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Things We Like

 

We thought you might get to know us a bit better if you can see some of the things we like. This is just a start, from which we will continue to add, with time. You might see that we like going back to fundamentals to see through the noise of todays maelstrom of data, information and strategies. We also like to understand today's technologies and their practical application, leading edge science and evidence of the strong underlying currents setting the direction of flow of future markets, industry and demand.      

1. Papers...

Marketing Myopia, by Theodore Levitt

Originally published in the Harvard Business Review, 38 (July-August 1960), pp. 24-47

 

Every major industry was once a growth industry. But some that are now riding a wave of growth enthusiasm are very much in the shadow of decline. Others, which are thought of as seasoned growth industries, have actually stopped growing. In every case the reason growth is threatened, slowed, or stopped is not because the market is saturated. It is because there has been a failure of management.

 

The failure is at the top. The executives responsible for it, in the last analysis, are those who deal with broad aims and policies. Thus: The railroads did not stop growing because the need for passenger and freight transportation declined. That grew. The railroads are in trouble today [1960] not because the need was filled by others (cars, trucks, airplanes, even telephones), but because it was not filled by the railroads themselves. They let others take customers away from them because they assumed themselves to be in the railroad business rather than in the transportation business. The reason they defined their industry wrong was because they were railroad-oriented instead of transportation-oriented; they were product-oriented instead of customer-oriented. To read the rest of this paper click here. 

Strategic Intent, by Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad

Originally published in the Harvard Business Review, 38 (May-June 1989), pp. 63-76

 

Few Western companies have an enviable track record anticipating the moves of new global competitors. Why? The explanation begins with the way most companies have approached competitor analysis. Typically, competitor analysis focuses on the existing resources (human, technical, and financial) of present competitors. The only companies seen as a threat are those with the resources to erode margins and market share in the next planning period. Resourcefulness, the pace at which new competitive advantages are being built, rarely enters in. To read the rest of this paper click here (3.52MB).

 

The Core Competence of the Corporation, by C.K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel

Originally published in the Harvard Business Review, (May-June 1990), pp. 79-90

 

Once, the diversified corporation could simply point its business units at particular end product markets and admonish them to become world leaders. But with market boundaries changing ever more quickly, targets are elusive and capture is at best temporary. A few companies have proven themselves adept at inventing new markets, quickly entering emerging markets, and dramatically shifting patterns of customer choice in established markets. These are the ones to emulate. The critical task for management is to create an organisation capable of infusing products with irresistible functionality or, better yet, creating products that customers need but have not yet imagined.

[...]

NEC carefully identified three interrelated streams of technological and market evolution. Top management determined that computing would evolve from large mainframes to distributed processing, components from simple ICs to VLSI, and communications from mechanical cross-bar exchange to complex digital systems we now call ISDN. To read the rest of this paper click here (0.3MB).

2. Video...

Have You Been To This Meeting - Some Humour 

 

I found this short comedy sketch recently on Seth Godin's blog. Thankfully, after many years working in organisations in the position of the expert, I have only had a few experiences of this type of mind-boggling mystery. Since I've been leading delivery it has become easier to resolve these potentially frustrating and wasteful interactions. It can often be a challenge when each personality in the room is jostling to protect their position, and avoid exposing their lack of knowledge by seeking to 'drive' and manage the task. While most people are well intentioned, trying to do the best job they can, there can sometimes seem to be a complete lack of fundamental knowledge, and ability to focus on the purpose and dialogue effectively to develop a sensible approach. Enjoy!

3. Books...

The Four Steps to the Epiphany - Successful Strategies for Products that Win By Steve Blank, 2013

 

The bestselling classic that launched 10,000 startups and new corporate ventures - The Four Steps to the Epiphany is one of the most influential and practical business books of all time. The Four Steps to the Epiphany launched the Lean Startup approach to new ventures. It was the first book to offer that startups are not smaller versions of large companies and that new ventures are different than existing ones. Startups search for business models while existing companies execute them.

 

The book offers the practical and proven four-step Customer Development process for search and offers insight into what makes some startups successful and leaves others selling off their furniture. Rather than blindly execute a plan, The Four Steps helps uncover flaws in product and business plans and correct them before they become costly. Rapid iteration, customer feedback, testing your assumptions is all explained in this book. Link 

 

Moments of Impact - How to Design Strategic Conversations That Accelerate Change By Chris Ertel & Lisa Kay Solomon, 2014

 

In our fast-changing world, leaders are increasingly confronted by messy, multifaceted challenges that require collaboration to resolve. But the standard methods for tackling these challenges—meetings packed with data-drenched presentations or brainstorming sessions that circle back to nowhere—just don’t deliver. 

 

Great strategic conversations generate breakthrough insights by combining the best ideas of people with different backgrounds and perspectives. Link

Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation By Tim Brown, 2009

 

The myth of innovation is that brilliant ideas leap fully formed from the minds of geniuses. The reality is that most innovations come from a process of rigorous examination through which great ideas are identified and developed before being realized as new offerings and capabilities. This book introduces the idea of design thinking‚ the collaborative process by which the designer′s sensibilities and methods are employed to match people′s needs not only with what is technically feasible and a viable business strategy. In short‚ design thinking converts need into demand. It′s a human−centered approach to problem solving that helps people and organizations become more innovative and more creative. Link

Beyond Performance: How Great Organizations Build Ultimate Competitive Advantage John Wiley & Sons | Scott Keller and Colin Price, 2011

 

Most organisations are managed for mediocrity. The facts are clear: only a third of organizations that achieve excellence are able to maintain it over decades; even fewer manage to implement successful transformation programs. These statistics have devastating implications.

 

In business, most of today’s companies will falter within 20 years. In government, the majority of reform programs will fail. And so will most efforts to create broader social change. Link

4. Web Sites...

Economy

  • World Economic Forum

    • Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies 2012-2014, Visit.

      • Top 10 Emerging Technologies 2014 Download (5.4MB pdf).

    • Climate Adaptation - Seizing the Challenge, January 2014, Report, Download (1MB).

    • Technology Pioneers: New technologies and innovations are constantly changing and improving the way we do things and approach problems. Processes, institutions and industries that have been around and unchanged for decades are now being rethought and redesigned with the aid of technology. Website, Visit.

    • Technology Pioneers 2014: The class is particularly diverse, providing new solutions to a number of challenges, including technologies for a greener and more sustainable planet; the deployment of precise and targeted therapies in the treatment of cancer and other diseases; the rethinking and redesign of how we deliver education; a robotics renaissance; the creation of a more personalized Internet experience; and the initiation of a “sharing” economy, to name a few. Report, Download (2.8MB).

  • The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) was founded on the belief that economic growth and environmental sustainability are not merely compatible objectives; their integration is essential for the future of humankind. Visit

  • Rethinking The Economy, originally published in The Chemical Engineer, short paper, website, Visit

  • Future Work Skills

    • Institute for the Future, University of Phoenix, Report, Download (4.45MB).

  • McKinsey:

    • Global Institute

      • Resource Revolution: Meeting the world’s energy, materials, food, and water needs, Nov. 2011, Report, Download (5.3MB).

  • The Intangible Economy:

    • The Changing Nature of Manufacturing, Athena Alliance, website article, Visit

  • Circular Economy

    • The Ellen MacArthur Foundation believes that the circular economy provides a coherent framework for systems level re-design and as such offers us an opportunity to harness innovation and creativity to enable a positive, restorative economy. Visit

 

Intelligent Cities and Buildings

  • Melbourne Smart City, C40 Report, by Arup, April 2010, Download (7.4MB).

  • Intelligent Buildings:

    • Institution of Engineering and Technology, Introduction paper, Download.

    • Building Research Establishment (BRE), website, Visit.

    • Wikipedia.

 

Intelligent Industry

  • Industry 4.0, Wikipedia, Visit.

  • GE:

    • GE Reports website, Visit.

    • Industrial Internet, Report, Nov. 2012, Download.

  • McKinsey:

    • Global Institute

      • Ten IT-enabled business trends for the decade ahead, Report, May 2013, Download

      • Manufacturing the future: The next era of global growth and innovation, Report, Nov. 2012, Download (8.7MB)

 

Design & Innovation

  • Change by Design, IDEO, Tim Brown, website, Visit.

  • Lean Thinking and Methods:

    • Production Preparation Process (3P) method focuses on eliminating waste through product and process design. It is typically viewed by lean experts typically as one of the most powerful and transformative advanced manufacturing tools. US EPA, website, Visit.

  • Nature Inspired Design:

  • Business Model Generation, website, Visit.

  • Stanford Social Innovation Review:

    • Embracing Emergence, How Collective Impact Addresses Complexity, Report, Download (3.6MB).

 

Nature Technologies

  • Clean Technology (Reduce impact on nature and natural world)

    • PwC

      • Converging Worlds - Five Management Principles from companies modernizing our vehicles, buildings, and electric grids, Report, Download

    • CleanTechnica is promoted as the #1 cleantech-focused website in the world. Visit

    • Renewable Energy:

      • Renewableenergworld.com. Visit

    • Smart Grid:

  • ​Materials Council:

    • Engineered Nature, materials made to perform, article, Visit

  • Documentaries:

    • Richard Hammond's Miracles of Nature. Richard Hammond reveals secret animal abilities from the natural world, and discovers how those same animals have inspired a series of unlikely human inventions at the very frontiers of science. BBC One and SBS.

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