Countering commoditization begins with ... (parte III)

Parte I e parte II.

O quadrante "Core" é o ponto de partida para muitos dos desafios em que acompanho as PMEs. 

"Core This quadrant, low on both value-adding dimensions, is a starting point where the offer lacks sufficient differentiation to avoid becoming a commodity. Customers do not perceive compelling differences between the firm and its rivals in their value propositions. What is offered is not sufficiently adapted to the specific requirements of individual customers or their segments, nor does it have an added ‘bundled’ value besides the core product. Under this scenario the firm is obliged to look beyond its core for the missing differentiation that comes with added value."

As hipóteses são:

"Targeted Extension This quadrant represents a strategy that aims to add value by extending its core offer to more closely meet the special and possibly unique needs of the market segments or even the individual accounts it serves.
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System Development Firms choosing to compete in this quadrant develop a package of products and services that offer the synergistic benefits of a ‘system’.
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Solutions Innovation What happens when the firm’s offer consists of a full set of bundled products and services that are specifically targeted at certain customer segments or individual accounts?"

A figura que se segue ilustra com o exemplo da SKF:

 Interessante como o quadrante das Total solutions = Solutions Innovation é um exemplo perfeito da máxima "Privilegiar os inputs sobre os outputs". Não vendem rolamentos, vendem os resultados que os clientes procuram. Os rolamentos foram um instrumento inicial para o arranque da conversa.

Privilegiar os inputs sobre os outputs (parte XIII)

Parte I, parte II, parte III, parte IV, parte V, parte VI, parte VII, parte VIII, parte IX, parte X, parte XI e parte XII. 

"for many of today’s industrial vendors the ability to create value is less than matched by the power to capture it, because in commoditized markets the customer is the driver in an unbalanced distribution of bargaining power. The consequences for suppliers can be serious: declining prices and margins, inferior returns on investment, and the risk of falling into a ‘commodity trap’ where the pressure on profitability leads to reduced investment in product (or service) innovation, which in turn leads to further loss of differentiation and even greater pressure on prices and margins. Few marketers can escape this vicious cycle with their shirts on.
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Can industrial companies counter commoditization and avoid falling victim to their ever more powerful, hard-bargaining customers?.
The answer for a growing number of companies is an affirmative one. These firms have learned that while core product advantages erode and pressure on prices never lets up, they can still do profitable business by pursuing value-added strategies including aligning themselves with key customers. Put differently, these companies have discovered profitable opportunities in stretching beyond their core products by offering customers compellingly differentiated values. They have thus successfully countered commoditization.
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Consider the following examples.

• SKF, the world’s largest ball-bearing manufacturer, ... to maintain their production machinery, reduce or eliminate downtime and maximize plant yield.

• ...

• Raisio Chemicals, a major supplier of chemical compounds ... developing new products, upgrading paper quality and improving printability. The company offers its important customers access to its technical staff and facilities, including a unique pilot coating machine and a newly built printing plant, for testing and experimentation."

Dois exemplos da concentração nos inputs e não nos outputs.

Trechos retirados de "3 Countering Commoditization: Value-added Strategies and Aligning with Customers" de Kamran Kashani

Os alicerces da concorrência imperfeita

Quando falamos de mosaico de actividades sintonizado com uma proposta de valor, falamos disto:
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"When a company focuses on delivering a different kind of value to a different set of customers - (Moi ici: Os clientes não são todos iguais, não têm todos os mesmos gostos e necessidades, procuram e valorizam diferentes experiências na sua vida) for Porter, the essence of strategic positioning - the list of value chain differences can be extensive.
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Choices in the value proposition that limit what a company will do are essential to strategy because they create the opportunity to tailor activities in a way that best delivers that kind of value. Tailoring is possible only if there are limits, only if you are not trying to be all things to all people. In other words, limits make it possible to develop a value chain that is different from that of rivals who have chosen to offer a different kind of value.
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This is a crucially important test that should be applied to any strategy. If the same value chain can deliver different value propositions equally well, then those value propositions have no strategic relevance. Only a value proposition that requires a tailored value chain to deliver it can serve as the basis for a robust strategy. This is the first line of defense against rivals.
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Strategy, then, defines a way of competing, reflected in a set of activities that deliver a unique value in a particular set of users or for a particular set of customers, or both. In most industries, there can be many strategically relevant value propositions. This simply reflects the great diversity in customers and needs, and the fact that different activity configurations are often required to meet those needs most effectively.
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robust strategies always involve a significant degree of tailoring. To establish a competitive advantage, a company must deliver its distinctive value through a distinctive value chain. (Moi ici: Diferentes cadeias de abastecimento, diferentes cadeias de valor, diferentes estruturas empresariais, diferentes produtos e serviços...)
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Thus the value proposition and the value chain - the two core dimensions of strategic choice - are inextricably linked. The value proposition focuses externally on the customer. The value chain focuses internally on operations."
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É isto que permite a diferenciação estratégica. É isto que permite minar o conceito de concorrência perfeita.
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Quando há trade-offs, quando há opções que obrigam a seguir diferentes caminhos, as empresas podem diferenciar-se ... têm de diferenciar-se para ter sucesso, têm de ter estruturas diferentes, têm de realizar actividades diferentes, têm de apresentar produtos e serviços diferentes, tudo porque os clientes não são todos iguais... estes são os alicerces da concorrência imperfeita.
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Trechos retirados de "Understanding Michael Porter" de Joan Magretta.

Diferentes negócios, diferentes indicadores (parte II)

Continuado daqui.

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Na sequência deste gato escondido com o rabo de fora o tema da Value Shop atraiu a minha curiosidade e cheguei a este muito, muito interessante artigo "Configuring Value for Competitive Advantage: On Chains, Shops, and Networks"

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Para empresas que produzem componentes e ofertas (ver pirâmide de valor), empresas que produzem produtos claramente definidos, de forma planeada, de forma repetitiva, a value chain de Porter é adequada.

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E para um laboratório que realiza serviços de investigação e desenvolvimento para clientes? E para uma empresa que desenvolve máquinas em co-criação com clientes? E para um consultório clínico? Não há produto definido, não há produto standard... e para gerir uma equipa CSI?

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Alguns trechos interessantes:

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"Thus while the chain performs a fixed set of activities that enables it to produce a standard product in large numbers, the shop schedules activities and applies resources in a fashion that is dimensioned and appropriate to the needs of the client’s problem. The problem to be solved determines the ‘intensity’ of the shop’s activities."

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"Problems can be defined as differences between an existing state and an aspired or desired state. Problem-solving, and thus value creation in value shops, is the change from an existing to a more desired state. In the case of medical services, the change is to cure the patient of a sickiness. In the case of the architect, the change can be to raise a building or other structure at a particular site. Problems involve situations requiring remedial action and situations where there are improvement opportunities."

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"The flow of activities is not linear, but iterative between activities and cyclical across the activity set. Diagnosis moves back and forth between hypotheses and new data collection that confirm, reject, or lead to a reformulation of the diagnosis. Treatment might initiate a new problem-solving process to determine the most appropriate way of administering the treatment
(Simon’s, 1977, wheels-within-wheels metaphor).
A treatment can result in the resolution of the client’s problem, but can also initiate a new and perhaps a different sequence of activities. The process is not only iterative, but also potentially interruptable at all stages, either when the symptoms are found to be a false alarm, when there is no known solution, or when the problem needs to be referred to a specialist."

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"Value drivers as opposed to cost drivers are of critical importance in value shops. Competitive advantage follows from the fact that clients are primarily looking for relatively certain solutions to their problems, and not for services that have low prices as their main attribute."