Change Your Business Model and You Will Have a Better Outlook... Go from Great to Cool!

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Change Your Business Model and You Will Have a Better Outlook....

?A lot of time is wasted on silly discussions that arise from a defensive attitude, which is usually only directed at maintaining the status quo. But why should you postpone adapting your business model until it’s virtually inevitable? It is undoubtedly a good thing to react to changing markets, but anticipating on these changes is even better, as is demonstrated by the example below. This time of hyper inflation and the new Gen Z attitude cries out to do it now.

When they were inventing the Nespresso concept, the Nestlé company marketers wondered what would happen if you would eliminate the distribution of coffee by wholesalers and supermarkets, which was the deciding factor for being successful at that moment! It was a fact that 98% of all coffee was sold and bought in those stores, and companies who wanted to excel in that line of business were facing a hell of a job. Their train of thought went like this: given these figures, it should be much easier to excel in the sector where the other 2% was sold, since the competition would be much less fierce there! Finally, after years of trying, they’ve managed it. And now they are back at the supermarket. Yet it wasn’t easy to determine this new strategy. Or was it? Imagine that the most important, decisive element for your company’s success would change or vanish overnight, and think of ways to react to this. This is not just a useful exercise, but will also hand you the key to future success, more often than not. Why don’t you Google the name of Patrick van der Pijl and experience in what way you can visualize strategies?

Anyone can turn around imaginative and visionary ideas within the playing field of changing business models, ideas that challenge established concepts, enliven them or even rejuvenate them. Examples are presented by using illustrations, and as we know, an image says more than 10.000 words, in this era of visual information. The Business Model Canvas is the tool for describing business models, for analyzing and designing them, and it’s based on the concepts of leading business thinkers. You know, it’s a very stimulating and energizing process, helping to develop innovative business models. On top of this, you will get business model themes for free, which you can use for future research. Since it can always occur that somewhere, something is decided, which puts you with your back to the wall; then you will have to react and think of new strategies. You can also read: Great to Cool. To energize yourself to do it now...

Here’s a practical example: during a summer summit, the ‘best of the best’ employees of an international brewery were faced with the (fictional) fact that (former) president Obama was going to support legislation to produce only alcohol free beer, by request of the international Islamic community. Of course, you can disbelieve it and keep fighting this reality, even if the case is fictional, but you can also stir up the best brains in your organization and let them come up with new ways to cope with the changing rules of the game. And do it within 72 hours. In fact, that was what happened, and during this quest they discovered something that might cause the SOS of beer, the share of stomach, to grow by 10%, worldwide. We are surely going to hear more about this tasty, alcohol free beer, no doubt. This kind of beer is also suitable for Friday afternoon meetings, since these meetings are going to replace the weekly Monday morning briefing. The way to ZERO was born. And now one of the fastest growing beer segments around the world.

What about you? Are you going to anticipate on the future in the same way, for once? It may give you more innovative power, and a head start that is not yet visible to your competitor, at the moment ! 2023 is just around the corner... energize your bizz model!