The digital age is transforming job descriptions, especially for CEOs

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Denning
Keyword(s):  
Customer Value ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
Job Descriptions ◽  
Critical Feature ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Digital Era ◽  
Business Opportunities ◽  
New Business ◽  
Strategic Agility ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose To implement a customer-centric vision in the digital era requires leadership that champions principles, processes and practices that promote customer value and corporate agility. Design/methodology/approach In the digital age organization the CEO’s job description, and those of all the leadership team, will require radical redesign. Findings A successful digital-age CEO is an entrepreneur with a passion for creating new value for customers and a preoccupation with strategic agility and discerning new business opportunities. Practical/implications Perhaps the most critical feature of digital-era CEOs’ jobs is their focus on the continuous creation of new businesses. Originality/value A successful digital-age CEO is an entrepreneur with a passion for creating new value for customers and a preoccupation with strategic agility and discerning new business opportunities.

Strategic Agility: using Agile teams to explore opportunities for market-creating innovation

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 3-9
Author(s):  
Stephen Denning
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Management ◽  
Customer Value ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Marketing Concept ◽  
Management Tools ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Concepts ◽  
Strategic Agility ◽  
Agile Teams ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Describes how Agile teams can use strategic management tools and processes to discover market-creating innovations. Design/methodology/approach The related article “The next frontier for Agile: strategic management” in the previous issue of Strategy & Leadership explored the theory and possibilities of enterprise-wide Strategic Agility, a combination of Agile mindset and processes with strategic management theory to produce continuous market-creating innovation. This second installment offers insights from noted practitioners about implementing it. Findings The strategic concepts of Kim & Mauborgne’s Blue Ocean Strategy, Clayton Christensen’s Job to Be Done theory and Curt Carlson’s SRI Playbook – Need, Approach, Benefits per costs and Competition (NABC) can be adopted by Agile teams seeking innovations that create new customer value. Practical implications Identifying a well-defined Job to Be Done produces the start of an innovation blueprint which is unlike the traditional marketing concept of “needs” because of the much higher degree of specificity required to identify precisely what problem your potential solution would address. Originality/value Using strategic management concepts, Agile teams can redefine how needs are being met and in the process, discover value for customers from offering something or doing something that the company or the industry currently doesn’t provide.

scholarly journals Not just what they want, but why they want it

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 230-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Anne Price ◽  
Cara Wrigley ◽  
Karla Straker
Keyword(s):  
Market Research ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Customer Engagement ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Needs ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Business Opportunities ◽  
New Business ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – This paper aims to explore advantages and disadvantages of both traditional market research (TMR) and deep customer insight (DCI) methods to lay the platform for revealing how a relationship between these two domains could be optimised during firm-based innovation. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reports on an empirical research study conducted with 13 Australian-based firms engaged in a design-led approach to innovation. Firms were facilitated through a design-led approach where the process of gathering DCIs was isolated and investigated further in comparison to TMR methods. Findings – Results show that DCI methods are able to provide fresh, non-obvious ways of understanding customer needs, problems and behaviours that can become the foundation of new business opportunities. Findings concluded that DCI methods provide the critical layer to understand why customers do or do not engage with businesses. Revealing why was not accessible in TMR methods. Research limitations/implications – The theoretical outcome of this study is a complementary methods matrix, providing guidance on appropriate implementation of research methods in accordance with a project’s timeline to optimise the complementation of TMR methods with design-led customer engagement methods. Practical implications – DCI methods provide fresh, non-obvious ways of understanding customer needs, problems and behaviours that can become the foundation of new business opportunities. It is hoped that those in a position of data collection are encouraged to experiment and use DCI methods to connect with their customers on a meaningful level and translate these insights into value. Originality/value – This paper provides original value to a new understanding of how design techniques can be applied to complement and strengthen existing market research strategies. This is crucial in an era where business competition hinges on a subtle and often intimate understanding of customer needs and behaviours.

Two approaches for sustaining growth: re-introducing the “founder’s mentality” and implementing “The Three Box” solution

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 36-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Leavy
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Sustainable Growth ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Young Firms ◽  
Attitudes And Behaviors ◽  
Business Opportunities ◽  
Different Types ◽  
New Business ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Over Time

Purpose The challenge of sustaining growth seems to be getting steeper and steeper. This Masterclass provides context for two recent books that have valuable insights to offer to company leaders and strategists on how to build resilience and sustain growth in increasingly dynamic and uncertain global competitive markets. Design/methodology/approach In The Founder’s Mentality: How to Overcome the Predictable Crises of Growth (2016), well-known Bain strategy consultants, Chris Zook and James Allen offer a strategy for consciously embedding “the founder’s mentality” into the culture of young firms as they scale or rediscovering it in mature firms that might be stalling and losing their way. For strategy and innovation guru, Vijay Govindarajan, sustaining growth increasingly requires being able to pursue simultaneously two very different types of activity and mindset – exploiting a legacy business while exploring new business opportunities. He offers a very practical framework for approaching this challenge in The Three Box Solution: A Strategy for Leading Innovation. Findings The “founder’s mentality” refers to “a collection of specific behaviors and attitudes best exemplified by the traits of great founders that if properly cultivated in the rest of the organization, can lead more reliably to sustainable growth.” Some young firms fail to establish a founder’s mentality from the outset, while many mature founder-led companies come to lose their sense of insurgency and other key founder’s mentality traits over time. “Just about every company, at any stage in its life, can benefit from the attitudes and behaviors that make up the founder’s mentality.” Practical implications Govindarajan argues that “asking what assumptions must be true for this idea to be highly profitable” and testing the most critical of these “as early and as inexpensively as possible” is ‘the best way to reveal an ill-conceived project. Originality/value The two books, taken together, provide a wealth of insight for leaders seeking to diagnose their firm’s growth problems and looking for potential solutions for reviving innovation and growth.

Why management models are crucial to the success of business models

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Denning
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
Management Model ◽  
Digital Innovation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Models ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The author posits that the management model of an organization determines what kind of business models can be pursued within that organization and that successful 21st century management models are very different from those that succeeded in the 20th century. Design/methodology/approach The author compares and contrasts successful 21st century management models with models that succeeded in the 20th century. Findings Success in the digital age requires a 21st century management model and mindset based on an obsession with delivering value to customers. Practical implications The management model incorporates the key ‘written and unwritten rules’ of the firm. The success of digital innovation can be threatened by 20th Century management assumptions that thwart Agile initiatives. Originality/value Article explains how Agile mindsets and practices are essential to the 21st century management model, and how they potentiate the firm’s focus on creating customers.

Digital defenses

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Reading Time ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
Cutting Edge ◽  
Entrepreneurial Ventures ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Pertinent Information ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings All organizations need cybersecurity solutions to function in the digital age. For entrepreneurial ventures, what is required varies on their need for privacy, and how digitally adept they already are. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Building a new resilience

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Buell Hirsch
Keyword(s):  
Cyber Security ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Business Leaders ◽  
Human Potential ◽  
Global Business ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business System ◽  
New Business ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of the viewpoint is to examine the various ways in which the pandemic has exposed structural vulnerabilities in global business infrastructures that have long existed and been long ignored. It urges business leaders not to return to a “new normal” but make fundamental changes to ensure that their businesses are truly resilient and can withstand future threats more effectively. Design/methodology/approach The viewpoint looks at the various kinds of vulnerability to which businesses are exposed – such as supply chain, human capital, cyber security and climate change – and proposes ways to ensure that businesses, as well as shareholders and government entities work together to build true resilience. Findings At its core, the viewpoint exposes the various ways in which businesses have turned a blind eye to vulnerabilities that have always lurked just below the surface and suggests. The argument is that to secure the long-term future of our global business system, we can no longer remain oblivious to fundamental weaknesses in our infrastructures. Research limitations/implications The viewpoint looks selectively at the available data and is, therefore, by definition, subjective and non-comprehensive. Practical implications If businesses and shareholders truly take the recommendations of this viewpoint to heart, we can build a more resilient future through long-term investments in risk management infrastructures of all kinds that will secure a more prosperous and stable future. Social implications Developing a more resilient and stable global business infrastructure will help reduce the business volatility deriving from last minute responses to predictable threats. This will, in turn, help provide more stable, fulfilling employment, especially in developing countries that will act as a fly wheel for the secure development of human potential around the world. Originality/value While there has been much speculation of what the “new business normal” will look like once the pandemic has been conquered, this is, the author believes, the first piece to look concretely on how we can not only “build back better” but build back more soundly for the long term.

Drivers, types and value outcomes of customer-to-customer interaction

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 710-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Heinonen ◽  
Elina Jaakkola ◽  
Irina Neganova
Keyword(s):  
Customer Value ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Integrative Framework ◽  
Customer Interaction ◽  
Interaction Research ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeCustomer-to-customer (C2C) interaction plays a significant role in service. The purpose of this paper is to identify the drivers that motivate customers to interact with other customers, the interactions through which customers affect other customers and the value outcomes of C2C interactions for the participants.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a systematic literature review of C2C interactions. The authors analyzed 142 peer-reviewed articles to synthesize existing knowledge about C2C interactions. A generic value framework is used to categorize earlier research and reveal areas for further research.FindingsThe main outcome of this study is an integrative framework of C2C interaction that bridges C2C interactions and customer value. The findings indicate customer-, firm- and situation-induced drivers of C2C interactions. Outcome- and process-focused C2C interactions are identified to result in functional, emotional and social value outcomes. Avenues for additional research to explore issues related to current technology-saturated service settings are proposed.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper proposes an agenda for future research to extend the C2C interaction research domain and explore how such interactions create value for the customer. The role of the service provider is not explicitly addressed but is an important area for further research.Practical implicationsCompanies can use the framework to understand how they can become involved in and support beneficial C2C interaction.Originality/valueThis paper reviews empirical studies on C2C interaction, offering a systematic review of C2C interaction and producing an integrative framework of C2C interaction. It identifies a research agenda based on the framework and on topical issues within service research and practice.

scholarly journals Lessons from nearly a century of the brand management system

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 420-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Aimé ◽  
Fabienne Berger-Remy ◽  
Marie-Eve Laporte
Keyword(s):  
Management System ◽  
Brand Management ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
Western World ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Research Papers ◽  
Broad Perspective ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Digital Era

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to perform a historical analysis of the brand management system (BMS) to understand why and how, over the past century, the BMS has become the dominant marketing organizational model across Western countries and sectors and what the lessons can be learned from history to enlighten its current changes in today’s digitized environment.Design/methodology/approachBuilding on Low and Fullerton’s work (1994), the paper traces the evolution of the BMS from its creation in the 1930s to the recent digital era. Data from various sources – research papers, historical business books, case studies, newspaper articles and internal documents – are analyzed to inform an intellectual historical analysis of the BMS’s development.FindingsThe paper uses the prism of institutional isomorphism to highlight four distinct periods that show that the BMS has gradually imposed itself on the Western world and managed to adapt to an ever-changing environment. Moreover, it shows that in the current digital age, the BMS is now torn between two opposing directions: the brand manager should act as both absolute expert and galvanic facilitator and the BMS needs to reinvent itself once again.Originality/valueThis paper provides a broad perspective on the BMS function to help marketing scholars, historians and practitioners gain a better understanding of the issues currently facing the BMS and its relevance in the digital age.

Service flexibility: conceptualizing value creation in service

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 868-888 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danilo Brozovic ◽  
Fredrik Nordin ◽  
Daniel Kindström
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Value Creation ◽  
Customer Value ◽  
Contextual Influences ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Service Oriented ◽  
Service Logic ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the subject-specific literature on service and flexibility and derive a conceptualization of the linkages between provider flexibility and customers’ value creation. Design/methodology/approach The authors analyze existing perspectives on service and flexibility and propose linkages between provider flexibility and customer value creation. Findings Drawing on the service logic literature, and utilizing real-world examples, this paper advances propositions and a conceptual model of how flexibility can contribute to value creation. Research limitations/implications This paper establishes the basis for a practical and applicable flexibility perspective on value creation. It is particularly important for service-oriented providers and other firms operating in dynamic contexts. Practical implications The propositions and conceptual model offer suggestions on the manner in which provider flexibility contributes to customer value creation. Contextual influences that moderate provider flexibility in value creation are also included. Originality/value This paper contributes a novel perspective on service, which may serve as the starting point for the development of a more formal flexibility perspective on value creation.

Succeeding in an increasingly Agile world

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 3-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Denning
Keyword(s):  
Customer Value ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Value Innovation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Leaders ◽  
Immense Potential ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Management Thinking

Purpose As Agile management thinking spreads to every part and every kind of organization, including their competitors, corporate leaders need to take steps to ensure they get and keep a good seat at the Agile table. Design/methodology/approach The author’s first hand research finds that firms are learning the hard way that software process and value innovation requires a different way of running the organization to be successful. The whole firm has to become nimble, adaptable and able to adjust on the fly to meet the shifting whims of a marketplace driven by dynamic changes in customer value. Findings The Agile way of working is provoking a revolution in business that affects almost everyone. Agile organizations are connecting everyone and everything, everywhere, all the time. They are capable of delivering instant, intimate, frictionless value on a large scale. Practical implications Examples of the new way of running organizations are everywhere apparent. It’s not just the five biggest firms by market capitalization: Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft. It’s also firms like Airbnb, Etsy, Lyft, Menlo Innovations, Netflix, Saab, Samsung, Spotify, Tesla, Uber and Warby Parker. Social implications A new kind of management was needed to enable this new kind of worker -- a fundamentally different way of running organizations. Agile is economically more productive and a better fit with the new marketplace. And it had immense potential benefit for the human spirit. It could create workplaces that enabled human beings to contribute their full talents on something worthwhile and meaningful – creating value for other human beings. Originality/value Continuing the management practices and structures of the lumbering industrial giants of the 20th Century is no longer a viable option for today’s firms. To survive, let alone thrive, leaders today must recognize that Agile is not something happening in software alone.

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