How to provoke your business model ..
As time goes on business models become established and stable with a natural inertia and resistance to change. No problem there - if it works and is efficient why not just keep going.
As Tom Peters once said, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!". He subsequently also said, " If it ain't broke, break it" .....
The problem is that the world we live in won't stand still - our customers are constantly changing the way they behave, the way they interact with technology, the way they engage with information and businesses and their expectations of us. Within this rapidly changing and fluid world new competitors are emerging who do things differently, are more aligned with customers and markets and know no fear. These new players do not (yet) have established teams, corporate shareholders, fixed infrastructure or any of the impediments that make established businesses slower and easy to target.
So when you consider how to tackle an issue or to challenge you business model, try answering these questions:
1.What would we do if we were a new start-up company?
2.What would we do if we had unlimited access to money and resources? Or no resources at all?
3.What would Google do if we were taken over by them?
4.What would we do if our 'way of working' would be forbidden by law?
5.What would my favourite comic/movie hero from my childhood do?
6.What would my competitor need to do to destroy me?
It is worth remembering that Google, Microsoft, Apple are comparatively recent "start ups" who challenged the status quo and won. Inevitably they too will be challenged by someone who innovates and thinks differently - it may as well be you!.
As Tom Peters once said, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!". He subsequently also said, " If it ain't broke, break it" .....
The problem is that the world we live in won't stand still - our customers are constantly changing the way they behave, the way they interact with technology, the way they engage with information and businesses and their expectations of us. Within this rapidly changing and fluid world new competitors are emerging who do things differently, are more aligned with customers and markets and know no fear. These new players do not (yet) have established teams, corporate shareholders, fixed infrastructure or any of the impediments that make established businesses slower and easy to target.
So when you consider how to tackle an issue or to challenge you business model, try answering these questions:
1.What would we do if we were a new start-up company?
2.What would we do if we had unlimited access to money and resources? Or no resources at all?
3.What would Google do if we were taken over by them?
4.What would we do if our 'way of working' would be forbidden by law?
5.What would my favourite comic/movie hero from my childhood do?
6.What would my competitor need to do to destroy me?
It is worth remembering that Google, Microsoft, Apple are comparatively recent "start ups" who challenged the status quo and won. Inevitably they too will be challenged by someone who innovates and thinks differently - it may as well be you!.