blaming your lemonade! The truth is that the upstart’s lemonade tastes the same as yours, or maybe even worse. It’s the new business model that is stealing your customers, not the product. ”

Agora relacionar com "Today's CEO playbook is outdated. Here are 5 things rising stars should focus on to win in the next decade":

"Competing in ecosystems.Classical models of competition assume that there are discrete companies that make similar products and compete within clearly delineated industries. But technology has dramatically reduced communication and transaction costs, weakening the Coasean logic for combining many activities inside a few vertically integrated firms. At the same time, uncertainty and disruption both require individual firms to be more adaptable and also make business environments increasingly shapeable. Companies now have opportunities to influence the development of the market in their favor, but this can be achieved only by coordinating with other stakeholders.
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As a result of these forces, new industrial architectures are emerging based on the coordination of ecosystems  —   complex, semi-fluid networks of companies that challenge several traditional assumptions of business. ... They blur the boundaries of industries: for example, automotive ecosystems include not just traditional suppliers but also connectivity, software, and cloud storage providers. And they blur the distinction between collaborators and competitors: for example, Amazon and third-party merchants have a symbiotic relationship, while the company competes with those merchants simultaneously by selling private-label brands.
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The playbook for how to emulate these ecosystem pioneers has not yet been fully codified, but a few imperatives are becoming increasingly clear:
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Adopt a fundamentally different perspective towards strategy, based on embracing principles like external orientation, common platforms, co-evolution, emergence, and indirect monetization
Determine what role your company can play in your ecosystem or ecosystems  —   not all companies can be the orchestrator [Moi ici: Ao orquestrador chamei em 2012 o arquitecto de paisagens competitivas]
Ensure that your company creates value for the ecosystem broadly, not just for itself"

Trechos iniciais retirados de “Unlocking the Customer Value Chain” de Thales S. Teixeira.

É nestes momentos de mudança ... (parte VI)

Parte I, parte II, parte III, parte IV e parte V.

O que quer dizer a figura?

Há um objectivo que queremos atingir:

E olhando para esse objectivo, perguntamos:

- Por que é que um arquitecto há-de concluir que trabalhar connosco é bom para ele?

Então, aparece a figura lá de cima, que pode ser vista como:

Porque vamos conseguir que um arquitecto viaje até um Futuro Imaginário onde ele percepciona um conjunto de resultados positivos na sua vida. Recordar Ortega Y Gasset e Richard Normann sobre este tema de como o futuro desejado acaba por funcionar como uma causa sobre o presente.

A figura retrata uma situação futura desejada onde a empresa consegue produzir aqueles resultados na vida de um arquitecto-alvo. De regresso ao presente perguntamos:

- O que é que a empresa tem de começar a fazer, ou de fazer melhor hoje, para poder aspirar a provocar aqueles resultados?

Ou seja, a empresa começa a ver os resultados como objectivos mais específicos:

OK, que acções é que a empresa tem de desenvolver a montante de cada um desses objectivos?

Uma possível resposta é:

Um novo arquitecto não trabalhou com a empresa, portanto, não é com um resultado de uma obra em concreto que ele vai perceber, ou não, que a empresa cumpre os prazos. Isso há-de ser transmitido através da actividade comercial, apresentando testemunhos de outros arquitectos; apresentando o portefolio; apresentando prémios e críticas de entidades que um arquitecto-alvo valoriza. Outra forma de transmitir é através da demonstração de ter uma equipa capaz de trazer valor, trazer experiência, trazer know-how, para o co-desenvolvimento de um projecto.

Assim, um primeiro bloco para o mapa da estratégia será:

Outro objectivo estratégico da perspectiva clientes é aquele "Satisfazer os clientes" que aqui se transforma em dois:

"Satisfazer os arquitectos" - apostaram em nós e o que prometemos cumpriu-se!
"Satisfazer os empreiteiros" - se os empreiteiros levantarem problemas e tiverem razão, os arquitectos vão ficar insatisfeitos, porque os problemas em obra traduzir-se-ão, muito provavelmente, em problemas para o seu cliente, o dono da obra.

A empresa tem de trabalhar e melhorar:

Janelas com dimensões, formatos e comandos fora do comum podem ser um problema para quem instala algo pela primeira vez. Assim, a empresa decidiu assumir o objectivo de "Apoiar a instalação", trabalhando com as equipas do empreiteiro. Por outro lado, o cumprimento dos prazos e a ausência de defeitos, a ausência de surpresas, assenta na aposta num planeamento rigoroso, numa produção impecável e no apoio de parceiros que ajudam a fazer a diferença.

Empreiteiros satisfeitos e o cumprimento das promessas feitas na fase do projecto asseguram a satisfação dos arquitectos. Arquitectos satisfeitos dizem bem da empresa a outros arquitectos, o que ajuda na conquista de novos arquitectos.
E a perspectiva clientes e outras partes interessadas avança para:

Falta o "Manter arquitectos", o qual pode resultar de:

Ou seja, continuam a trabalhar connosco porque os mantemos a par de novos desenvolvimentos tecnológicos e de know-how que poderão ser usados em projectos futuros e, porque ficam satisfeitos connosco sempre que fazemos parte da sua equipa.

Para completar um mapa da estratégia clássico faltam as duas perspectivas dos extremos: a financeira e a dos recursos e infraestruturas.

Continua.

É nestes momentos de mudança ... (parte V)

Parte I, parte II, parte III e parte IV.

Vamos lá então começar a partir daqui:

Voltemos ao "soul searching", à busca do ADN:

E vamos usar um exemplo que só conheço dos jornais (aqui e aqui). Por isso, vamos efabular. Como não temos relação com a empresa temos liberdade de inventar.

Imaginem uma empresa que trabalha o vidro e o alumínio fabricando caixilhos e janelas. É mais uma empresa entre tantas e tantas na área. Uma área que fornece o sector da construção civil, um sector que em Portugal, entre 2001 e 2014, esteve sempre a cair, mês após mês. Imaginem que algures, naquele período negro da construção civil, a gestão da empresa deliberadamente olhou para si, olhou para o que tinha, olhou para o seu CV ...

- Não podemos continua assim!!! Os clientes estão sempre a apertar com reduções de preço!

Este é o mundo da empresa:

Produz janelas a pedido de empreiteiros pequenos e grandes na sequência de propostas que elabora de acordo com cadernos de encargos. Para ganhar as adjudicações sabe que o cliente basicamente só valoriza uma coisa, o preço. 

Porque a empresa não tem dimensão para ter a vantagem da escala, competir pelo preço sem ter custos competitivos é uma violação da primeira lição da Teoria dos Jogos: "Do not play a strictly dominated strategy". Então, alguém recorda:

- Lembram-se do trabalho que fizemos para o arquitecto X? Não o conhecíamos de lado nenhum, porque ele mora aqui perto passou por cá com uma ideia na cabeça. Ajudámo-lo a desenvolver a ideia. Ele gostou do que viu e deu ordens ao empreiteiro da obra em que estava a trabalhar para nos encomendar as janelas.

- Sim, nesse trabalho o empreiteiro não nos espremeu como é costume, porque tínhamos o arquitecto do nosso lado.

- Até que ponto é que podemos trabalhar com mais arquitectos na elaboração dos cadernos de encargos?

Na prática estão a descobrir que o seu negócio não deve ser janelas e caixilharias, mas serem uma ferramenta, um instrumento ao serviço dos arquitectos. Estão a imaginar um novo mundo para a empresa:

- Quem nos paga, os clientes, os empreiteiros, têm de ser bem servidos, para não levantarem ondas junto dos arquitectos, mas quem manda são os arquitectos.

Tenho de meter aqui um trecho de Richard Normann que explica o que está em curso:

"take stock of what (one has), yet distance (oneself) from it and explore new territory. The crane [Moi ici: um processo conceptual e experimental para desenhar Sistemas de Criação de Valor] must be able to bend minds. I must open up a conceptual space beyond what is known and can be imagined today, and it must then allow (one) to fill that conceptual space with new design. It must start from where (one is) — here and now, take (one) into unchartered territory, yet allow (one) to come back with new insights and start concrete construction work on a reframed business strategy."

- Então, temos de nos concentrar nos arquitectos. Que arquitectos? Todos? Ou algum grupo em particular? Por que é que esses arquitectos hão-de querer trabalhar connosco? Por que é que esses arquitectos hão-de recear trabalhar connosco?

Uma descoberta importante... a descoberta da heterogeneidade da procura. Recordar Hill em 2008 e o "watering down" de anteontem. A verdade é que há muitos arquitectos, a maioria, que se está marimbando para as janelas e caixilharias, mas há um grupo que as valoriza. Há um grupo que sabe que é valorizado, e quer distinguir-se perante os seus clientes, e perante os seus pares, por introduzir arte e desafiar as limitações dos materiais e da engenharia. Acabamos de introduzir mais outra parte interessada:

- Por que é que um Gabinete de Arquitectura há-de escolher os nossos serviços?

Na parte III falámos no exemplo de Bruce Jenner, por causa da necessidade de alinhamento de uma organização com a sua proposta de valor:

E o alinhamento começa pela actividade comercial. Uma actividade comercial que procura fugir do preço como o "order winner" e que se desenvolve em torno da resposta a um conjunto de questões:

• Onde é que estes arquitectos andam? Que "prateleiras" metafóricas visitam?
• Quem os pode influenciar?
• Quem manda neles?
• De que têm medo?
• O que os motiva?
• O que os pode impedir de optar pelas nossas soluções? (Ansiedade e inércia)
• O que os pode levar a optar pelas nossas soluções? (Dificuldades actuais e magnetismo do sucesso)

As respostas a estas perguntas dão matéria-prima para definir o que fazer sistematicamente para se dar a conhecer a potenciais arquitectos: feiras; comunicação; conteúdos.

As respostas a estas perguntas fazem aparecer a necessidade de trazer para o ecossistema uma nova entidade: parceiros que trazem know-how sobre novas formas de trabalhar os materiais, e de esticar as fronteiras de uso do vidro:

Podem ser fornecedores, podem ser universidades, podem ser entidades que ajudam a empresa a encontrar novas soluções. Gente que tem de ser trabalhada e visitada, gente que tem de ter a porta aberta para ganharem algo também.

O retrato das razões porque um arquitecto-alvo há-de trabalhar com a empresa pode ser actualizado:

Pára tudo!

Quando é que falas do balanced scorecard?

Quando chegar a altura. O balanced scorecard é uma boa ferramenta para executar e monitorizar a execução de uma estratégia, mas primeiro temos de formular a estratégia.

Continua.

É nestes momentos de mudança ... (parte IV)

Parte I, parte II e parte III.

Agora vou correr o risco de ser mal interpretado. Costumo escrever aqui que muitas empresas se preocupam mais com a concorrência do que com os clientes-alvo. É a velha metáfora de "ver passar motards" ou aquilo a que chamo as empresas Dick Dastardly nas Wacky Races.

As empresas não devem focar-se demasiado na concorrência, mas ao iniciar um processo de transformação convém perceber onde estamos, quem pode competir connosco no novo espaço para onde poderemos pensar ir, e se poderemos ter alguma hipótese nele.

Por exemplo, em "Acerca do papel da estratégia (parte IV)", dou o exemplo de uma empresa que sente que precisa de mudar:

"empresa a querer mudar de concorrentes, sinónimo de querer subir na escala de valor - ainda precisa de perceber que existem diferentes tipos de clientes e que recusar encomendas não é pecado." 

Desenhamos em conjunto o panorama competitivo e reconhecem-se aqui:

Depois, chega a provocação:
- Será que podem competir neste campeonato? Por que há-de alguém escolher-vos em vez de escolher um concorrente chinês? (No postal listo uma série de justificações, como por exemplo: Os macacos não voam! Ou a primeira lição da Teoria dos Jogos, "Do not play a strictly dominated strategy". BTW, quando na parte II da presente série escrevo "mesmo quando se faz tudo bem, a paisagem competitiva pode alterar-se e "estragar" tudo", estou a falar da segunda lição "Rational choice, choosing a dominant strategy, can lead to outcomes that suck")
- Não fará mais sentido abordar o mercado com outro referencial competitivo?
Por isso escrevi: "Talvez a aposta em vectores alternativos: Flexibilidade? Rapidez?"

Devemos ser capazes de olhar para a empresa e para o seu contexto competitivo sob diferentes perspectivas, para tentar percepcionar como poderá ser o mundo da empresa em cada uma dessas situações.

No mundo da melhoria da qualidade, perante um desafio, abrimos opções (com o diagrama de causa-efeito, por exemplo), para depois as fecharmos (com testes, com verificações). O grande Richard Normann propunha 3 questões:

• What business are we in? What are we?
• What business (or businesses) could we be in? What could we be?
• What business should we be in/do we want to be in? What should we be?

Conseguem competir com a fama alemã em desempenho?

Conseguem competir com a fama alemã ou italiana em flexibilidade, rapidez?

Ou seja, antes de avançar uma empresa deve avaliar se o espaço onde vai competir é um espaço onde realmente tem uma vantagem competitiva. Vantagem não é senão uma avaliação comparativa: podemos fazer a diferença?

A análise de onde e quando a empresa foi bem sucedida, pode ser uma pista para inferir quais as fontes do sucesso, qual a vantagem competitiva. Por isso, recomendo pesquisar sempre: Para quem continuamos a vender bem nestes tempos de crise? Porquê?

A resposta a estas perguntas permite-nos manter os pés na terra e evitar erros mirabolantes, recordar Anteu segundo Nassim Taleb.

Depois de confirmada a hipótese de existência de uma vantagem competitiva, vem a definição de quem são os clientes-alvo e quem pode fazer parte do ecossistema da procura.

Por exemplo,

Uma empresa pode identificar os seus clientes-alvo e, perceber que pode em simultâneo trabalhar a relação com aqueles que podem "mandar" nos clientes, ou pelo menos influenciá-los.

Para cada uma destas entidades faz sentido pensar no problema que as faz sofrer, ou no objectivo que as motiva para melhorarem o seu estado. Esta é a base para a entrada no mapa da estratégia do balanced scorecard, a perspectiva dos clientes e outras partes interessadas:

Queremos atingir três resultados:

• Seduzir novos clientes;
• Satisfazer os clientes; e
• Manter os clientes

Estes resultados não hão-de ser resultado de magia ou sorte, mas consequências perfeitamente normais de experiências que os clientes sentem emergir da interacção com a empresa.

Continua.