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Outthinker Blog

The Outthinker blog offers our take on the latest news stories, trends, and ideas in strategy. Learn real-world examples of the Outthinker strategic process along with suggestions on how to apply them to your business

proximity

A Burger-Making Robot Displays the Principles of Proximity

Beef, bun, lettuce, tomato, cheese … there is nothing more American than the classic burger.

Innovation

Will AI and Machine Learning Facilitate the Creation of a Global Supermind?

In 2018, a famous Harvard study sought to understand which parts of the brain are responsible for creativity. Creativity, as defined in the study, is

Strategy

From Photosculpting to 3D Printing: The Power of Transitional Business Models

In a 1939 photo studio, an exquisite French model sits before renowned British photographer Marcus Adams. Rather than taking her photo traditionally, he uses a

Strategy

Who Will Own the Companies of the Future?

Patagonia’s purposeful transition “Earth is now our only shareholder,” wrote Yvon Chouinard. You’ve likely read the letter by now. Last week, Patagonia’s founder made an

Strategy

Does Your Business Model Need a “Managed Retreat”?

Every summer, for the past 12 years, my family has visited the Hamptons. After inching our way out of Long Island traffic, the road opens

Innovation

Rahimafrooz’s Fourth Option Idea

2022 has been a dark summer for Bangladesh. The country (which I’m proud to say is my mother’s home country) considered itself past a history

Marketing and sales

How Red Bull’s Unconventional Marketing Strategy Gives the Company Wings

It all began in the summer of 1982 when Dietrich Mateschitz, an Austrian salesman, found himself suffering from jet lag on a business trip. In

Career

How to Take Advantage of the War for Talent while Talent is on Top

In the war for talent, talent is winning. Unemployment has not been this low since 1968. Employers are paying 20% compensation premiums to hire new

Entrepreneurship

Taking on Innovation Antibodies

We’re all familiar with the legend of the entrepreneur. It’s a story of the creative genius who decides to fly solo and build an operation

Strategy

Mastercard & the Power of Stories in Your Transformation Message

A World Beyond Cash… Former Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga’s vision of a “world beyond cash” has resonated across a decade. The concept expanded globally in

Strategy

Outthinker’s 2022 Strategic Summer Reading List

Summer starts this week, at least for those Outthinkers north of the equator. If you’re anything like our team, you’ve spent the last few months

Innovation

Will Web3 Make Us All “Prosumers”?

Like many inventors, Cleveland resident Charles Brush was ahead of his time. By 1888, he had constructed a 144-blade windmill in his backyard that powered

Innovation

Channel 13 and the Vocabulary of Web3

Why Billy Joel confuses my kids … A few weeks ago, my wife and I took the kids to see Billy Joel at an arena

People

Elon Musk Bans Remote Work: The Outthinker Perspective

Earlier this week, Bloomberg confirmed news of an email to all Tesla employees. The message, sent by CEO Elon Musk, demands that everyone at Tesla is

Strategy

Four Principles for Competing within Ecosystems

The most central question for any business today may be the following: “To what extent does delivering value to your end-user involve the collaboration of

Leverage Point	“8Ps” of Strategy	Opportunity 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?
Price	How 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?
--	--	--	--

Leverage
Point

“8Ps” of Strategy

Opportunity
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.

- 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.

- 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.

- 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?

Price

How consumers and other members of the agricultural supply chain pay for access to agricultural products.

- 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.

- 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.

- 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.

- 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?