Why Your Business Needs a “Customer Analysis” to Beat the Competition Most leaders agree that obtaining competitive information is essential for developing an effective strategy. Gaining competitive intelligence is often viewed as similar to gaining military intelligence. The big difference, however, is that in capitalism we are fighting to earn the business of customers. In …
How to Differentiate, Innovate and Grow With Confidence If you want to differentiate, innovate and grow with a new product success rate > 80%, then listen to this lively podcast in which Gary Monti of the Center Managing Change interviews Urko about the jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) innovation process. There is a lot more to JTBD than …
Reveal unmet needs. Create unique value. Drive revenue growth. If you’re in Columbus OH in the afternoon of October 9th, join Darci Congrove, Managing Director of GBQ Partners, and me for an interactive workshop designed for CEOs and Presidents of business-to-business companies. This is a rare opportunity to see how over 400 of the Fortune …
One Executive’s Perspective on the ‘Jobs-to-be-Done’ Innovation Approach I recently had an opportunity to interview Jeff Baker, head of customer insights, category management and strategy at Valvoline, and a former client of mine (Microsoft and NetJets). There are very few executives in the country who have the depth of experience with the job-to-be-done (JTBD) innovation approach as …
A Better Way to Formulate ‘Blue Ocean’ Strategy Many readers may be familiar with the 2005 global best-selling book “Blue Ocean Strategy” by professors Renee Mauborgne and W. Chan Kim. In the book, they introduced the concepts of red and blue ocean markets, which are still helpful today for leaders operating in competitive markets. Yet, …
How to Differentiate in a Mature Market Driving growth in mature markets is hard. By definition, a market is “mature” when most of the customers’ needs are well-satisfied. The reason it’s so hard to differentiate, innovate and gain market share is because there are very few unsatisfied needs left to exploit. This situation tends to …
3 Reasons Why Nike is Effective at Driving Growth One of my favorite companies to watch is Nike. They keep doing things right, including driving growth at more than 10 percent annually even with sales of $30.6 billion last year. But that’s not what inspires me; their big numbers are just evidence of their effectiveness. …
The Difference Between Innovation and Creativity What is innovation? It’s one of those words that gets bandied about as if we all know what it means. And, perhaps, at a casual conversational level, we do. But when it comes time to be innovative or execute innovation, opinions vary regarding what it is and how to …
The One Thing You Must Do to Remain Flexible in Disruptive Times There’s an internal IBM PowerPoint slide making its way around the internet that declares, “The Digital Disruption Has Already Happened.” It cites the following evidence: World’s largest taxi company owns no taxis (Uber) Largest accommodation provider owns no real estate (Airbnb) Largest phone …
How One Business is Disrupting Its Market I don’t write food or restaurant reviews, but I admire any organization that changes the game and distinguishes itself in a crowded field. One such organization is the fast casual restaurant Hot Chicken Takeover (HCT) in Columbus, Ohio. It’s disrupting the fast casual restaurant market by competing on …
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