July 2009 Deep Insights

When tracking business environments it is important to understand that there are multiple disruptions occurring at once. Disruptive strategies by competitors, speeding technologies, global transparency and shrinking markets with limited life span are the norm. Disruptions should not be tracked by individuals but teams that are structured to collect and interpret world market intelligence.

In past decades GROUPS were:

“Independent people working independently to produce a product”

Groups were successful at keeping companies afloat. The rate of change, product innovation seldom moved faster than a slow walk. Competitors did not race to win the next innovation award. They held on to products until they became extinct. Companies became successful by inventing innovations based on their capabilities and finding or creating a market. The key to success was inside/out products and marketing.

Today Teams are:

“Independent people working inter-dependently to produce a
collaborative product for performance”

Teams must work together to gather and share data, leading them to understand what is happening in their market. Who is doing what and how do these events affect their market space. Research must provide insights for tomorrow’s markets leading to choices for outside/in products. Teams must understand their environment but work with other members in their environment to produce a business model that provides respectable income for each. Their products are collaborative innovations developed in an atmosphere of secrecy. Seldom does the team become recognized for its creativity, its function is to capture a market before others discover it’s potential. Members share in profits, not notoriety, choosing confidentiality as a core value for continued success.

These teams exchange information within their existing work assignments seeking their next collective product innovation. They access their environment for another unmet need and begin a search to meet the need. They find a path which combines each others ideas to create unique products that no one can duplicate, insuring successful profitable products.