What is the holy grail of business?

What is the illusive holy grail of business success ??? That long sought after mythological object that has transformative powers.? Today’s tasty ‘game changing’ tech, may be tomorrows stale bread.? Is working hard enough ?? Why is what you focus on, and who you do it with so important – in a world dominated by digital? platform business models ??

Normal gullibility? or artificial intelligence?

On the business stage, leading ladies acting their part to rapturous applause come and go, Today the leading light, thought to be the game changer is artificial intelligence, AI bringing possibilities touted to transform business performance.? Problem with AI in its current configuration is that it is like a ‘self licking lollipop’, consuming the information and data that is already out there, putting it in a nicely wrapped package.? It’s like a sharp co-worker with an encyclopedia - like ?knowledge, who is able to structure mountains of information and data, but ?is only able to serve up more as a checklist of the points to consider.? As the ‘historian of the future’ Yuval Harari points out,? ?what will start to get scary is when AI starts to think and invent for itself, beyond the bounds of human control. In other words, when AI takes over control of the plane from the pilot, with its own motives and direction.? Thankfully, todays AI applications, despite being impressive are more at the level of a ‘glorified Google search’ and not threatening human existence [for the moment].

Expect the unexpected

One rule of business is “expect the unexpected” .? ‘Unexpected, unexpected’ emerges from the knowledge in the unseen category of ?‘did not know, we did not know’.? These are ?Black Swan history changing events, discoveries and products that just popped up surprising everyone.

Is hard work enough?

Work hard.??? For many, working long hours, has to be one of the [not so secret] secrets of business success.? “Work - life balance” has become a popular notion in the last 30 years, creating a rather odd distinction between work and life.? Aren’t they all the same thing, surely work is part of a vibrant healthy life ?? Guess the complaint is that when work becomes all consuming that it throws the others aspects of life, family, home, relationships out of a sense of equilibrium.?? Despite the illusion of the ideal ‘four hour work’ week it’s all about focus and productivity.??

When people come to Kenya for the first time, two things stand out.?? How hard people work, hustling in imaginative ways.?? And, a sort of intangible friendliness, openness. Not an American robotic “Have a nice day” response that sits of top of a cold uncaring veneer of upset, but more a genuine interest in people.

No, one can’t discount the importance of hard work.? But what really matters, a step ahead of hard work is ?– What you do, what you focus on.? Where, and most importantly who you do it with.? [And, timing, getting lucky, being in the right place, and the right time.]?? A prime example would be, an online drinks trading platform, shaped in the time of the Corona lockdown, that creates and captures value, by providing a product, a ?stress reducing drink, fast delivered to your door, ?in usual circumstances.? Being able to get you your desired tipple in a trouble free way,? with a one touch:? wide impressive selection, simple payment and logistics digital platform, creates and capture value, both for the platform owners, and the customers.? Quintessential? ?‘win – win’ situation all round.???

Value > Price = Sale? on a platform business model

Value > Price.?? When the perceived value of a product is greater than its price, voila, you have a sale --? on? both online digital markets, and the bustling Monday market day at Wangige. Both are platforms.

Business models rule.?? Today almost 60 percent of the? largest companies globally are based on a platform business model.? Thanks to technology, a platform has none of the traditional bricks and mortar presence that businesses used to require, plus they have no expensive inventory.? A platform simply brings the buyer and seller together, thanks to a digital footprint.

“Besides huge market capitalization?Alibaba, Alphabet (Google), Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, and Tencent?all have another thing in common: heavily populated platform business models. Platforms are the favored operating model for 7 of the world's 12 largest corporations”? notes McKinsey.

These world beating platforms have a number of things in common. They are all software-based digital?environments?with?open?infrastructures, matchmakers linking people,?organizations,?and?resources, orchestrators?of?ecosystems extending across sectors and national borders, reducers?of?marginal?costs?to near?zero, and harnessers?of?network?effects. In a word: innovative.?

Digital platforms approach is right out of the pages of The Innovator’s Dilemma, Clayton Christensen classic on how innovation really? happens, first published in 1997, [three years before scaled up internet access came to Kenya].??? As ?Christensen points out,?disruptive?innovators, almost always come from the most unexpected places, ?very rarely from large dominant corporate players, who although they have the financial and operational resources, and staff with the knowledge and skills,? they are too busy focusing on their already profitable markets, and with pressure from their shareholders to produce even greater profits, keep doing,? what they have always been doing.?? Dilemma is that in following, ‘taught good management practice’ they miss opportunities.?

For the small imaginative Kenyan entrepreneur, ?this ?may be their holy grail equivalent.? Today, thanks to digital tech creating more of a level playing field, competition is asymmetric, the tiny ignored disruptor can upset the corporate giant’s fortunes.??

David ??[email protected]?is a director aCatalyst Consulting