1. Strategy and Value Exchange: Your market’s vision will drive your customers’ passion
The kind of thinking that creates new markets.
If you see your market through your product, your customers will give you nothing but their money – until something better appears.
Uber didn’t think it was in the ‘taxi business,’ and it won. Kodak believed it was in the ‘film business’ and lost.
Apple didn’t see itself as being in the ‘computer business’ or ‘smartphone business,’ and it won. BlackBerry saw itself as a company providing ‘business communication devices’, and it lost.
You may define your market either through your product or your customers’ needs and the benefits they seek.
‘Emotions business’ instead of ‘film business.’
‘Communication business’ or ‘useful device business’ instead of ‘smartphone business.’
‘Convenient shopping business’ instead of ‘retail business.’
Those who view their markets through products see no more than someone looking at the horizon through a rolled-up newspaper.
Those who view their markets through customer needs see the whole horizon.
How do you define your market? Share your experience in the comments.
2. Strategy-related terms: Deexpert Yourself: Make Room for Creativity
The power of not knowing
Apple I, Windows, Facebook, Uber, Google, Airbnb, iPhone – all these innovations were created by newcomers.
They often have the power of not knowing.
They don’t know that someone ‘has already tried it before’ and ‘it will never work.’
This is an area where experts’ Achilles heel can backfire.
In 2006, Philip Tetlock published the results of his study in which he analyzed the outcomes of 28,000 experts’ future forecasts in politics and economics.
He found out that these experts were often only slightly more accurate than chance and sometimes less accurate than basic extrapolation algorithms.
The more solutions experts know for their tasks, the harder they can imagine new ones.
Some experts don’t have enough “disk space” in their heads to load new knowledge – their minds are completely full of old files.
If you need a strategy for creating a new market, sometimes you need to ‘deexpert’ yourself.
[1] Invite outsiders to your strategic discussions [2] Study adjacent industries [3] Stop thinking that you know enough [4] Use foresight and lateral thinking.Are you looking for a strategic adviser? Use the Contact Us form on this website, and we’ll discuss the details.
3. Trend of the week: Traditional Retail Is Dead? Not So Fast!
Financial Times reports:
“Vacancies at open-air shopping centres in the US have dropped to historically low levels, defying forecasts of a retail apocalypse caused by the rise of ecommerce.”
Picture Source
Landlords have gained the power to raise rents. Only 6.2% of outdoor shopping center space is currently available for rent, the lowest since 2006.
Retailers plan to expand further in the years ahead.
So, retail isn’t dead.
Remarkably, it happens five years after the COVID-19 outbreak, when some experts foresaw the dusk of traditional retail.
Technology changes fast.
Fashion changes fast.
But customers’ habits don’t.
Is this trend a strategic opportunity for you?
Or do you think it is just a temporary raise? Share your opinions in the comments.
Do you need expert guidance to craft a winning strategy for your business? Read more here.
Read also: 5 Pitfalls of Data: Why You Should Bet on Intuition While Strategizing
Check out my book, Red and Yellow Strategies: Flip Your Strategic Thinking and Overcome Short-termism
