Robert G. Wittmann - Strategy Design Innovation

— to offer a flexible and effective system and model in the shape of a workbook, based on the authors‘ ample experience of 500+ business cases and driven by a problem-solving attitude.

— to offer and describe a scalable system, applicable both to global corporations and to SMEs.

— to use selected established methods and tools from various sources, as well as methods and tools recently developed and combine them, adding new insights.

— to use established terms, wherever possible, to ensure fast and effective communication, understandable around the world.

— to use a structure allowing to read and proceed page by page, but also to jump from topic to topic, connecting insights.

— to strive for continuous improvement and development both of this workbook (from edition to edition), using all kinds of sources, including feedback from our readers.

Target groups of the book

Here are seven questions you can use to check whether this book will offer value to you and to your personal management challenges:

— Are you striving to create orientation for your entrepreneurial team?

— Do you see a need to understand the developments of volatility , uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity in your business environment?

— Are you challenged by innovative competitors threatening your strategic position?

— Do you feel the need to create tangible advantages for your customers in order to win the competitive game?

— Are you trying to do your best to engage people inside and outside your company?

— Are you searching for a smart way of implementing your business concepts?

— Do you intend to set up a targeted navigation system for your journey toward success?

In terms of ‘groups of people with common interests’, we primarily think of the following ones:

— Entrepreneurs: people who need to innovate their businesses, in a challenging environment

— Intrapreneurs: executives and managers who are responsible for developing their business units with a clear strategic fit, in a global environment

— Consultants: experts who support managers on their way towards success

— Founders and start-up-teams: people who drive innovation and launch new businesses

— Investors: enablers who need to analyze the potential for value creation of a specific strategy design

— Students, graduates, practitioners and MBAs: people who are preparing for their future roles in business

GENERALLY SPEAKING:

people who are interested in designing and innovating business strategies.

„

About the authors

The author‘s and co-authors‘ mission and interest over the past 20 years concentrated on the question of how to create, analyze and develop innovative and successful business strategies, in all kinds of organizations, from small to large and global, both profit and nonprofit organizations.

Our mission and interest in short: how to create successful business by practising “ Strategy Design Innovation“ , as we call it in this book.

Which areas do we come from?

— from various responsibilities: strategic and operational business, teaching at universities and business academies, consulting, designing and running workshops, start-up coaching etc.

— from different roles: entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, university professors in the field of Business Administration, managers and lecturers in global corporate academies, independent consultants etc.

If you want to know more about the author and co-authors, please, take a look at the profiles, at the end of this book.

Words of thanks to those who supported us

We would like to express our gratitude and say a special word of thanks to all those who have contributed to the development of “ Strategy Design Innovation“: most of all to our customers as well as their partners and employees (workshop participants) with whom we had the pleasure to work on more than 500 cases over the last 20 years. Second, to our colleagues who have always been available for a fruitful exchange of ideas and a discussion of the strategic issues. And – last but not least – to our students who were among the first to get to know these concepts, to work with them, challenge them and provide feedback.

Finally, we are grateful to those who decided not only to study our Strategy Design Innovation model and Strategy Design Toolbox, but also to implement it in their real-life business environment, where they practise and share it with their colleagues, partners and customers.

Intended and expected benefits of this book

Since the main objective is to offer a flexible and effective system and model that enables and helps readers to practise Strategy Design Innovation, the main benefits we provide will be:

— You will acquire (and/or enhance) the ability to design and innovate (business) strategies along with the process of Strategy Design Innovation

— You will learn to do so by following a guided procedure, in combination with a toolbox called Strategy Design Toolbox

— You will apply business model patterns and test the results in the agile process of Strategy Design Modelling

— These approaches will give you security, reliability and flexibility, in your Strategy Design Projects.

Our practical experience shows that there is unfortunately no guarantee that a Strategy Design will be successful, but there is a very high probability to get things right, if you follow this path, because

— You will have done the maximum to systematically include whoever and whatever it takes to design and innovate your strategy.

— You will have done this based on a model that did fulfil expectations in so many cases and circumstances.

— You will have done the maximum to systematically avoid traps and errors.

Please, come, apply and see for yourself!

Chapter 1

DYNAMICS IN THE BUSINESS WORLD AND THE APPROACH OF THE BOOK

Executives are facing considerable new challenges in a so-called VUCA world, where volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity set the future pace of competition. In such an environment executives need to understand how to make use of short-lived opportunities, quickly and decisively. The acronym VUCA was originally introduced by the U.S. Army War College to describe the dynamics and the strategic impact of today‘s multilateral world. The elements of VUCA pinpoint the strategic significance of foresight and insight, as well as the insight into the behavior of stakeholders, groups and individuals, outside and inside organizations. The following elements represent the context in which organizations in the field of business view their current and future state: