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high growth innovation

2/26/2015

1 Comment

 
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Innovating To Sustain Competitiveness
Growing markets and staying profitable


To survive and sustain growth we need a business culture that embraces change and continual innovation.

When a business first introduces a new product into the market there may be an initial high growth phase as consumers rush to buy. But once the market becomes saturated a bell curve growth path emerges with a slowing in the number of new customers purchasing. The challenge then becomes a process of encouraging additional purchases from existing customers very often in the form of upgrades or buying more than one item.

This bell curve phenomena in market growth is what creates a rush to introduce new products ahead of the competition. This has been very evident in consumer products especially in the technology sector.

The challenge in developing new products is in doing so without losing on sales to the established market. When the major part of your income and profits is from an established product line it is difficult to shift into a new product area.

When you have a winning product why shift to a new product line that may or may not succeed? That is the challenge faced by all business leaders when addressing the issues of investing in innovation and change.

Business is all about taking calculated risk.
How do we decide if it is right to adopt an innovation that may create a new industry?

High Growth Innovation
High growth innovation as a business proposition requires thinking like a start-up business.
The strategy is to serve new customers or customers who are being served worst.  

Case Study 1: Serving New Customers
The rapid growth of the information technology sector can be traced back to new business plans to serve new customers. Much of the technologies that went into the creation of personal computers were created by businesses manufacturing other products such as photocopiers.

Established businesses made the decision to stick to the established business because personal computers were just too expensive to manufacture for a mass market. The Information Technology companies targeted a niche market of professionals which was a very small segment of the overall market. But as production cost went down a new market of small businesses and home users needing computing power came into being.

Case Study 2: Serving Worst off Customers
I remember when hand-held transistor radios first came out. The target market was a new segment of the rock & roll generation of youths.

The Japanese manufacturers realized it would be difficult to convince parents to give up the better sound quality of their diode valve large radios. For the youths it was a choice of no radio to listen to rock & roll or to have a small radio away from their parents even if the sound quality was not as good as the large family radio.

Patient for Growth Impatient for Profits
High growth innovation requires growing market share fast. This means reducing profit margins in order to establish a niche market. As more innovation creates better quality products a business can shift into growing profit margins.

However the cycle of high growth innovation needs to be continued to create new products for a continually evolving market. Hence we see the personal computer companies innovating with software that has revolutionised the music, movie and news media industries.

Separate Business & Marketing Plan
The key to high growth innovation is in building “innovation teams” independent of the teams delivering on the established products. These innovation teams should have their own business and marketing plan. However, the business leaders need to ensure that these plans create new pathways within the existing corporate values, vision and mission that maintains the common corporate brand identity. This has allowed Information Technology companies to remain focused on the brand identity while breaking ground in new sectors of the economy.

Promenade Business Exchange itself is staying true to its core vision of being an exchange for the cross pollination of ideas and groups while growing its directory membership on several social media platforms that will allow members to continue business exchanges 24/7.

Siddha Param
International Business Consultant

Reboot your business plan for sustained high growth

Do share this article on social media and with those interested

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February 19th, 2015

2/19/2015

2 Comments

 
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WORK LESS ACHIEVE MORE
Leading your team of experts


Richard Brandson has been described as a transformational leader. His hallmark is the ability to hire the best and not allow the bottom to be strangled by top management.

To do this requires deep knowledge about the business you are in and an ability to organise the business so your team of experts are empowered to take action to achieve goals.

The fundamental rule in business is, you can delegate powers but not ultimate responsibility.

Spend time getting to understand the intimate details of the business, industry and community of customers you need to serve. Formulate a plan to achieve realistic goals and work out a strategy to achieve the goals set.

Achieving realistic goals requires skills in organising human, financial and physical resources into a system that creates and delivers value to customers.

A key element of an effective system is, having a team of experts who provide professional skills to support production and delivery.

In assembling a team of experts do the following exercise:

Assess your core strengths
Identify the knowledge and unique set of skills you contribute to the business.

What are the areas of your knowledge and skills others can provide?

Delegate these so you can devote more time to business leadership and growth.

Identify areas requiring your involvement
Focus on strategies that address issues arising from business, industry, market and social activity.

When making leadership decisions listen to your team and seek the counsel of professional consultants.

Success requires making right decisions in a timely manner to stay ahead of the competition.

Utilise the resources of your team
Identify the talents your team members have. Encourage them to give their best. Do this by acknowledging their inherent strengths.

Allow individuals to find expression of personal values in their work. This can empower them to achieve extraordinary things for the common good.

When success comes, an effective leader is able to celebrate with every team member believing it was a team effort.

Sustainable success and high growth comes to a business that is able to rally the team with the cheer, We did it!

Siddha Param
International Business Consultant

Reboot your business plan for sustained high growth

Do share this article on social media and with those interested


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High performance team

2/12/2015

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SUSTAINING TEAM PERFORMANCE
Implementing a culture of excellence


Creating high performance teams within the business and with outside parties are an important feature of a successful business. Such a team should bring together individuals with different talents but who are most effective when their knowledge and skills are pooled with those of the other team members.

High performance teams share a common business culture, vision, values and goals.

To be truly effective team members need to have Guidelines that demarcate their independent working space while setting out rules of engagement, interaction, communication and collaboration with others. The best Guidelines are created by the team. Guidelines are behavioural parameters and tactics for achieving team and individual goals for the common good of the team and the business.

The following are practical steps to take:

Set Team Guidelines
Organise a meeting where the sole agenda is for members of the team to suggest, discuss and analyse Guidelines that should be adopted to promote high performance. Give the team examples of successful teams and their guiding principles.

Suggest Guidelines
As team leader avoid directives but do suggest Guidelines. Encourage discussion as to the merits and demerits of these suggestions. Move the discussion towards a consensus position which puts the values, culture and goals of the business front and centre.

Establish An Evaluation Mechanism
Get the team to discuss Guidelines that can lead to sustained high performance. Establish daily work practices that reinforce a high performance work ethic amongst team members. Set up a measurement mechanism that enables team members to evaluate themselves and appreciate if fellow team members are performing at acceptable levels. Encourage a spirit of sharing in team success.

Guidelines and codes of conduct are most effective when they are at the front and centre of daily activity. Guidelines should motivate and inspire team members to give their very best to the task assigned. Team Performance Guidelines are most effective when they are aligned to the business culture, values, vision and goals. These should be at the core of your Business and Marketing Plan.

Siddha Param
International Business Consultant

Reboot your business plan for sustained high growth

Do share this article on social media and with those interested


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February 05th, 2015

2/5/2015

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Entrepreneurial Drive And Competitiveness
Values Based Leadership and Team Beliefs


A leader has to identify the values that guide his or her decisions and actions. It is essential to find an expression of values that reflects both the beliefs of the leader and the team he or she leads.

A leader`s personal values should be the basis of what he or she says or does. The leader`s personal values should be in sync with the values of the individual team members.

Your voice should be based on your leadership philosophy. Demonstrate your character, honesty, integrity, resilience and self-confidence through your actions. They speak louder than words and carry more weight.

Steve Jobs was a credible leader because he constantly connected what he said with what he did. This was clearly illustrated in his telling of how he was fired from Apple Computer. Despite this he went on to establish two new technology companies Pixar and NeXT.

Become a master story teller able to captivate your audience with your words. Develop your communication skills keeping your message simple yet elegant. That is the true definition of sophistication.

All great leaders survive the long term by sticking to their values, never compromising on what they believe is right for the business. By sticking to your beliefs and passion you will have the stamina to perform over the long term focusing on your customers.

Be different by distinguishing yourself from the competition. This is best done by continually learning and innovating. You cannot know what knowledge will be useful in the future so keep acquiring new knowledge. Sometime in the future you may find a use for the knowledge you gain today.

You have to trust in something, your gut instinct, destiny, karma or in whatever you may call it. This is the basis of learning that has led to break through business innovations.   

Always find the silver lining in the cloud. There is opportunity in every situation. Bad weather for example, means an opportunity for ecommerce to prosper. Instead of getting into traffic to head to the mall to listen to a sales person explain things, prospects and customers can be encouraged to get online to listen to your broadcast of information.

Siddha Param
International Business Consultant

Reboot your business plan for sustained high growth

Do share this article on social media and with those interested


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