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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

Innovation

How “Proximity” Technologies are Bridging the Gap Between Demand and Delivery

Shuffling through the crowds of Fourth of July weekend shoppers, I spied my prize. The farm stand’s rows were bursting with color—juicy strawberries, rich blueberries,

Innovation

The Future of Agriculture: Smart and Sustainable Food Solutions

Earlier this year, I met up with a friend for lunch at a restaurant out on the water. As I twirled fettuccine noodles and chunks

Innovation

How Self-Organized Communities are Saving New Orleans

I was grateful for a soft breeze as I cruised along the levee overlooking the Mississippi River. The sticky heat of summer was already well

Leadership

Interview with Mario Moussa: Why It’s So Hard to Break Down Silos in an Organization

Today, organizational culture is shifting to embrace fast-moving, agile teams in order to create efficiencies and meet the demands that rapid technological advances are causing

Leadership

The Rise of B Corps

Last week on the Outthinker blog, we discussed how Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) practices are transforming the energy industry. We referenced Chris Marquis’ work,

Strategy

How ESG Practices are Updating the Energy Industry

Our planet is facing an uncertain future. The impact of climate change has reached a point of crisis, and it is up to the organizations

Innovation

Elon Musk, Dogecoin, and NFTs: Coordinating without an Official Coordinator

It’s been a while since Saturday Night Live was a staple of Monday morning conversation, but this week as our team gathered around the Zoom

Innovation

No Rules Rules at Netflix: Rethinking Culture as We Return to Work

When we think about culture and responsibility in the workplace, companies generally fall into one of two categories. Some seek to monitor their employees and keep

Strategy

Geopolitical Retrenchment: Fragmentation and the Great Unifier

Earlier this year, we introduced our 2021 Business Trends report based on in-depth conversations with top CSOs in our Outthinker Strategy Network. We have been

Innovation

The Most Overlooked Source of Competitive Advantage

It is remarkable how music has the power to set your state of mind. I was sitting at my desk in my home office, my

Strategy

Spoke-to-Spoke: A Mindset Shift to Digital & Platform Models

Last month, we introduced our 2021 Business Trends report based on in-depth conversations with top CSOs in our Outthinker Strategy Network. We will be expanding

Strategy

Community Coordination: How Digital Connectivity Will Power Revolutions of the Future

Last month, we introduced our 2021 Business Trends report based on in-depth conversations with top CSOs in our Outthinker Strategy Network. We will be expanding

Strategy

Bidding Goodbye to Bureaucracy: Future Organizational Models

Last month, we introduced our 2021 Business Trends report based on in-depth conversations with top CSOs in our Outthinker Strategy Network. We will be expanding on one

Strategy

Ecosystem Development: Improve Your “Luck” Through Strategic Partnerships

Last month, we introduced our 2021 Business Trends report based on in-depth conversations with top CSOs in our Outthinker Strategy Network. We will be expanding on one

Strategy

Activating the Subconscious Power of Strategy

We have heard the adages like “work on your business, not in it” and “come up to see the forest for the trees.” At McKinsey

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?