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How did a 58-year-old company that began with hydroelectric power in Italy come to be one of the largest, most dynamic, and valuable energy companies driving humanity toward a sustainable energy future? The answer, as you will see, can be summed up as “proximity”: the creation of energy will move ever closer to the point of demand.

Enel embodies this, and if you understand that as well, then you can also leapfrog the competition the way Enel has.

Enel’s impact

With innovation in mind, Enel fused with over a thousand energy producers and developed electrical grids across Europe. In 2001 they created and installed the world’s first smart meters and expanded their influence globally. They bought the first power plant in North America. Their prioritization in sustainability has led them to tremendous expansion and success as a public, multinational, renewable energy powerhouse.

Enel focuses on economic, environmental, and social progression in ways that advocate clean energy and customer satisfaction. Referencing recent times where the coronavirus looms over the world, Enel X, a branch of Enel, has dedicated their efforts to helping their consumers during harsh times.

For instance, Enel X has collaborated with other businesses to expand their electrical vehicle (EV) network. They’ve installed over 19,500 charging points in Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. This development reduces the hassle of finding vehicle charging locations and going through paperwork with alternate EV companies. In turn, the consumer can prolong an environmentally conscious life with resources more accessible than ever.

Enel has also introduced DER.OSTM (Distributed Energy Resources Optimisation System), a software that optimizes lithium-ion batteries to store energy from electrical grids to be later used in a recycled way. Similar to OhmConnect, Enel has created a virtual power plant that increases savings and decreases proximity of electricity. This power plant is capable of powering businesses and homes in a genuinely sustainable way.

Enel has also introduced City Analytics — a collection and analysis of Big Data. It may seem like a strange idea, but outthinking other progressive companies, City Analytics observes city life to manage waste collection, optimize public areas, and initiate urban transit based on traffic patterns. Furthermore, Enel has begun to use Big Data to record air pollution, provide Internet to urban infrastructures, observe safety violations to citizens, and optimize methods of transportation during tourist seasons.

The advantages in these developments go directly to Public Administrations and citizens; a typical day is made readily easier by the reduced traffic, augmented safety, and air quality awareness. Simply, life would have more resources and less impedances, all with propinquity.

A shift in the market and investors as stakeholders

In recent news, renewable energy companies, especially Enel, have seen their share prices soar — making them competitive with major oil companies — because of their demonstrated efforts to create a lower-carbon future. The diminish of expenses for clean energy sources like wind and solar has also contributed to Enel’s climb to the top. Not to mention that they are “now the world’s largest renewable energy producer outside China, with an €84 billion market value, equal to about $102 billion, and projects in 32 countries,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

With the increase of investments in Enel, investors have become key stakeholders in Enel’s progressive growth. An effect of this is the imposing valuation of Enel. The market cap of Enel SpA, based in Milan, is $99.55 billion. In comparison, Ford Motor Company’s market cap stands at $34.80 billion.

Given these numbers, we notice that Enel has a valuation almost three times greater than Ford Motors, a well renowned company since 1903. Enel is a purpose-driven company that is highly valuable to investors. This truth emphasizes that a high valuation of a company can be used as currency that ultimately creates more prosperity for the company and drives them to continue to help the environment.

Conclusion

Enel has found a way to reduce proximity of electricity and ultimately create a community for consumers like no other, revolutionizing the renewable energy business. Amongst their innovations that advocate improved electrical grids and uses of batteries for clean energy, Enel has prominent plans of growing each day — tackling climate change and delivering customer needs.

With promising investments and shares reflecting their expansive, inspiring technology, Enel is a company that will continue to dominate the market and energy business in advocacy for an environmentally conscious world.

Photo by Singkham from Pexels

Leverage
Point
“8Ps” of StrategyOpportunity
for Disruption
Recommended Leverage Points
Position- The farmers, individual and corporate, that you are targeting.

- The need of the agricultural industry that you seek to fill.
3- What technologies do you control that can help you tap into market
segments that you previously thought unreachable?

- What are the potential business alliances you could think about with key players in the segment to serve your customers with integrated solutions? (Serving customers with more integrated solutions example: serving farmers with fertilizers, crop protection and other).
Product- The products you offer, and the characteristics that affect their value to customers.

- The technology you develop for producing those products.
8- What moves are your organization taking to implement Big Data and analytics to your operations? What IoT and blockchain applications can you use?

- What tools and technology could you utilize or develop to improve food quality, traceability, and
production?

- How can you develop a more sustainable production model to accommodate constraints on arable
land?

- What is the future business model needed to serve new differentiated products to your customers?
Promotion- How you connect with farmers and consumers across a variety of locations and industries.
- How to make consumers, producers, and other stakeholders aware of your products and services.
8- How are you connecting your product with individual and corporate farms who could utilize it?
- How could you anticipate market and customer needs to make customers interested in accessing your differentiated products?
PriceHow consumers and other members of the agricultural supply chain pay for access to agricultural products.7- What elements of value comprise your pricing? How do each of those elements satisfy the varying needs of your customers?
Placement- How food products reach consumers. How the technologies, data, and services reach stakeholders in the supply chain.9- What new paths might exist for helping consumers access the food they desire?
- How are you adapting your operations and supply chain to accommodate consumers’ desire for proximity to the food they eat?
- How could you anticipate customer expectation to make products more
accessible to customers/agile supply chain?
- Have you considered urbanization as a part of your growth strategy?
Physical
Experience
- How your food satisfies the needs and desires of your customer.
- How the services you provide to agribusiness fulfill their needs.
9- Where does your food rate on a taste, appearance, and freshness
scale?
- Could the services you provide to companies and farms in the agriculture industry be expanded to meet more needs?
- What senses does your food affect besides hunger? How does your
customer extract value from your food in addition to consumption?
Processes- Guiding your food production operations in a manner cognizant of social pressure.8- How can you manage the supply chain differently to improve traceability and reduce waste?
- How can you innovate systems in production, processing, storing, shipping, retailing, etc.?
- What are new capabilities to increase sustainability (impact on the environment, or ESG) components?
People- The choices you make regarding hiring, organizing, and incentivizing your people and your culture.- How are you leveraging the agricultural experience of your staff bottom-up to achieve your vision?
- How do you anticipate new organizational capabilities needed to perform your future strategy (innovation, exponential technologies needed, agile customer relationship, innovative supply chain)?
- How do you manage your talents to assure suitable development with exposure in the agrifood main challenges/allowing a more sustainable view of the opportunities/cross-sectors?
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