There can be several reasons behind this scenario to adjust or to renew your strategy. You want to stay in the industry, but you might want to consider fundamental changes to your business.

Serving the same customers does not seem to be as attractive business opportunity as earlier e.g., due to disruptors, or it needs to be done differently. Maybe you want to even reconsider who will be your target customers in the future. Also, the customer behaviour might have changed, or you are changing from product centric to customer centric, and the segmentation is not valid anymore.  

Or maybe you are considering how to benefit more of your core capabilities. You might have got an access to resources and capabilities, which could be combined in a unique way either to serve  your existing customers better, or completely new ones. An example could be the need to serve customers online and to add a parallel ecommerce business model alongside the traditional business model. There could be also an opportunity to utilize resources and capabilities in other industries.

Your choices regarding strategic objectives and targets, and scope choices regarding competitive arena and business models, should be tightly based on your abilities to build competitive advantage. NBRC can help you throughout the strategy process. Our strategy framework with Pyramid model to design a competitive advantage, provides a structure for this.

In this scenario, attaining profits seems to be harder and harder regardless of the ongoing efforts to improve operational excellence. The competition has intensified, and outmanoeuvring competitors necessitates aggressive pricing leading to low margins.

It is possible, that there are changes in customer needs and that they are not willing to pay as much as earlier of the solution. But it is also possible that your competitive advantage has eroded. Competitors might have imitated your sources of competitive advantage, customers do not make a difference between your solutions and your competitors solutions (commoditization), or competitors have been able to develop solutions with better value propositions.

It is also possible, that the lack of coherence has increased in your business over the years eroding the focus and preventing utilization of a potential competitive advantage in full extent. Or maybe there is just all kind of extra accrued to the organization undermining focus and causing costs.

NBRC can help to strengthen or to redefine your competitive advantage. Our strategy framework with Pyramid model to design a competitive advantage, provides a structure for this. We help to innovate your business model including development of improved solutions with better customer value proposal, renewal of business logic, and/or designing and configuration of a new unique set of capabilities.

Quite often, companies are aware of the new technologies and opportunities those provide. Technology vendors and consulting companies have been knocking on the doors and sharing their insights. Success stories can be heard and read from different media.

Your organization might have tested innovative technologies and e.g., executed small scale pilot projects. The understanding of the technical and technological innovations exists, but there is unclarity where your business is in the future and where the money comes from.

Based on our experience, this is quite common problem. There might can be reluctance to do large-scale investments and commitments. Transformations are difficult and, in some cases, irreversible (at least to a certain extent). Failure rates have been reported to be very high.

By building on our strategy framework with Pyramid model, NBRC can help to define the target state, to design the transformation, or both, and support in execution. If there is a reason to postpone the decision, we can help to build readiness to act, when the decision is done. This is be based on scenarios of future development courses.

In this scenario your digital transformation is in process, but you’re not sure if targets will be achieved, or if those are even correct. Your own strategy or understanding of the situation might have changed. Also, the operating environment might have changed.  For example, there could be new technical or technological solutions enabling something which was not possible or considered when the transformation was decided.

It is also possible, that a need for additional adjustments to resources, organizational structures, or connected capabilities have been identified to realize expected benefits. Or there can be suspicion that all the required capabilities and adjustments to the organization have not been identified, or that those cannot be done on time.

By building on our strategy framework with Pyramid model, NBRC can help to assess the approach and the targets of digital transformation, and if required capabilities and organizational adjustments have been identified. We clarify the picture, help to adjust the program if needed, and help to execute the transformation if needed.

In this scenario, it is recognized that some of your capabilities (e.g., a function or any type of cross-functional task) is not performing as it should. The operating model might need to be developed, new IT solution implemented, actors trained, etc. An example could be sales which is very product oriented and has not turned the mindset to customer-centric what strategy would necessitate.

NBRC can help to develop this individual capabilities (e.g., sales) and their interaction to other capabilities (e.g., marketing). Our unique and advanced ‘Pyramid model’ – the generic framework to conceptualize and develop organizational capabilities – was initially developed to provide a structure for the development of individual capabilities, and to design these investments.

Your IT department has brought up a need to invest in a new ERP (or any IT solution). The maintenance of an existing solution is about to end, and the replacement is considered as a ‘must’.

The initial driver is IT but there is unclarity what is targeted with the investment. Is the purpose just to replace the legacy solution to and continue supporting existing business processes or is the purpose to implement best practices what the new solution enables, or should the whole business model be renewed if new technology enables it.

In any case, the investment needs to be turned to business need -driven. Only when business needs are clear (and the starting point is understood) the suitability of alternative solutions can be assessed and required complementary investments can be identified to realize expected benefits with value.

There are many things preventing an IT investment to generate business value. NBRC can help to innovate how to utilize new technology. Based on the target state we can help you to define more detailed business needs, identify required complementary investments (i.e., to design investment), and support you in implementation to realize expected business value.   

In this scenario, your business risk and uncertainties have increased. Geopolitical tensions, developments in macro economy (e.g., inflation), technological innovations changing the industries, and your responses (e.g., large-scale digital transformation initiatives where failure percentages are high), all increase the risks and uncertainties.

The background assumptions, your strategy is based on, might have changed, or are likely to change. Scenarios how things might develop in the future have been recognized, but their probability and impact to your business are unclear making preparation difficult. Preparation, especially without focus, is considered expensive. 

Efficiency might have been the central criteria when choices regarding e.g., business and operating models, and configurations (e.g., vertical integration, make-buy-ally decisions were done). Now, the risks related to those choices have increased and you want to reassess those choices to mitigate risk and to build resilience. 

NBRC can help to understand impacts of possible future scenarios to your business and to prepare for those. We can help to mitigate risks and build resilience in a structured and systemic way based on our unique strategy framework and its core component – the ’Pyramid model’. For us, the risk management and building of resilience are integral parts of designing and executing strategy.  

We also believe, that the risk mitigation and building of resilience does not have to be a zero-sum game eating profitability. We prefer to approach it as an opportunity to prosper by transforming better than competitors. For example, pulling activities back to more secure, although higher cost countries, might enable shorter delivery times. Adjustments in the business model, might further amplify positive effects enabling e.g., faster reaction to the changing customer needs (agility) and thus, delivery of solutions with higher customer value.