The Value Net (parte II)

Continuado daqui.
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"Designing the Value Net for your business is the first step toward changing the game. The second step is identifying all the elements of the game. According to game theory, there are five: players; added values, rules, tactics and scope - PARTS for short. These five elements fully describe all interactions, both freewheeling and rule-based. To change the game, you have to change one or more of these elements."
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"Players come first. As we saw in the Value Net, the players are customers, suppliers, substitutors, and complementors. None of the players are fixed. Sometimes it's smart to change who is playing the game. That includes yourself. (Moi ici: Recordar "Subir na escala de valor"; "Como é o ecossistema da sua organização?" e "Trazer os não-clientes para a equação da criação de valor")
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Qual o ecossistema da sua empresa? Quem intervém?
Quais são as oportunidades de cooperação e de competição nas relações que se podem estabelecer e desenvolver com clientes, fornecedores, concorrentes, complementadores? O que é que os muggles não conseguem ver? Quais as hipóteses de tornar o mercado menos perfeito?
É possível, faz sentido, mudar alguns jogadores? É possível trazer novos intervenientes para o jogo?
Quem tem a ganhar ou a perder com a sua entrada em jogo? 
Recordar "Não é armadilhar, é educar" e "Não é armadilhar, é arte"
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"Added values is what each player brings to the game. There are ways to make yourself a more valuable player- in other words, to raise your added value. And there are ways to lower the added values of other players. ... Just as you shouldn't accept the players of a game as fixed, you shouldn't take away what they bring to the game as fixed, either. You can change the players' added values."
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Qual é o seu valor acrescentado? O que é que a sua empresa traz para o jogo?
Como é que esse valor acrescentado pode ser aumentado? 
Qual é o valor acrescentado que os outros intervenientes trazem para o ecossistema? É possível ganhar com a limitação do seu (deles) valor acrescentado?
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"Rules give structure to the game. In business, there is no universal set of rules;  a rule might arise from law, custom, practicality, or contracts. In addition to using existing rules to their advantage, players may be able to revise them or come up with new ones. ... Rules determine how the game is played by limiting the possible reactions to any action. To analyze the effect of a rule, you have to look forward and reason backward"
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Que regras ajudam a sua empresa? E que regras a prejudicam?
Que novas regras gostava que existissem para beneficiar a sua empresa? Que contratos, por exemplo, gostava de poder assinar com clientes e fornecedores?
A sua empresa tem poder para impor essas regras? Alguém pode ajudar a que isso aconteça? E alguém pode contrariar essa vontade?
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"Tactics are moves used to shape the way players perceive the game and hence how they play. Sometimes, tactics are designed to reduce misperceptions; at other times, they are designed to create or maintain uncertainty. ... We've changed the players, their added values, and the rules. Is there anything left to change? Yes - perceptions there is no guarantee that everyone agrees on who the players are, what their added values are, and what the rules are. Nor are the implications of every move and countermove likely to be clear. Business is mired in uncertainty. Tactics influence the way players perceive the uncertainty and thus mold their behavior. Some tactics work by reducing misperceptions - in other words, by lifting the fog. Others work by creating or maintaining uncertainty - by thickneing the fog." (Moi ici: Escrevo este fog e... não posso deixar de o associar a estas frictions em "Value Creation and Value Capture with Frictions")
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Como é que os outros intervenientes vêem o jogo? Como é que essas percepções afectam o jogar o jogo?
Que percepções faz sentido manter? Que percepções pretende mudar?
Pretende que o jogo seja mais transparente ou mais opaco?
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"Scope describes the boundaries of the game. It's possible for players to expand or shrink those boundaries. ... After players, added values, rules, and tactical possibilities, there is nothing left to change within the existing boundaries of the game. But no game is an island. Games are linked across space and over time. A game in one place can affect games elsewhere, and a game today can affect games tomorrow. You can change the scope of a game. You can expand it by creating linkages to other games, or you can shrink it by severing linkages. Either approach may work to your benefit."
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Qual o âmbito do jogo actual? Faz sentido alterá-lo? 
Faz sentido ligá-lo a outros jogos?
Faz sentido alterar as ligações a outros jogos?
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Ao olhar para tudo isto não posso deixar de pensar no business model canvas de Osterwalder...
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Questões adaptadas daqui.
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Continua.

A diferenciação dentro da diferenciação

"Porter states that sustaining competitive advantage involves dealing with competitive forces within a sector of industry to become distinct from competitors.
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The competitive forces determine the rules of the game in doing business within a sector of industry. According to Porter, organizations act wisely if they obey these strategic rules. This implies that within Porter’s strategic reality it is not wise if organizations try to change the strategic rules, for that leads to a stuck-in-the-middle position within the sector of industry. The only two ways of becoming distinct are by adopting a ‘cost leadership’ strategy or a ‘strategy of differentiation’. Because Porter beliefs the strategic rules within a sector of industry are objective, all competitors will observe the same strategic rules and choose a strategy to become distinct accordingly. Paradoxically, this will result in the situation that strategy no longer concerns doing things differently, but by doing things the same as your competitors do. (Moi ici: O autor não está a ver bem a coisa... falta-lhe o ró) After all, if all organizations adopt either a strategy of ‘cost leadership’ or ‘differentiation’, ironically, the only way to become distinct from your competitors is to enact a ‘stuck-in-the-middle’ strategy that, according to Porter, should be avoided at all expense."
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O autor não está a ver o filme todo. A estratégia pode ser de diferenciação, e o que é que isso significa? Uns clientes gostam do amarelo, outros do azul, outros do verde, outros do preto, ... a estratégia genérica é diferenciação mas cada grupo homogéneo de clientes-alvo procura e valoriza experiências diferentes. Assim, organizar-se para servir os clientes que gostam do amarelo não é igual a organizar-se para servir os que gostam do verde. "Stuck-in-the-middle" é tentar servir em simultâneo os clientes que gostam do amarelo, e os clientes que gostam do verde, e os clientes que gostam do preto, e ... porque, como referi em "Go Mongo: "We will find a place (To settle) Where there's so much space" e em "O que não fazer é tão importante como o que fazer" o ró que descobri em "Positioning on a Multi-Attribute Landscape" de Ron Adner, Felipe A. Csaszar e Peter B. Zemsky, publicado em Março de 2010 obriga a fazer opções, impõe trade-offs.
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Trecho inicial extraído de "Developing strategic self-descriptions of SMEs" de Jan-Peter Vos, publicado por Technovation 25 (2005) 989–999.

Um conselho

"Licenciados voltam à universidade"
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Uma forma de sacar dinheiro aos incautos.
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Licenciados com 7/8 anos de experiência profissional voltam à universidade para tirar um mestrado e... descobrem que vão ter de voltar a ter cadeiras que já tiveram durante a licenciatura. E pior, continuam a ser os mesmos professores sem experiência profissional a debitar aulas para profissionais, como se debitassem para os alunos sem experiência de vida, sem profissão e que continuam a depender dos pais.
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Um flop!
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Um conselho: se estiver interessado num mestrado, procure saber quem são os professores e qual o seu percurso profissional extra-académico.

The Value Net (parte I)

Estou a tentar lembrar-me mas já não consigo recordar qual a fonte que ontem me fez chegar a "The Right Game: Use Game Theory to Shape Strategy" de Adam Brandenburger e Barry Nalebuff, publicado em Julho de 2005 pela HBR.
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Interessante como um artigo escrito há 16 anos descreveu tão bem, não só o meu percurso, mas também o de muitos autores que nos últimos 10 anos se têm dedicado ao fenómeno da originação de valor.
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Ainda há dias em "Os mercados como configurações (parte IV)" reflectia sobre isto:
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"Unlike war and sports, business is not about winning and losing. Nor is it about how well you play the game. Companies can succeed spectacularly without requiring others to fail. And they can fail miserably no matter how well they play if they make the mistake of playing the wrong game.
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The essence of business success lies in making sure you’re playing the right game. How do you know if it’s the right game? What can you do about it if it’s the wrong game?
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For rule-based games, game theory offers the principle, To every action, there is a reaction. But, unlike Newton’s third law of motion, the reaction is not programmed to be equal and opposite.
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For freewheeling games, game theory offers the principle, You cannot take away from the game more than you bring to it. In business, what does a particular player bring to the game? To find the answer, look at the value created when everyone is in the game, and then pluck that player out and see how much value the remaining players can create. The difference is the removed player’s “added value.” In unstructured interactions, you cannot take away more than your added value.
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Underlying both principles is a shift in perspective. Many people view games egocentrically—that is, they focus on their own position. The primary insight of game theory is the importance of focusing on others—namely, allocentrism. To look forward and reason backward, you have to put yourself in the shoes—even in the heads—of other players. To assess your added value, you have to ask not what other players can bring to you but what you can bring to other players." (Moi ici: Perfeito!!! Na linha do que escrevi em "Não é armadilhar, é educar!" sobre as empresas que tiram os olhos do chão)
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Segue-se uma frase que merece ser lida, re-lida e re-lida:
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"Successful business strategy is about actively shaping the game you play, not just playing the game you find." (Moi ici: "Os mercados como configurações (parte IV)" resumido como poesia numa única frase)
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"You can't see all the ramifications of the program without adopting an allocentric perspective." (Moi ici: Quem são os intervenientes no jogo? E voltamos ao esquema de ontem:

Quem participa? O que é que cada um procura e valoriza? Como criar uma sintonia, um alinhamento na cadeia da procura?)
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"Looking for win-win strategies has several advantages. First, because the approach is relatively unexplored, there is greater potential for finding new opportunities. Second, because others are not being forced to give up ground, they may offer less resistance to win-win moves, making them easier to implement. Third, because win-win movez don't force other players to retaliate, the new game is more sustainable. And finally, imitation of a win-win move is beneficial, not harmful.
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To encourage thinking about both cooperative and competitive ways to change the game, we suggest the term coopetition. It means looking for win-win as well as win-lose opportunities.
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The game of business is all about value: creating it and capturing it. Who are the participants in this enterprise? To describe them, we introduce the Value Net - a schematic map designed to represent all the players in the game and the interdependencies among them.

The Value Net describes the various roles of the players.

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The Value Net reveals two fundamental symmetries in the game of business: the first between customers and suppliers and the second between substitutors and complementors. Understanding those symmetries can help managers come up with new strategies.
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Managers understand intuitively that along the vertical dimension of the Value Net, there is a mixture of cooperation and competition. It's cooperation when suppliers, companies, and customers come together to create value in the first place. It's competition when the times comes for them to divide the pie.
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Along the horizontal dimension, however, managers tend to see only half the picture . Substitutors are seen only as enemies. Complementors, if viewed at all, are seen only as friends. Such a perspective overlooks another simmetry. There can be a cooperative element to interactions with substitutors.
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Designing the Value Net for your business is the first step toward changing the game. The second step is identifying all the elements of the game. According to game theory, there are five: players; added values, rules, tactics and scope - PARTS for short. These five elements fully describe all interactions, both freewheeling and rule-based. To change the game, you have to change one or more of thse elements."
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Continua
mm

Not yet

As câmaras e os políticos ainda não perceberam as implicações do encarecimento do preço do dinheiro na avaliação dos "investimentos" a realizar.

Interessante

"Lactogal "exporta leite mais barato do que vende à distribuição""
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Será verdade?
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Lembro-me de discutir, enquanto aluno na FEUP, a hipótese de vender para exportação a um preço que compensasse os custos variáveis e pouco mais.
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Uma coisa pontual, extra-orçamento, OK.
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Fazer disso um modo de vida... nonsense, sobretudo num mercado aberto. Querer que os clientes habituais subsidiem a exportação não é uma boa política, sobretudo agora com a simetria de informação.
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A queixa da distribuição portuguesa é dos livros sobre o tema dos preços.

Para reflexão

Consultem a coluna do blogue do lado direito e vejam a lista intitulada "SDL+co-criação+balanced centricity" é uma lista em construção que aborda o fenómeno de nos concentrarmos na originação do valor para ter sucesso no ambiente competitivo de Mongo.
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Contudo, o mainstream só fala dos custos... como se o nosso problema fosse de custos:

Gráfico retirado de "Wages and labour costs" (figura 6).
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Num mundo em que o value-in-use é o enfoque cada vez maior... o mainstream continua encalhado no value-in-exchange.

Users, buyers and payers

"As distinct from treating ‘value’ as an embedded attribute of the product being exchanged, this conceptual framework views it as a being created by the interactions with customers taking place throughout the relational process. It is thus rooted in subjective performance criteria and measured by value-in-use, rather than in objective quality standards, capable of measurement in terms of value-in-exchange. In this view, firms do not deliver value, but instead offer propositions that have the potential to co-create value in partnership with customers, as “reciprocal promises of value, operating to and from suppliers and customers seeking an equitable exchange”.
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"Even if value-in-use does take up a super-ordinate position in relation to value-in-exchange, a strategic issue remains to be addressed: whether firms should always strive to communicate propositions emphasising the former kind of value, or might in certain situations place relatively more emphasis on the latter.(Moi ici: Mais uma razão para definir e caracterizar quem são os clientes-alvo. E, como já me aconteceu em vários projectos, não é fácil a um comercial habituado a lidar com a proposta de valor preço (value-in-exchange), ter de abordar novos clientes de uma forma diferente, reforçando a perspectiva do (value-in-use))
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For example, if a customer’s short-term orientation is towards the achievement of annual price concessions on capital goods and service agreements, propositions focusing on value-in-use may be contraindicated, even if they would be a good business rationale for buyers in general. This conclusion supports the view of Lusch et al. (2007) that it is not viable for a firm to pursue an unvarying approach to the formulation of its value propositions. In that case, those responsible for the related strategy decisions need to be able to recognise the determinants of value emphasis, in order to be able to change, adapt and influence the value proposition effectively. (Moi ici: Um dos melhores exemplos que conheço é o da XIAMETER. A DOW teve a clareza de espírito para perceber que para certos clientes é só mesmo o preço e a marca DOW não representava nada) This in turn demands a clear understanding of the nature of the interactions between providers and customers, and those among the members of buying centres where those exist."
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"Michel et al. (2008) discuss three distinct customer roles in the value-creation process, from an S-D logic perspective: users, ‘payers’ and buyers, whether individual or organisational. Whereas the user’s role primarily relates to value-in-use and the payer’s primarily value-in-exchange, the buyer’s role bridges the two. In some contexts, all three roles are performed by the same person; in others, they are played by different individuals." (Moi ici: Ontem à noite trabalhei o esquema que se segue para um projecto em curso

E cá estão eles os 3: os buyers (os distribuidores); os payers (os compradores) e os users (os utilizadores).
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Creio que há uma componente de value-in-use que pode ser desenvolvida com os distribuidores. Em vez da concentração no produto, concentração na experiência que o distribuidor quer sentir na relação que tem com os seus (dele) clientes. A que me parece mais complicada é a proposta de valor a oferecer ao comprador. O comprador não é um utilizador, por isso, a tentação pode ser o preço como factor decisivo. Assim, há que trabalhar a experiência, a mensagem, quer para os influenciadores, quer para os utilizadores. O que é o endorsment de um utilizador senão uma tentativa de captar experiência de uso e transferi-la para o momento da troca, da decisão de compra)
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"In general, if the key role of the payer is to be gatekeeper, decider, major influencer or some combination of the three, it is more likely that he or she will be inclined to adopt the value-in-exchange criteria when making buying decisions. (Moi ici: Cá está) A focus on value-in-exchange may also suit low-cost providers aiming for increased sales and market share but having limited interest in close collaboration with customers in the creation of mutually beneficial value propositions. This is one reason why firms that increasingly compete by emphasising value-in-use, find it important not only to interact with the customer at the operational level, as a user, but also to carry out other joint task tasks aimed at increasing awareness of lifecycle costs and identifying new value-creation opportunities. (Moi ici: Cá está) Furthermore, the types of need identified are likely to depend on whether the initiator in the purchasing process is the user, buyer or payer.
Initially, the focus of a value proposition must therefore meet the initiator’s criteria, but the focus is likely to shift as the needs and demands of the other evaluators in the buying centre are taken into account, and the final decision criteria evolve. The initial focus may also change during the sales process, as a result of the communicative interactions and dialogue within the buying centre and with the supplier."
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Interessante como estes temas têm sido desenvolvidos nos últimos anos pela escola nórdica de marketing e gestão. Estamos a falar de uma literatura que aborda os negócios em Mongo.
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Trechos retirados de "Dynamics of value propositions: insights from service-dominant logic" de Christian Kowalkowski"

Sem patente... nada feito

"Francesinha cria água nas bocas americanas".
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Espécimen recolhido na passada semana no Restaurante Feirense!

O canário grego indicou o caminho...

Lembram-se do que se podia aprender com o canário grego?
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"Vale a pena ler para aprender com o canário grego";
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"Aprender com o canário grego"
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Por cá "Crise de Portugal retira credibilidade à empresa. Fornecedores querem pagamentos à cabeça."

Acerca da importância das histórias

"If someone has a strong opinion about something and you provide an alternative strong opinion…it reinforces their strong opinion.
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Instead of starting with facts and reasonings…start with a story.
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Start with a negative story, something that will grab someone’s attention"
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Trecho retirado de "Our natural tendency is to start with our facts and then give examples..we need to reverse this"

Servitization?

"The 5 Myths of Servitization"
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O nome é esquisito... mas é sobre isto que tenho de pensar nos próximos dias.
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Quando uma empresa tem um produto super-atraente, como acrescentar operant resources aos operand resources? Que serviços acrescentar, que pontos de interacção desenvolver, para poder evoluir para o nível seguinte do jogo?

Valor vs Produção ou Facilitação

Vale a pena ler "Adopting a service business logic in relational business-to-business marketing: value creation, interaction and joint value co-creation" de Christian Gronroos.
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Este esquema parece-me bem conseguido para mostrar o que está em causa quando se fala de valor:

"Production and value creation are not the same thing. In production processes the distribution mechanisms (goods and service processes) for service that render value for customers are produced. Value creation, on the other hand, takes place in the customers’ value-generating processes where goods and services are used. There value is created out of these distribution mechanisms. The customers are in charge of their value creation. What suppliers can do is, first of all and fundamentally, to provide their customers with such goods and services that they can use in a value-creating way. As suppliers in this way facilitate value creation, this can be labelled value facilitation.
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However, as production and usage, or in more general terms the supplier’s and its customer’s processes, are partly simultaneously occurring processes, interactions between suppliers and their customers occur. As part of such interactions customers’ co-producing opportunities exist. From a production point of view, where the supplier is in charge of the process, customers engage themselves with the supplier’s production process.
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However, looking at the interactions from a value creation perspective the situation changes. In value creation the user is in charge, and hence it is the supplier that is invited to engage itself with the customer’s work, or usage and value-generating processes, in order to support how value fulfilment is occurring in those processes. This view also describes a truly outside-in approach and is in accordance with the marketing concept.
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The supplier’s involvement in its customers’ usage processes during interactions with the customers opens up additional opportunities for suppliers to influence value creation and customers’ value fulfilment. During the interactions the supplier can directly work with the customers and actively influence the flow and outcome of their value-generating processes.
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Because according to the value-in-use notion customers create value, the supplier is not a value creator or the value creator. However, during interactions with users in addition to its role as value facilitator, the supplier becomes a co-creator of value as well. ... customers produce value for themselves independently, but suppliers may offer assistance. Co-creation opportunities that suppliers have are strategic options for creating value. As these interactions are dialogical situations, where both parties are active in a learning process and influence each others perceptions and actions, it is in fact a matter of joint value co-creation in which both are engaged."

Recordar sempre estas cenas ao ouvir os Muggles

Sempre que oiço André Macedo na rádio ou na TV lembro-me desta história.
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Ontem, André Macedo escreveu no artigo "Não temos dinheiro, vamos ter de pensar":
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"Há exactamente 46 anos, um visionário chamado Robert Plinskin decretou a morte dos ovos.
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Disse ele: “As mais recentes análises de mercado estabelecem, sem sombra de dúvida, que o ovo é um produto triste e lamentável. Os ovos não vão, obviamente, continuar a vender-se: não se seguram sozinhos, rolam facilmente, partem-se depressa, exigem pacotes especiais, são todos parecidos uns com os outros, são difíceis de abrir e não se empilham nas prateleiras.” A lista de argumentos deste guru do marketing era arrasadora: os ovos estavam fritos."
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Pois bem, reparem neste exercício:
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Há exactamente 3 anos 5 meses e 1 semana, um comentador económico chamado André Macedo decretou a morte do têxtil e do calçado em Portugal:
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Disse ele: “Acontece que o abandono progressivo das actividades com baixo valor acrescentado (têxteis, calçado) é uma estrada sem regresso possível e sem alternativa. Vai doer, mas só assim o país ficará mais forte e competitivo.”
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Cuidado! Esta gente vive longe da realidade, tem um pensamento linear e é incapaz de perceber que possam existir relações amorosas com clientes, fornecedores e produtos... são Muggles.
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Não percebem nada da magia!

Abraçar a MUDANÇA em vez de lhe resistir (parte II)

Relacionar o ponto 4 deste postal "O momento Janus (parte II)" com estes postal de Seth Godin "Embracing constraints".

Shape expectations, frame experiences

""everything is brand." And everything a brand does should be aligned to deliver a meaningful experience. (Moi ici: E qual é essa experiência? E a quem é dirigida?) But the sensory experience of transacting business with a brand, while it may be the cornerstone of the brand experience, is far from the totality. Brand experience encompasses everything from the first impression of a brand to the latest interaction with it, from a positive association with it created by its funny TV ad to a negative one from a neighbor's discussion of its shortcomings. It is the job of marketing to shape expectations, frame experiences, and keep as many associations as possible both positive and salient. If they do their work well, the result will be the creation of value for both brand owner and brand buyer."
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Trecho extraído de "A Brand is Bigger Than Performance"

Os mercados como configurações (parte IV)

Gerosky em "Thinking creatively about markets", publicado por International Journal of Industrial Organization 16 (1998) 677–695 (um artigo escrito em 1998 e... que continua actual).
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Um mercado não é algo inerente à natureza, não é algo intrínseco, é uma criação intelectual, é uma organização mental da actividade económica. Quando uma empresa define a natureza do seu mercado, influencia de forma poderosa a sua identidade, as suas capacidades o seu know-how. Por sua vez, a identidade de uma empresa, ajuda a focar as energias e recursos dos seus elementos proporcionando um sentido comum de propósito.
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Quando uma empresa dá o salto mental de "criar" o seu mercado, em vez de se posicionar num mercado que já existe, criado por outros (qual Bill Russell), pode criar as condições para destapar oportunidades de inovação estratégica.
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A redefinição de um mercado é, muitas vezes, a única forma de engenheirar com sucesso a entrada numa actividade bem protegida por barreiras à entrada ou à mobilidade.
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"The notion that there is a well-defined ‘market’ for any good or service is an artefact of the collective imagination of those interested in the buying and selling of that good or service. A market exists whenever someone can dream up a set of needs that can be profitably served through production and trade, and that means that markets exist only in the eyes of their beholders. Market boundaries are imaginary lines which we impose on reality, and we draw them to isolate certain kinds of activities from others in order to make sense and think creatively about what we observe. Where we draw the boundaries depends on why we are interested in doing so, and the first point that I have tried to make is that different users are almost certainly likely to draw different boundaries.
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that markets are places where economic activity occurs, and this means that identifying a market is about identifying a viable activity."
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"firms might try to identify a strategic market, defined as ‘ . . . the smallest area within which it is possible to be a viable competitor’. The two key features of this definition are ‘smallest’ and ‘viable’, and a useful way to see the power of the concept is to apply it to the vexed question of whether any particular market truly is global or not.
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‘Viable’ refers to profitability, and this means that it reflects both supply side factors and demand side influences. (Moi ici: Em especial para os jotinhas) On the one hand, a strictly national producer of a commodity whose production is subject to substantial economies of scale is always at risk of being undercut by a large sized foreign based competitor, and, therefore, it is unlikely that operating at a strictly national (or even at a subnational) scale will be viable. On the other hand, if the product is capable of being differentiated and niches of consumers who value certain variants of the product very highly exist, then a firm that serves these niches well can sacrifice the cost advantages of large scale operation without threatening its viability. In this case, it would be incorrect to assert that the ‘market’ in question was global, even if it were populated by global players. More generally, viability means that a strategic market must be built up around products or services which perform valued functions. This means matching technological capability to important user needs, and assembling a long enough list of people who have these needs to make serving them profitable.
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‘Smallest’ is important because it enables one to draw a strong line between strategic necessity and strategic options. When small, economically viable niches exist in a market otherwise characterized by substantial economies of scale and homogeneous demand, firms have a choice: they can occupy one of these niches or they can operate globally. The strategic market is not, in this case, the global market, since a viable smaller alternative exists. That is, a firm may choose to go global, but it need not necessarily do so." (Moi ici: E onde é que uma empresa portuguesa com cultura portuguesa pode dar cartas, sendo global e apostando na escala, ou sendo uma ocupante de nichos?)

Um sonho

A sério, da próxima vez que visitarem uma loja de material de desporto à procura de mochilas procurem apreciar o material da Montecampo e comparem com: Quechua, North Face, Berg, e outras...
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Qual a que tem melhores acabamentos? Qual a que tem melhores atributos?
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Um sonho para um trabalho de facilitação estratégica assente no desenvolvimento da marca, na reformulação dos canais de distribuição e dos clientes-alvo.

Os mercados como configurações (parte III)

Continuado daqui.
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"Value sensing
As discussed previously, firms need an ability to generate a deeper understanding of the value creation potential in a selected market configuration; we call this value sensing. The value sensing capability can be seen as a representational practice: it is performative as it can be used to influence how other actors view the market and how they discuss the development and potential value of a particular market configuration.
Further research is needed in order to operationalize the different elements of value sensing. Flint et al. (2002) have investigated “customers” desired value changes’ and argue that firms may take a reactive (respond to changes as they occur) or proactive (influence customers by helping them to understand changes in the market) approach. They conclude: that “both positions require collection and analysis of data on changes in desired value with each influential member of the customer organizations” (p. 115).
...
"Market scripting
Focal firms may need to develop capabilities for market scripting which can be defined as conscious activities conducted by a single market actor in order to alter the current market configuration. In practice, market actors can conduct market scripting by consciously changing their mental models and/or business models. Andersson et al. (2008) define scripting as processes through which a programme of action (or script) is devised for some entity in some envisaged situation (see Akrich and Latour, 1992). The concept of scripting bears similarities to structuration theory (Giddens, 1984), which suggests that active agents have the capacity to transform their setting through action. Thus, markets can said to be the result of both unguided performativity and conscious structuration.
.
Central to market scripting is the subjective motive of the focal actor to align the mental models and business models of other market actors so that they support the mental and business models of the scripting actor. Actors need to offer their view on how the market should be configured (make “market propositions”), and engage actors in collective sensemaking activities aimed at creating a shared market view."
...
"Defining markets as configurations influences the strategizing of actors. Strategy cannot be defined as a description of efforts of one actor to utilize the opportunities in its environment. Instead it should be viewed as the firm’s effort to influence the market configuration. The aim of strategy is not “winning” a zero-sum game, defined as a product market. Nor should the focus be on “competing”, but rather on how the firm can engage in “co-opetition” with other market actors (suppliers, customers, and partners) in order to improve the resource density of the market configuration and, hence, improve firm performance for several actors at the same time."
.
Um excelente artigo ("Market as configurations") que sistematiza muita reflexão feita ao longo dos anos sobre a capacidade, ou a possibilidade de uma empresa criar o seu mercado, desenhar a sua cadeia da procura.
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Claro que isto é difícil... porque a maioria das empresas pensa na satisfação dos seus clientes e, por isso, são market-driven. Fora do comum é uma empresa equacionar toda a cadeia da procura... pensar nos seus clientes sim, mas também pensar nos clientes dos seus clientes até ao elo-final. E também pensar nos influenciadores. E criar uma melodia, um argumento, um somatório de propostas de valor que alinhe e sintonize todos. Ou seja, ser market driving!

Fixes that Fail

Imprimir bentos seria uma forma de perpetuar uma economia típica da Sildávia.
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A libra e o dólar desvalorizam e, contudo, as economias inglesa e americana estão nas ruas da amargura.
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Como se tem portado o franco suíço face ao euro?

E não é que as exportações suíças têm subido?
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"Export Basket and the Effects of Exchange Rates on Exports – Why Switzerland Is Special":

.
"In times of a strong CHF appreciation, the Swiss export performance has proven to be exceptionally robust. ...
Still, what is puzzling is that Swiss exports have risen as fast or even faster than those of other rich nations, despite the strong appreciation of the CHF."
.
.
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O Paradoxo de Kaldor em acção.

Os mercados como configurações (parte II)

Continuado daqui.

.

Trechos retirados de "Markets as configurations" de Kaj Storbacka e Suvi Nenonen, publicado pelo European Journal of Marketing Vol. 45 No. 172, 2011, pp. 221-258.

.

Trechos que reforçam o ponto de vista de que o futuro pode ser construído, de que os mercados podem ser alterados.

.

"Bounded by their rationality, organizations “produce” (Weick, 1995) or “fabricate” (Sarasvathy, 2008) the environments to which they respond through their actions and selective interest. Markets will be results of the managers’ learning based on their observation of the outcomes of their past market actions. Brooks (1995) claims that “enacted markets” are outcomes of prior transactions and interactions between the actors in the network. As markets are defined by the already established relationships, this “structure” forms mental barriers against other perceptions of the market. (Moi ici: Estas barreiras mentais, estes modelos mentais tanto existem nos que desesperam e não vêem alternativas, como nos académicos e políticos que aconselham "Imprimam-se bentos!") Mental models tend to constrict individuals from looking “outside the box”. Individuals (and as a consequence, market actors) become myopic: they do not see – nor accept – things outside the boundaries of their mental model.

...

Performativity emerges as a central concept in illustrating how socially constructed market configurations are formed. The notion of performativity, i.e. that the expressed views (theories, social structures, etc.) of actors influence reality, ...

.

The performativity of market actors’ mental models means that markets are performed when market actors introduce theories about the market and new boundary definitions. Focal actors need to influence other market actors in such a way that their subjective definition of a market configuration becomes a shared definition. (Moi ici: Uma das minhas funções é esta de facilitar a actuação dos "focal actors": como mudar a configuração de um mercado) A shared market definition is achieved through an oscillating process of interaction and dialogue between individuals – within and between the market actors.

...

The market view proposed in this paper suggests that opportunities are not precursors of strategy; rather they are outcomes of deliberate efforts to influence market configurations (Sarasvathy, 2008). (Moi ici: As oportunidades não caem do céu, são criadas pelos "focal actors". Escrevo isto e recordo as palavras de um empresário que, perante uma análise SOWT, se interrogava sobre o que eram oportunidades e o que eram ameaças. Segundo ele, em função de um caminho ou outro que decidisse tomar, o mesmo factor podia nuns casos ser visto como uma oportunidade e noutros casos como uma ameaça.) As actors engage in activities to influence the market configuration, opportunities occur and actors need to be nimble at capturing the value from these. This indicates that the sustainability of competitive advantage – in its most traditional sense – is not that important as it is increasingly difficult to maintain a superior value proposition or competitive strategy for long periods of time.

.

Actors can, however, find sustainable competitive advantage from their ability to influence and reconfigure the market configuration to fit their objectives."

.

Continua.

Imprimam bentos (parte V)

Mais um capítulo de "The Upside: How to Turn Your Greates Threat Into Your Biggest Growth Opportunity" de Adrian Slywotzky e Karl Weber, e mais uma lição para os adeptos da impressão desenfreada de bentos.
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O 4º capítulo chama-se "Unbeatable - Surviving the Arrival of the Unique Competitor" e começa com a história de uma rivalidade no basquetebol.
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Um jogador mais baixo e mais leve, Bill Russell, tinha como adversário o favorito dos comentadores e analistas, Wilt Chamberlain".
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"The smart money said: You can't beat Wilt. He'll kill you. There's no way to survive in a Wilt Chamberlain world" (Moi ici: Estes são os suckers de "Trends are for suckers", são os que só sabem imprimir bentos)
...
"Russell spent a lot of time wrestling with the dilemma posed by his rival. The conventional wisdom was that nobody could beat Wilt at the vertical game - he was just too tall, too big, and too strong. All of wich was true." (Moi ici: E Russell descobriu uma forma de dar a volta a Wilt)
.
""Wilt played vertical, I played horizontal. I got to his favorite spot first. That annoyed him. I covered so that he'd have to shoot from an angle he didn't like" Russell played a different game, a different way." (Moi ici: A mensagem deste capítulo resumo-a como: Não tente competir coma China no custo ou com a Wal-Mart no preço)
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De seguida, conta-se a história do progresso imperial da Wal-Mart e da quantidade e variedade de vítimas que deixou pelo terreno, todos aqueles que tentaram bater a Wal-Mart no jogo onde ela tem os trunfos... não tiveram hipóteses. Depois, conta-se a história do sucesso da Target, uma espécie de Bill Russell que resolveu jogar um jogo diferente.
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""You can't survive a unique competitor" is the rule of thumb - and it's usually a wise one. You certainly can't if you play their game their way. But if you focus on creating the maximum degree of non-overlap, if you chose to play a different game, you and your customers can do extremely well in a world where other competitors are being defeated by an "unbeatable" force such as Wal-Mart.
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What is an unbeatable risk for others turns into a growth opportunity for you so long as you stay obssessed with playing that different game in a different way."
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Claro, perante a concorrência asiática e do Leste Europeu uns gritam:
.
"Imprimam bentos! Desvalorizem a moeda!"
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Slywotzky, e eu também tento dar a minha contribuição, propõem outra "receita":
.
"Play a different game: define a different customer base, product mix, brand image, and business model from that of the unique competitor (Moi ici: A velha metáfora das formigas no piquenique)

Um ataque aos direitos adquiridos!

"Kodak: À procura de um novo foco"
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Os consumidores deviam ser obrigados a voltar a usar máquinas fotográficas com rolos Kodak.
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Como é que foi possível este ataque contra os direitos adquiridos da empresa, dos seus trabalhadores, dos seus fornecedores, dos seus agentes...
.
.
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A Kodak cometeu alguma ilegalidade?
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Quem acredita nesta lengalenga que leia "O Rei Lear"
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É a vida!
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Não há direitos adquiridos!!!

Um resumo que apanha muito coisa sobre este blogue

Tive de reler umas passagens de "The Profit Zone" de Adrian Slywotzky e David Morrison.
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Depois, ao folhear o livro deparo-me com uma sequência de subtítulos num capítulo dedicado a Andrew Grove e à Intel...

• "Follow the Value, Not the Volume"
• "Create Uniqueness"
• "Compete for Value in the Chain"
• "Own the Consumer Relationship"

Está cá tanta coisa... simplificando quase apetece dizer "O blogue é sobre isto!"

Sarasvathy (parte II)

Continuado daqui.
.
Há um mês escrevi "Para PMEs tem de ser uma abordagem híbrida?":
.
"Começamos por olhar para fora, para o mercado para identificar os diferentes grupos homogéneos de clientes ou potenciais clientes, e escolher os grupos mais interessantes em termos de rentabilidade e de sustentabilidade da relação.
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No entanto, não é só uma questão de querer... é também uma questão de poder. Como os recursos são escassos, há que conjugar a primeira questão com a dura realidade, quem é que podemos servir com vantagem tendo em conta a história, o cadastro, as capacidades que adquiridas e experimentadas?"
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Agora, descubro Sarasvathy:
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"Expert entrepreneurs begin with who they are, what they know and whom they know, and immediately start taking action and interacting with other people.

• They focus on what they can do and do it, (Moi ici: "Get out of the building" "Ship then test" "Think beta not best") without worrying much about what they ought to do.
• Some of the people they interact with self-select into the process by making commitments to the venture.
• Each commitment results in new means and new goals for the venture.
• As resources accumulate in the growing network, constraints begin to accrete. The constraints reduce possible changes in future goals and restrict who may or may not be admitted into the stakeholder network. (Moi ici: Espaço de Minkowsky)
• Assuming the stakeholder accumulation process does not prematurely abort, goals and network concurrently converge into a new market and a new firm.

...
The bird-in-hand principle
This is a principle of means-driven (as opposed to goal-driven) action. The emphasis here is on creating something new with existing means rather than discovering new ways to achieve given goals
...
Effectuation is the inverse of causation. Causal models begin with an effect to be created. They seek either to select between means to achieve those effects or to create new means to achieve preselected ends. Effectual models, in contrast, begin with given means and seek to create new ends using non-predictive strategies.(Moi ici: Consultor, em empresas estabelecidas que precisam de uma segunda vida, tem de conjugar oportunidades que se podem criar olhando para o mercado, olhando para a sua configuração, olhando para as hipotéticas cadeias da procura existentes ou a construir, com as suas capacidades, com as suas experiências, com o seu cadastro, com os seus recursos. Não adianta fazer castelos no ar... não há dinheiro e não há tempo! As empresas já existem e têm de resultar, portanto, a restrição do que se é, do que se sabe e do que se tem é importante mas há causalidade. Com o que se tem, como dar a volta?)
...

• Effectuators see the world as open, still in-the-making. They see a genuine role for human action. In fact, they see both firms and markets as human-made artifacts. In this sense, effectual entrepreneurship is not a social science. It is a science of the artificial (Moi ici: Muito bom... Herbert Simon. Take that bento-lovers).
• Effectuators very rarely see opportunities as given or outside of their control. For the most part, they work to fabricate, as well as recognize and discover opportunities (Moi ici: Muito bom... Sarasvathy et al., 2003). 
• (Moi ici: Atenção ao que se segue e comparar com os que promovem a impressão de bentos para tornar as empresas mais competitivas) Effectuators often have an instrumental view of firms and markets. They do not act as though they were the agents of the firm or as suppliers catering to demand – firms are a way for them to create valuable novelty for themselves and/or for the world; markets are more likely made than found; and a variety of stakeholders including customers are partners in an adventure of their own making. 
• Effectuators do not seek to avoid failure; they seek to make success happen. This entails a recognition that failing is an integral part of venturing well. Through their willingness to fail, effectuators create temporal portfolios of ventures whose successes and failures they manage – learning to outlive failures by keeping them small and killing them young, and cumulating successes through continual leveraging."

Continua.

"Value it's a feeling not a calculation"

"A desvalorização do euro face ao dólar traria sobretudo uma maior competitividade à economia europeia. As compras em euros ficariam mais baratas, o que podia impulsionar as exportações. "Para nós seria muito interessante porque as nossas exportações para fora da Europa seriam certamente aumentadas pela depreciação do euro. Por outro lado encarecia as importações, o que, no caso de serem bens não essenciais, eliminava os desequilíbrios", explica João Duque."(Aqui)
.
Pois, as nossas exportações extra-comunitárias estão a crescer em termos homólogos a cerca de 23% (Maio de 2011 versus Maio 2010, dados do INE), e acham que a nossa economia não é competitiva...
.
Esta gente está completamente isolada da realidade económica, dos agentes concretos que operam no terreno... têm um modelo mental e não têm contacto suficiente com a economia real para perceberem que esse modelo ficou obsoleto.
.
Os ingleses têm imprimido bentos e não é por isso que estão a melhorar a sua economia "U.K. to Grow Less Than Previously Forecast"... e se estudassem o paradoxo de Kaldor?
.
Recordo o exemplo do sector do calçado:

• preço médio de um par de sapatos à saída da fábrica em Portugal e exportado - cerca de 21 €
• preço médio de um par de sapatos fabricado na China e importado pela Europa - cerca de 3 €

Como é que Cavaco, PPC e João Duque explicam isto?

.

Não explicam!

.

"Value it's a feeling not a calculation" E o nosso campeonato, o único que permite fugir à guerra do gato e do rato, entre a produtividade e os salários, tem de ser o valor e não o preço/custo.

Os mercados como configurações (parte I)

"Markets as configurations" de Kaj Storbacka e Suvi Nenonen, publicado pelo European Journal of Marketing Vol. 45 No. 172, 2011, pp. 221-258.
.
É como voltar a um local onde se viveu na infância... ler um artigo que racionaliza, descreve, ilustra o que fizemos sem teoria de suporte, fizemos porque tinha de ser feito, fizemos porque não havia outra alternativa.
.
Do abstract:
.
"Markets can be viewed as configurations of market actors engaging in market practices. (Moi ici: Os mercados não se regem por leis imortais, imutáveis, talhadas na pedra. Os mercados não existem, emergem, vão emergindo da relação entre os intervenientes. Mentes conservadoras podem crer que os mercados são como os reagentes de uma reacção química e que o tempo não os influencia, por mais vezes que se repita a experiência. Tolos!!! Os mercados são seres vivos que aprendem e desaprendem não podendo ser encarcerados numa lógica newtoniana) Market configurations are perpetually dynamic as new actors enter the context, and as actors introduce ideas and business model elements to the network. As a result the configuration’s marketness evolves towards higher levels of configurational fit, resulting in increased value co-creation opportunities. An actor wanting to influence the market configuration can do so by working on its mental models and business models. (Moi ici: Claro que há uma via mais fácil, mais rápida e ... errada, como o demonstra a situação da libra e da economia inglesa: "Imprimam bentos!" Só que mudar modelos mentais e modelos de negócio não é fácil. É preciso ter coragem, coragem para abandonar a protecção da manada e a relação pedo-mafiosa com o Estado.)  The power of the actor’s mental and business models is mediated by the actor’s network position, its clout, and the fact that a change in any element evokes reactions from other actors. Actors need to develop new sets of market capabilities, such as value sensing, the ability to measure markets, price formation and pricing logics, and market scripting"
...
"it is the customer who creates value and the goal of a provider is not so much to make or do something of value for the customer as it is to mobilize customers to create value for themselves ... a suggest that firms should be viewed as extensions of customer processes: “firms participate in customer practices, customers are not extensions of firm’s production processes”."  (Moi ici: Se isto não é uma mudança de paradigma para os economistas empedernidos... naufragados na concepção marxiana de que valor é trabalho incorporado...)
...
"markets cannot be seen as given structures where actors simply compete for positions. Market actors will make subjective market definitions by identifying the relevant network(s) to participate in – both in terms of exploiting existing opportunities and exploring new ones. In a similar vein, Read et al. (2009) argues that in the traditional rational “text book” view opportunities are precursors of strategy: i.e. the firm adapts to the opportunities present in the environment. In an effectual view, opportunities are outcomes of deliberate efforts of the effectuators (market actors) to co-create their environment by attaining commitments from a network of partner, investor, and customer stakeholders (Sarasvathy, 2008). (Moi ici: Isto é bonito e profundo... e possível, co-criar um ambiente, terraformar um ecossistema, desenhar uma nova cadeia da procura, fugir da pedo-máfia e da impressão de bentos. Been there already, done that and proud of it!!!)
Effectual market actors will need new sets of capabilities and management practices to be able to co-create their market. We suggest that a way for market actors to deal with the subjectivity of markets is to conceptualize them as configurations, a construct similar to “business ecosystems”. Ecosystems are assumed to self-organize into a stable symmetry, or stasis. As an actor disrupts this symmetry (Moi ici: Como escreve Sarasvathy: "What matters is that entrepreneurs create variations. These variations are then subject to selection processes that determine what survives and what does not.") by introducing new ideas or new resources into the system, the system seeks to recover by aiming at a new stasis. Similarly, configurations are constellations of design elements that commonly occur together because their interdependence makes them fall into patterns."
...
"“firms are not simply passive victims of their environment but strive to alter competitive market conditions in their favour”.
.
Designing conscious activities by a market actor to alter the current market in its favour elevates a central research avenue: how can a market actor influence the market configuration.  (Moi ici: Por isto é que o equilíbrio em economia é uma treta. Sempre que um empreendedor puder introduzir variações...)
A market actor wanting to influence a market configuration can be labelled a “focal actor”, ... market networks can be described by starting from a focal actor and analyzing this actor’s relationships. A focal actor wanting to influence the market practices in a market configuration can do this by working on its mental  models and business models.  (Moi ici: Eu repito "by working on its mental model and business models". Não é através da impressão de bentos, ou de PINs, ou de corredores, carpetes e biombos do poder)
The mental models relate to how the focal actor views the relevant market, and they gain visible form as they are translated into different value-creating practices in the business model. The market practices are the results of the interaction between individual market actors’ business model elements. Market configurations are perpetually dynamic and developing as new actors enter the context, and as different market actors introduce new ideas and new business model elements in the network. This leads to a perpetual oscillation effect between the elements in the configuration: between the actor and the market practices. The power of the actor’s mental models and business models to influence a market configuration is mediated by the focal actor’s position in the network, its clout, and the fact that a change in any configurational element is likely to evoke a reaction from all actors wanting to shape the market in their favour."
.
E como é que a sua empresa faz isto?

• "Perspectiva Clientes do BSC: partes interessadas?"
• "Orquestrar um enredo"
• "A evolução da ideia de mosaico estratégico (parte VI)"
• "Como é o ecossistema da sua organização?"
• "Alargar os horizontes"
• "Quem define a personalidade da cadeia de valor?"
• "Clientes-alvo e proposta de valor (parte II)"

Continua.

Sarasvathy (parte I)

Interrompi a leitura do artigo "Markets as configurations" de Kaj Storbacka e Suvi Nenonen, publicado pelo European Journal of Marketing Vol. 45 No. 172, 2011, pp. 221-258, por causa das referências a um nome, Sarasvathy, e a um tema: o empreendedorismo.
.
Primeiro uma pesquisa na net deu origem a este interessante artigo "MBAs vs. Entrepreneurs":
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"Causal reasoning, she explains, "begins with a pre-determined goal and a given set of means, and seeks to identify the optimal—fastest, cheapest, most efficient, etc.—alternative to achieve that goal." This is the world of exhaustive business plans, microscopic ROI calculations, and portfolio diversification.

Effectual reasoning, on the other hand, "does not begin with a specific goal. Instead, it begins with a given set of means and allows goals to emerge contingently over time from the varied imagination and diverse aspirations of the founders and the people they interact with." This is the world of bootstrapping, rapid prototyping, and guerilla marketing. (Moi ici: E o que é preciso para prosperar em Mongo? O mundo das produção em série e da escala não é para nós, nem que seja pelo temperamento. Além disso, vai ter cada vez menos peso e atracção)

The more Sarasvathy explains the differences in the two styles of thinking, the more obvious it becomes which style matches the times. Causal reasoning is about how much you expect to gain; effectual reasoning is about how much you can afford to lose. Causal reasoning revolves around competitive analysis and zero-sum logic; effectual reasoning embraces networks and partnerships. (Moi ici: Cath stuff, diria Arroja) Causal reasoning "urges the exploitation of pre-existing knowledge"; effectual reasoning stresses the inevitability of surprises and the leveraging of options.

The difference in mindset, Sarasvathy concludes, boils down to a different take on the future. "Causal reasoning is based on the logic, To the extent that we can predict the future, we can control it," she writes. That's why MBAs and big companies spend so much time on focus groups, market research, and statistical models. "Effectual reasoning, however, is based on the logic, To the extent that we can control the future, we do not need to predict it." How do you control the future? By inventing it yourself (Moi ici: YES!!! Aprendi isso com Drucker, a melhor forma de prever o futuro é criá-lo) — marshalling scarce resources, understanding that surprises are to be expected rather than avoided, reacting to them fast."
.
E encontrei a referência mencionada no artigo, um livro chamado "Effectuation - Elements of Entrepreneurial Expertise".
.
Continua.

O Estado-cuco

Conhecem o Princípio de Pareto?
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Conhecem o Diagrama de Pareto criado por Joseph Juran?
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Então procurem saber.
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Depois, olhem para a despesa do Estado e vejam onde se tem de começar a cortar.
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Impressionante, o salário-médio no Estado é 57% mais elevado que no sector privado. O sector mais seguro, mais protegido, mais burocrático, mais inflexível é uma carraça às costas do resto da sociedade...
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"Funcionários do Estado ganham mais 500 euros que a média nacional"

Gente de carne e osso

"Market! What Market?
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We do not look at market needs.
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We make proposals to people."
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Ernesto Gismondi

Imprimam bentos (parte IV)

Ontem à noite li mais um capítulo de "The Upside: How to Turn Your Greates Threat Into Your Biggest Growth Opportunity" de Adrian Slywotzky e Karl Weber.
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O 2º capítulo chama-se "Why Do Customers Surprise Us? que começa por uma caracterização interessante da actuação dos clientes.
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"Perhaps the most insidious strategic risk we face is decimation of our customer base by shifts in behavior, preferences, and demographics.These shifts may happen gradually or literally overnight. Either way, they can destroy our business design.
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Customers are people - unpredictable, irrational, emotional, curious, and highly prone to change. Customers can't keep still. They resegment themselves from product buyers to value buyers to price buyers and then back again. Their priorities change from quality to price to solutions to brand. They get richer. They get poorer. They get excited by and attracted to different styles, different offerings, different ways to buy. They get better informed. They get more demanding. They decide to shop at different places; they start buying shirts through catalogs, jewelry from a TV network, vacations online. They want bigger cars. Then smaller. Then really bigger. Then really fuel-efficient. They pledge allegiance to product brands. Then store brands. Then no brands. They want carbohydrates, then they don't.
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Every time customer priorities shift, your business design is at risk. Your value proposition gets a little fuzzier, a little out of focus. You lose a little business from a few customers; they decide to peel away once in a while and buy a couple of items from another suplier..."
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Como é que os economistas, como é que os académicos, como é que os políticos reagem a estas flutuações no interesse dos clientes?
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Gritam um conjunto: Imprimam bentos!
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Ou seja, a única forma de lidar com todas estas vicissitudes impostas pela mudança de humor dos clientes é...
.
.
.
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Baixar o preço!
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Sair do euro e imprimir uma nova moeda chamada bento. Baixar o valor do euro...
.
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Até na medicina os antibióticos de largo espectro são cada vez mais menos aconselhados...
.
Esta gente foi educada e decorou umas sebentas num tempo em que havia dinossauros na Terra. Hoje o mercado mudou, os clientes, os concorrentes, as regras mudaram e eles continuam a repetir respostas decoradas... um pouco como o meu tio João, com 85 anos, é capaz de regressar à sua meninice e começar a "cantar" os nomes das serras portuguesas do Minho até aos cinco mil e tal metros do Pico do Ramelau em Timor.
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Num mundo a caminho de Mongo continuam a querer usar as ferramentas do tempo das economias fechadas.
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Comparo-os ao Lord Cornwallis que só segue as regras da guerra by the book, regras que facilitam a vida aos grandes (movimentos lineares previsíveis de Lanchester) e que são derrotados sem apelo nem agravo por pequenos grupos da Al-qaeda liderados por vários Benjamin Martin que fazem uso da rapidez, da flexibilidade, da atenção, do pormenor.
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É o que temos...
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""Gostaria que o Euro fosse mais fraco para que os países fossem mais competitivos""
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Não sei se sabem mas no comércio extra-comunitário a nossa balança costuma ser assim:
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"No período de Março a Maio de 2011, as exportações aumentaram 15,3% e as importações 29,1%, face ao mesmo período do ano anterior.
Excluindo os Combustíveis e lubrificantes, verifica-se que as exportações aumentaram 12,1% e as importações 14,2%, em comparação com igual período do ano anterior. O saldo da balança comercial, com exclusão deste tipo de produtos, atingiu um superavit de 100,3 milhões de euros e a correspondente taxa de cobertura foi de 104,7%, enquanto nos resultados globais (incluindo os Combustíveis e lubrificantes) se registou um défice de 1 752,1 milhões de euros, com uma taxa de cobertura de 60,7%."
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Ou seja...
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Pois, imprimam bentos... amadores a jogar bilhar
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ADENDA: Nem de propósito "Why Is The World Run By Bean Counters?" ou "You Are Not an Equation"

Imprimam bentos (parte III) ou: Regresso ao Paradoxo de Kaldor

Continuado daqui.
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Aqui, ao abordar o Paradoxo de Kaldor, mostrei o retrato das exportações alemãs e o retrato das exportações portuguesas.
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Aqui, escrevi: "Quanto mais nos afastarmos da venda de coisas (operand resources) e nos aproximarmos da venda de operant resources, sobrepostos sobre operant resources, sobrepostos sobre outros operant resources que por sua vez assentam sobre operand resources, melhor para todos nós como sociedade."
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Aqui, escrevi: "Quanto mais camadas de operant resources (conhecimento, capacidades, habilidades, truques, experiência) conseguir aplicar sobre a tela, mais complexo e com mais potencial de diferenciação fica o que colocamos no mercado, maior o potencial para amplificar o valor que o cliente vai sentir e atribuir com a experiência do uso."
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Quanto mais camadas de operant resources conseguirmos sobrepor umas sobre as outras, mais as actividades de transformação dos operand resources vão ser ricas, complexas e especializadas. Assim, a cadeia da procura tende a alongar-se:

Por isso, uma economia mais evoluída, no sentido em que sustenta melhores níveis de vida para os seus intervenientes, terá cada vez mais empresas a operarem no B2B. Daí que Hermann Simon fale em campeões escondidos. Escondidos do grande público, porque operam no B2B.
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Agora, com esta reflexão presente, avalie-se este texto:
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"Affluent economies are more likely to launch service firms that cater to the business sector. In Denmark, for instance, B-to-B companies make up 42% of start-ups. Poorer countries tend to churn out a high percentage of consumer-oriented businesses. Consider Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, where more than 74% of start-ups focus on consumers." (Moi ici: Nós temos a versão guatemalteca com os os cafés, quiosques e lojinhas de rendas)

Imprimam bentos (parte II) ou: O fim do engenheiro

A solução fácil é: imprimam bentos!
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Neste blogue basta procurar eficácia vs eficiência, numerador vs denominador, valor versus preço, distribuição de produtividades e tantos outros marcadores, para concluir inequivocamente de que lado estou.
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Recentemente li "Artistry Unleashed" the Hilary Austen que reforçou ainda mais a minha crença na arte, nos nichos, em Mongo como o futuro que nos vai ajudar a criar um mundo melhor para todos.
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Tom Gillis escreveu esta reflexão "The End of the Engineer" que vai no sentido certo, na minha opinião:
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"Three decades ago the core competency that separated good from great was determined by the ability to produce something that was “better, faster, and cheaper” than any alternative.
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But just as we’ve seen manufacturing, distribution, and supply chain management mature to the point of commoditization, engineering development is now on the same trajectory.
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I’m not suggesting that great engineering talent won’t be important to great companies, but we are rapidly reaching a point where multibillion-dollar value creation will not be enabled by a bunch of techies who have a new algorithm or architecture that is better, faster, and cheaper.
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The great companies of tomorrow will be built around something else: a competency of customer understanding. This understanding includes a vision of solving problems the customer has yet to anticipate. It requires the soft skills that allow a company to gather a million points of often-conflicting data—and turn them into a clearly articulated solution.
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In the coming decades, success will be defined by the ability to understand the complex problems that customers face, and the ability to solve these problems elegantly.
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Great companies of tomorrow will not be defined by products that are better, faster, and cheaper, but by products that are sexier and smarter."

Imprimam bentos! (parte I)

Não acredito no Grande Planeador, seja ele português ou chinês.
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Interessante, no entanto, perceber as boas-intenções do governo chinês
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"Credit squeeze drives change at China’s SMEs":
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"Rather than facing a widespread credit squeeze, the SME sector is undergoing a painful process of restructuring. Capital is being funnelled towards high-tech and green energy-related companies at the expense of traditional low-end manufacturers.
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In Wenzhou, China’s SME heartland, many of the shoe and clothing factories are indeed struggling.
“During the financial crisis, there were no orders. Now, there are orders but no one dares to fulfil them because it is impossible to get credit from banks,”
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Mr Zhou says at least 20 per cent of Wenzhou’s SMEs – there are 360,000 in the city – have already cut back operations or closed their doors this year. State media have carried reports of cash-strapped SMEs borrowing from underground lenders at annualised rates of 60 per cent.
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Instead, interviews with local factory managers, investors and bankers reveal a city in the midst of fundamental change in what it produces, with the government prodding companies to make more sophisticated products as rising wages undermine the low-cost model of manufacturing. (Moi ici:Imprimam bentos! É mais fácil imprimir bentos do que fuçar por uma alternativa) A lack of financing, they say, is a symptom and not a cause of the troubles facing traditional industries.
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“The government is trying to bring about change and is supporting high-tech sectors. We are no longer the kind of company it wants,” says a manager at a factory owned by Yibaini Shoes, a small maker of cheap women’s shoes, where workers’ salaries have tripled in the past five years."
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Trechos retirados daqui.
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BTW,
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"“There are lots of people who can no longer make money off shoes, and so they’re taking their money out of the industry to invest in property. The money comes in so much more quickly,” she said." (Moi ici: You are going to be sorry... os portugueses não são nem mais burros nem diferentes dos outros, reagem aos estímulos com mentalidade de jogador de bilhar amador)