Innovation

You know finding a breakthrough strategy is about finding innovative answers to one of three questions – or combinations of all three. The three questions are; ‘Who?’ (a targeted customer with a distinct need), What?’ (a superior offer to meet the need) and ‘How?’ (a means of delivering the product or service distinctively and effectively) - W-H-W for short!

I was speaking to a friend the other day. He told me about someone he had met in the road maintenance business. My ears immediately pricked up because I think the state of British roads is on the whole deplorable. Anyway as I listened W-H-W shot into my mind’s eye. He explained that this man had a global patent on a process for road repair.

The process, he told me, is that you melt the tarmac, with a special machine so that any cracks are meshed together and holes filled in. What a great idea! Far better than piece meal road maintenance where someone goes out fills in a hole or goes out and re surfaces a whole section – something that could take days.

This means real savings in road repair, so important to county councils right now. It also means faster repairs, fewer traffic jams and all that brings. Surely here we have something that is more productive and effective!

The solution tackles the question ‘How’ does it not? Apparently the the technology is in place and a breakthrough strategy ready! I bet this didn’t originate from  S.W.O.T analysis.

More soon

A client question

We were talking strategy in tough times and then my client blurted out “What about Toyota? What should they do, they are laying people off and halting production!”

That was an interesting one. And then I thought of a couple of things.  The first was how even the largest and most successful companies must constantly reinvent themselves. And the larger and more successful they are, the greater the practical and cultural challenges involved.

I just have this feeling that the business world will be an entirely different place within the next 3 to 5 years. Therefore, now is the time to ask not just questions such as what to offer the targeted customer and who the targetted customer will be but also how to do this efficiently – and differently to competitors.

In fact the whole issue of who, what and how can be used to question the established rules of the game and put innovation back into the heart of strategy.

I’m not sure I solved my clients question at that moment – but then we went on to look at Xojet as a case example

We’ll look at that next time.

BFN

Andy