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Changeship
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In a time of value orientation, every company must be focused on solving a customer need. When companies think sustainably and with the big picture in mind, they can leverage proprietary ecosystems under maximum agility. Agility will be key as competition and buyer visibility consistently increase. Executives have the choice of building a new business from the ground up or side-by-side with existing operations. In a greenfield approach, a company is built from the ground up, without any legacy assets. Success depends on the ability to define and implement a blueprint for all phases of the business lifecycle. On the other hand, a brownfield approach involves transforming an existing business while it is still in operation. This requires a high degree of discipline and puts pressure on resources to manage ongoing prioritization and conflicts. A variation of both is called whitecube. This model leverages existing insights and business functions (as a cube) without the organizational legacy of transforming an existing business on the fly.
Chapter 1: Driven by Purpose
The current context and status quo focus on elements that drive business change. Volatility Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA) lead to a less predictable business with more variables changing faster than before. Politics in the Western World provided a stable environment for decades, making long-term investment decisions predictable. Populism is on the rise in some European countries and the long phase of openness seems to have come to an end, replaced by increased nationalistic trends. Many countries, social classes, and peoples are now calling for sustainability to become a true focus, along with social responsibility. Consequently, business leaders seek to better connect business inputs with outputs to understand which factors really drive their business success. The solution is to define a clear business purpose beyond earning money. Working across disciplines and allowing for convergence of technologies will be a key factor for current and future success. Businesses need to find an ethical value proposition in addition to pleasing their stakeholder’s traditional KPIs. Realizing profits is not an end in itself – instead, business ethics need to be at the heart of every company in a global world. This comes with the re-activation of an older question from the 1970’s: how do post-growth scenarios lead into the question of meaning for corporations and individuals?
Chapter 2: Customer dedication based on ethical standards
The elements of building a business have not fundamentally changed, but rather need to be re-adjusted. They span from the basic concept of knowledge asymmetry that serves as foundation for all operations (a company has a unique skillset or value proposition that fulfils a demand in the market) to business model structures and best practices and a critical discussion on the purpose corporations need to fulfil. In a digital world of information overflow and scalable technologic solutions. that allow new business with very low entry barriers, customer centricity is one of the key elements to success. Thinking from a customer demand perspective--as well as being restlessly focused on innovation and speed to market--are the key prerequisites leaders must master to be successful. It’s not the best-engineered product but rather the best solution that can be applied now which will – in combination with scaling mechanisms and partnering – allow for exponential growth as a basis to outperform the competition. Ethical considerations build the foundation of everything we do – the products and services up for sale, the price points, the way we treat our employees and the supply chain as well as our role in the society.
Chapter 3: Sustainable Business Development driven by Ecosystems
The agenda to building and scaling next generation businesses is focused on clear principles, optimized stakeholder management, and clear organizational structures. First and foremost, it is about the company’s purpose beyond pleasing stakeholders and investors by earning money. Corporations are embedded in a country and a society where employees and citizens expect business leaders to take on responsibility for the greater good. At the same time, there are very clear actions leaders need to take to work backwards from the customers, re-defining the role of product managers to release customer-centric solutions quickly and enter into a customer-driven roadmap starting from a minimal viable product. Speed counts more than a perfect product – Agility beats 100% engineering. Ecosystems need to be defined and orchestrated to maximize value for customers in a complex world where partnering is the key to success. Stakeholders must be managed in an open and transparent way, and the organization itself should be characterized by high-performance teams supporting the company’s strategy rather than internal politics. While there are many organizational details, a few leading practices have turned out to be universal knowledge.
Chapter 4: Changeship Model
Bringing learnings to action with clear tools and processes is easier said than done. The ten phases from strategy to revenue streams and seven dimensions from business model to ecosystem considerations form the Changeship Model. Leaders can follow this model to steer their transformation. Every phase is prioritized, and the key question is when it’s time to move to the next phase. How many iterations of the whole model are needed and how we define success? Further, we will look at a 90-day plan with concrete recommendations for collaborating with peers, company stakeholders and friends as well as resources to obtain professional services. Finally, the book ends with the vision transforming the knowledge shared into an open-source initiative.