How can you sustain business model innovation?

Innovation truly does start with leadership and an imbedded culture of risk taking and psychological safety. Evaluate your organization on the Nadler-Tushman Congruence Model first to quickly understand which aspect of your organizational culture conflicts with the vision as an immediate win in supporting innovation.

Even a guru as Peter Drucker said, "Innovation is the only source of sustainable competitive advantage." However, it can be quite difficult to find space for experimentation and out-of-the-box thinking in many large and medium-sized companies. In fact, mistakes are often punished, and long-term is well, not beyond than a quarter. Therefore, the challenge is how to plant and grow a culture of innovation, in a day to day basis, and not just on an Innovation meeting at the end of the year

Sustaining business model innovations must come with customer centricity. It is not about innovating just for the pleasure of it, it is about generating value, and when the focus is our clients, value creation is achieved. Once that is cleared, the methodology to innovate has to become part of the culture of the company, with a team focused on pushing innovation through, and with rituals that involve all employees. Finally, you have to let everybody knows about failures and successes, and how both things give the company much learnings and insights. Only then sustaining the flame to innovate can keep burning .

The business should keep a long-term and short-term vision. Bringing people from different culture under the umbrella of same culture can create an environment which leads to the growth of the business and growth of team. How we achieved this is by following process: 1.We defined a clear vision. 2.We created a 'One Company-One Culture' approach. In this the employees meet once every month in their traditional attire & bring a food item of their culture. By doing these activities our employees value the culture of the company and align it with the vision of the company. 3.Our leaders lead this by example. Employees see this & try to follow the path. 4.Feedbacks are important. Try to improve it to keep the vision aligned with the culture.

Surviving in today's fiercely competitive world, where disruptors abound, necessitates a commitment to sustaining innovation. This type of innovation allows businesses to remain relevant in the face of evolving customer preferences and market dynamics. It enables companies to proactively identify upcoming needs, desires, and challenges, addressing them through innovative solutions. In the unforgiving landscape of a free-market economy characterized by intense competition, no idea or business model can be considered infallible. Businesses must therefore continuously innovate.

Sustaining continuous innovation is a function of listening to your customers, their pain points. Also, it is important to identify early trends which will impact your industry. More importantly asking simple question like who can disrupt my business model? Innovation at times is self disruption before somebody else does it.

Monitoring the business environment and customers is very important for staying competitive and responsive to market conditions. One can monitor the business environment with some very useful tools like SEMrush, Google Alerts, social media analytics and there are many other tools too. For customer monitoring, use of online reviews (e.g., Trustpilot), CRM software (e.g., Salesforce), and email marketing (e.g., Mailchimp) to gather insights and stay competitive. For our team Google Surveys and SEMrush tools are very useful for monitoring business environment. Joining business or industry associations are also very useful. Zoho CRM has worked very well for monitoring customers.

Consider extending your business model by nurturing strategic partnerships with organizations that complement your vision and expertise. Collaborate with healthcare providers, technology firms, and research institutions to tap into emerging trends and innovations.

Implement an agile scenario planning approach that allows your organization to proactively adapt to external changes. Instead of rigid long-term strategies, create a range of flexible scenarios and action plans that can be quickly deployed as needed, ensuring you stay ahead of market shifts and customer demands.

Create a culture that encourages experimentation, learning, and feedback, and that rewards creativity, collaboration, and risk-taking. Innovation requires a willingness to experiment and to take risks. Create a culture where it is safe to fail and where everyone is encouraged to learn from their mistakes. Reward employees for their creativity, collaboration, and risk-taking.

Adapting and iterating your business model is important to stay relevant & competitive. How we do it is as follows: Regularly check the business model. Look for areas where it may fall short. Market research. It is very important to understand current trends, emerging technologies, and customer needs. You Objective should be very clear. Conduct cross-functional brainstorming sessions. Develop MVPs and test them. Take customer feedback, Iterate the data from customer feedback. Develop product according to feedback and develop financial models. With the help of employees implement pilot programs. You should communicate the changes in your company. Develop an agile culture to monitor & adjust continuously.

Integrate agile decision-making frameworks into your business model strategy. These frameworks enable swift adjustments and real-time responses to market changes.

This is often easier said than done. Although the recommendation is absolutely valid, business model iteration is very difficult, costly and time consuming. It usually helps to have a pre-established portfolio and business model evaluation framework that can guide decisions like this so the organization is more swift to respond and adapt to disruptions. It also helps push products further along in maturity by setting forth structure to support innovation.

Communicate and align your vision and culture with your employees, customers, partners, and stakeholders. Everyone needs to understand and support your business model innovation in order for it to be successful. Communicate your vision and culture clearly and consistently, and get everyone involved in the process of developing and implementing your new business model.

Business model innovation relates to the dual strategic complexity of growth: ?? the dynamic perfect imbalance between the exploitation of current strategic advantages and the exploration of future strategic advantages. ?? the complexity of growing business model dimensions. In this context, I see 2 business model innovation scenarios: ?? Adapt & Iterate: suited for market dynamics driven by incremental improvement; ?? Self-Disruption: suited for high-velocity markets or market inflection point situations —e.g. game-changing technological standards or regulations— requiring new business models. That said, a key success factor of innovation consists in self-awareness of the business model dimensions at the core of strategic advantage.

To learn from others and collaborate are essential strategies. How we do it : - To Learn: Study your competitors and industry disruptors. Examine case studies of other companies. Listen to your customers' feedback on competitors and their products. Attend industry seminars, conferences, and networking events to connect with professionals. To Collaborate: Collaborate with other startups, companies, or research institutions that complements. Involve everyone in co-creation processes. Embrace open innovation. Consider investing in innovative ventures or acquiring startups. Allocate resources to internal R&D teams. Explore JV with complementary businesses. Foster a culture of innovation in team. Collaborate to share the risks associated.

Invest in research and development. R&D is essential for developing new products and services, and for improving existing ones. Invest in R&D to ensure that your business model is constantly evolving and innovating.

Learning and collaboration extend beyond benchmarking against competitors. It involves embracing a mindset of open innovation, where ideas can come from any source, not just within the industry. For instance, Procter & Gamble's "Connect + Develop" program leverages external ideas, leading to successful product innovations. Collaborate with academic institutions, startups, or even entities from different sectors to gain fresh perspectives. This approach not only provides diverse insights but also fosters a more holistic understanding of potential business models. Engaging in such cross-industry collaborations can reveal unconventional ways to add value, helping to differentiate your business in a crowded marketplace.

It is important to remain knowledgeable regarding alternative products and value propositions of competing businesses. Stay up to date with vendors and thier offerings as they relate to the business.

Develop informal spaces and channels for people to interact, exchange ideas, and co-create. Creating informal interaction spaces encourages spontaneous exchanges of diverse ideas and knowledge, fostering a collaborative learning environment. This approach allows employees to gain insights from different perspectives, driving collective innovation.

Embedding innovation is about cultivating an ecosystem where creativity and agility thrive. Key is aligning leadership and culture towards innovation, fostering an environment where risk-taking is encouraged, and failures are seen as learning opportunities. It's vital to invest in continuous learning and development programs that enhance employees' innovative thinking and adaptability.

Sustaining business model innovation requires embedding it deeply within your organization. This involves aligning your strategy, leadership, culture, resources, and incentives with your innovation goals. You must also nurture innovation capabilities like creativity, agility, resilience, and learning. Tools like design thinking, agile methodology, a growth mindset, and the development of a learning organization are essential for achieving this integration. These elements, combined with continuous learning, customer-centricity, cross-functional collaboration, and robust risk management, ensure that your business model innovation remains an intrinsic part of your organization's structure and success in an ever-evolving business landscape.

The simple way to embed innovation is to encourage, invest in and facilitate it. This is achieved by investing in training and education, investing in research and development and looking further ahead and the end of the month or quarter. It also means creating a culture that invests in and celebrates innovation. It also means accepting failure, embracing it and learning from it.

It depends on how an organization approaches change and creativity. Clear Innovation Strategy is very important to give the path to team on which they can walk. Hire diverse talent and retain them. Diversity sparks creativity which leads to better innovative solutions. The team should get training on innovation including creative problem-solving, design thinking, and agile methodologies. Encourage the team for idea generation and establish feedback mechanisms. If possible then introduce an idea Incubation at the organization. Tolerate risks associated with innovation process. Give innovation awards and recognition to the team. Innovation is a path of continuous improvement.

Innovation should be a 24/7 non-stop iterative process, in all aspects of the business. In terms of the business model, focus in on those trends that may bring a risk or offer an opportunity to better diffrentiate yourself, avoid problems, and take advantage of new opportunities by adjusting the model or reinventing it. You need a start-up mindset to be sucecssful at this. And keep asking yourself, how might we do this better? Is our mission and purpose still valid? One thing for sure is that we are in the digital age and, to be digitally competitive, the company must see itself as a digital company serving digital customers. It should have an AI DigiTransform Strategy in place and constantly seek ways to out-pace its competitors.

Partner with others. Partnering with other companies can help you to gain access to new resources and expertise. It can also help you to expand into new markets and to reach new customers. Monitor your environment and customers. The business world is constantly changing, so it is important to monitor your environment and customers regularly. This will help you to identify new opportunities and threats, and to ensure that your business model is still relevant.

Ensure that the business model innovation is ethical and align with social responsibilities. It should be scalable. Work in the cybersecurity to protect the data. Manage the talent and retain the customers. Sustaining business model innovation is a continuous journey and it requires adaptability. Forward looking approach and resilience is must.

Partner with your customer. Your customer had already successfully navigated business challenges… otherwise you would not be “knocking at their door”. Actively listening to the customer, will give you perspective: either challenging your current methodology or verifying its effectiveness. Do not talk, just listen …your customer’s contributions will be a continuous source of ideas and innovation in your business operations…. further they will return for further business opportunities , simply because you took the time to listen.

Ensure your Board incorporates members with innovation expertise to offer guidance and governance. This inclusion ensures that innovative thinking is integral at the highest decision-making levels, providing direction and oversight to enable a consistent innovation-centric organisational approach.

I would add piloting and experimentation on new business models or adaptations of the business model within maybe a part of the business, one team, or one function. not necessarily need to change the entire business model, your process of change can be much more flexible and adaptive to the customers' and markets' needs and should not create a massive disruption to the ongoing revenue.