Pathfinder Ch11

8/6/2019 Pathfinder Ch11

1/20

Maverick

strategies

maverickstrategies

11:00

You cant be remarkable by following

someone else whos remarkable The

thing that all great companies have in

common is that they have nothing in

common.

Seth Godin (2003) Transform yourBusiness by Becoming Remarkable

The surplus society has a surplus of

similar companies, employing similar

people, with similar educational

backgrounds, coming up with similarideas, producing similar things, withsimilar prices and similar quality.

Kjell Nordtrom & Jonas Ridderstrale

(2002) Funky Business


2/20

Organizations that did not fall into copycat traps:

Anita Roddicks Body Shop largely redefined how cosmetics

are developed and sold by challenging the industries previous

assumptions.

Cirque du Soleil, a Canadian circus troupe in a dying

industry, effectively collapsed two industries into one: theatreand circus. This saw Cirque open up an entire new venues

and a new audience (who where prepared to pay higher

prices).

Swatch challenged the assumption that a watch was a luxury

or high-tech item that people only needed one of. They sold

watches as collectible fashion accessories.

Some 20 years after sparking a revolution in computing

Apples iPod is revolutionizing the way music industry thinks

and operates.


3/20

Mauborgne and Kim suggest that value innovation

can be advanced by asking structured questionslike:

What factors could be eliminated that an industry has taken for

granted? (For companies like Egg and First Direct it was that banksneed branches)

What product/service elements could be reduced below the industry

standard? (For Ryanair and Southwest it was food and beverageservices)

What elements could be lifted above the standard? (For Dyson andAlessi it was that things like teapots and vacuum cleaners could havedesigner styling)

What should be introduced that the industry has never offered the

customer? (For Swatch it was idea that you could launch watches likefashion collections)

Could a new offering win buyers without any marketing hype? (The

Smart car or new Mini created demand simply through people seeingthem on the streets)


4/20

Beyond best practice:

next practice (an idea advocated in Recreating Strategy

and inspired by Sonys attitude of looking at its competitorsaccomplishments merely as conventions to be overturned

rather than achievements to aim for);

good practice (an idea advanced by IBM who now

discourage staff from talking of best practice because itimplies that there is only one best way that cannot be

surpassed, which encourages complacency);

identifying particular promising practices (an idea developed

by the AIM research network in the UK which is interested inidentifying how companies sponsor and bring through

emergent new approaches.

understanding and discussing worst practices (an approach

sponsored by David Snowden of the think-tank Cynefinbecause, he claims, striving to avoid failure is more

compelling than imitating success).


5/20


6/20


7/20


8/20


9/20

The strategy paradoxes that every firm must contemplate andchoose a path between (Source, De Wit & Meyer, 2004)

Deliberateness vs. Emergentness

Markets vs. ResourcesResponsiveness vs. Synergy

Competition vs. Cooperation

Compliance vs. ChoiceControl vs. ChaosGlobalization vs. Localization

Revolution vs. EvolutionProfitability vs. Responsibility

Logic vs. Creativity


10/20


11/20

1. Draw an organigraph or a valuechimera of Synear?

2. What were the strengths andweaknesses of Synears initialstrategy to copy and replicate

Sanquan?

3. Work through Kim andMauborgnes five valueinnovation questions todetermine the value innovationsthat Synear achieved.

4. Can you also identify any

examples of blue oceanstrategies followed by Synear?

5. Define Synears particularmaverick-ness, or legitimatestrangeness, in eight words orless?...

6. What do you think Synears next

moves should be?


12/20

1. Would you have supported thedecision to lend a further 50m?2. What are the mainconsiderations for banks involvedin this form of finance?

3. It is clear from the case that itwas touch and go for theentrepreneur gaining thenecessary finance for his product.Why was he successful in gettingfinance? Could he have improvedhis approach to the bank?

4. Now that you are aware of theclient firms identity, does thisaffect your answers to the earlierquestions? What lessons can belearned about the way in whichearly stage finance andentrepreneurial endeavours workalongside each other?


13/20

1. Why do you think that designhas become absolutelystrategic ?

2. What other elements, apart

from design, are important inautomobile manufacturenowadays?

3. Why would large automobilecompanies be looking to buy upsmaller brands? Can you use thevalue chimera to depict anorganization like the Ford Group?

4. Why might listening to focusgroups not be a good thing in thisindustry?

5. Why would companies likeCitroen and Renault be seeking toinject more Frenchness intowhat they do?


14/20

1. Where do you think Levisstandard models sit on the S-curve? Why are Levis taking therisk of developing the newcustomized approach describedabove?

2. Try drawing Levis using ageneric value chain. Do you thinkLevis customization approacheswill make its standard modelsobsolete?

3. where do you think Levis,Build-A-Bear and Land Roversstrategies for the future are comingfrom? Is there a school of strategy,or combination, that reflects this?...

4. any examples of valueinnovation or blue oceanstrategies in this case?

5. Following Drus approach whatverbs would you attach to the

Levis, Build-A-Bear and LandRover?


15/20

1. What effects might the way aworkplace is designed have on thedevelopment of strategy?

2. How might the growingawareness of diversitymanagement and the importanceof shaking together differentideas and perspectives impact onthe future shape of workplacedesign?

3. Which of the developments inworkplace design are valueinnovations and which are just

innovations for the sake ofinnovation?

4. Do you think IBM and Applesother competitors should havefollowed in Apples footsteps inthis regard?

5. Do you think there is one best

approach to workplace design?


16/20

1. Why do you think that ideas inmanagement and strategy that areclaimed to be new mightactually quite similar to earlierthinking?

2. why might traditional craftorganizations be better atthinking differently than larger companies?

3. What elements are these craftorganizations now shakingtogether, to use Koestlers term,that have not been combinedbefore? And why might thisshaking be difficult for larger,more conventional organizationsto copy?

4. If you were a manager of alarge professional company, whatlessons would you learn from theexamples of the craftorganizations described in this

case and in the Time story?


17/20

1. what is wrong with mostpeople seeing structure in thesame way?

2. Why might the arts studentshave been less likely to draw thestandard triangular hierarchies?

3. drawing and humour are twoparticularly acute methods forexposing core assumptions. Thecartoon (11-7.2) is generally foundto be humorous. The question is,why? What assumptions is itattacking?

4. what alternative shapes orforms would you draw to moreaccurately reflected some of theother schools or approachesdescribed in table 11.1 in thischapter?

5. What are the advantages ofusing alternative forms and

schools to think about strategydevelopment?


18/20


19/20


20/20

Pathfinder Checklist

1. Macro-shocks 5

2. Movers & shakers

3. Industry terrain

4. The big picture

5. Comp advantage

6. Living strategy

7. Character

8. Crossing-borders

9. Managing change 10. Sustainability

11. Mavk strategies

Documents

Pathfinder Ch11