Innovation Competition Strategies

🗺️ AirBnB Customer Journey Blueprint, a wonderful practical example of how to visualize the entire customer experience for 2 personas, across 8 touch points, with user policies, UI screens and all interactions with the customer service — all on one single page. AirBnB Customer Journey (Google Drive): https://lnkd.in/eKsTjrp4 Spotify Customer Journey (High-res): https://lnkd.in/eX3NBWbJ Now, unlike AirBnB, your product might not need a mapping against user policies. However, it might need other lanes that would be more relevant for your team. E.g. include relevant findings and recommendations from UX research. List key actions needed for next stage. Add relevant UX metrics and unsuccessful touchpoints. That last bit is often missing. Yet customer journeys are often non-linear, with unpredictable entry points, and integrations way beyond the final stage of a customer journey map. It’s in those moments when things leave a perfect path that a product’s UX is actually stress tested. So consider mapping unsuccessful touchpoints as well — failures, error messages, conflicts, incompatibilities, warnings, connectivity issues, eventual lock-outs and frequent log-outs, authentication issues, outages and urgent support inquiries. Even further than that: each team could be able to zoom into specific touch points and attach links to quotes, photos, videos, prototypes, design system docs and Figma files. Perhaps even highlight the desired future state. Technical challenges and pain points. Those unsuccessful states. Now, that would be a remarkable reference to use in the beginning of every design sprint. Such mappings are often overlooked, but they can be very impactful. Not only is it a very tangible way to visualize UX, but it’s also easy to understand, remember and relate to daily — potentially for all teams in the entire organization. And that's something only few artefacts can do. Useful resources: Free Template: Customer Journey Mapping, by Taras Bakusevych https://lnkd.in/e-emkh5A Free Template: End-To-End User Experience Map (Figma), by Justin Tan https://lnkd.in/eir9jg7J Customer Journey Map Template (Figma), by Ed Biden https://lnkd.in/evaUP4kz Free Figma/Miro User Journey Maps Templates https://lnkd.in/etSB7VqB User Journey Maps vs. Service Blueprints (+ Templates) https://lnkd.in/e-JSYtwW UX Mapping Methods (+ Miro/Figma Templates) https://lnkd.in/en3Vje4t #ux #design

Innovation Doesn't Need A Big Budget, Rethink Product Development With Jugaad (Making the most with what you have) Jugaad is an innovative approach to problem-solving that originated in India, characterized by resourcefulness and creativity in overcoming constraints. It's a mindset of doing more with less, emphasizing: Harnessing the spirit of "jugaad"—a Hindi term signifying resourceful and frugal innovation—can revolutionize product development in emerging markets. Case in point is a DIY stove & water heater which serves as a powerful example of this principle. Here are some basic principles of Using Jugaad in Product Development, that can be useful to Product Builders and Innovators - 1/ Frugal Innovation: Create cost-effective solutions using minimal resources > Design products for maximal value with minimal investment (time, money resources) 2/ Understand customer behavior: As Steve Blank famously said ‘Get out of the Building’ > Its important to have direct interaction with customers and stakeholders outside the office environment to validate your business hypotheses. > This approach is central to customer development methodology >It works to gather firsthand insights, validate assumptions, and refine your products based on real-world feedback 3/ Resourcefulness: Finding clever ways to solve problems with limited means prioirtise affordability and simplicity > Design products that cater to diverse needs, address multiple challenges, uses readily available material to build. This stove, which cooks food and heats water, is a perfect example. 4/ Think Sustainability to minimize environmental impact > With rapid population growth emerging markets, it's crucial to develop solutions that make efficient use of materials The DIY stove-water heater embodies the essence of jugaad Now, I would love to hear from you - > What are some practical ‘jugaad applications’ you use in your daily life?  > What’s the most creative solution you’ve come up with using limited resources? If you find this post helpful, please Repost to share with your network. Save this post for future reference when you need to revisit these principles.

Hare vs. Tortoise: The Hidden Psychology of M&A IT Integration A Fortune 500 company, fresh off a $5B merger, rushes IT integration to prove synergy and competence. 🚨 The Result? A $150M disaster: ↳ Week 1: 10,000+ employees locked out. Productivity drops 25% overnight. ↳ Week 3: A security flaw exposes sensitive financial data—$50M in fines follow. ↳ Week 6: Service disruptions trigger customer churn, and the stock price plunges 8% in a day. The culprit? “Action Bias”—the urge to do something fast rather than do it right. 💡 Why Rushing IT Integration Backfires ◆ 60-80% of M&A deals fail to meet objectives, with IT missteps as a top cause (GPMIP). ◆ Poor IT transitions lead to 15-20% productivity loss & 10% customer attrition in 6 months. ◆ 30%+ of major data breaches occur due to mismanaged integrations (Ponemon Institute). 📌 The Smarter Play? Move Deliberately. Two companies, same merger, two outcomes: ❌ Company A (Rushed Approach) ◆ Employees disengage. ◆ Customers experience service failures. ◆ Investors see chaos, not competence. ✅ Company B (Strategic Approach) ◆ Employees feel in control, reducing resistance. ◆ Customers see stability, preserving loyalty. ◆ Investors recognise steady execution, strengthening trust. The 3-Phase Strategy for Seamless IT Integration 📍 Phase 1: Psychological Foundation (Months 0-3) ↳ Loss Aversion Bias – Frame changes as enhancements, not disruptions. ↳ The IKEA Effect – Involve employees early to boost adoption. ↳ Security as a Status Signal – Position compliance as a competitive advantage. 📍 Phase 2: Perception Management (Months 3-6) ↳ "Invisible Change" Strategy – Roll out improvements gradually to reduce friction. ↳ Cognitive Load Reduction – Keep UI & workflows familiar to ease adoption. ↳ Investor Confidence Framing – Present integration as efficiency-enhancing, not a risky overhaul. 📍 Phase 3: Controlled Implementation (Months 6-12) ↳ Pilot Rollouts – Small groups test the system before full deployment. ↳ IT as an Enabler, Not a Cost – Position tech investments as growth drivers. ↳ Pre-Emptive Crisis Testing – Simulating failures prevents real disasters. 🔍 Case Study: Microsoft’s Acquisition of LinkedIn ✅ Success – Kept LinkedIn’s brand intact, phased IT integration, and prioritized cultural alignment. 📈 Result: LinkedIn’s revenue grew 20% YoY post-acquisition. ❌ Case Study: AOL & Time Warner (Failure) 🚨 Mistakes – Rushed IT integration, massive system conflicts, cultural clashes. 💸 Result: A $98.7B loss within two years. 💡 Final Thought: Avoiding the “Illusion of Speed” IT integration isn’t just tech—it’s a psychological transition. Companies that respect human behaviour and execute methodically outperform those that rush for short-term optics. 📢 Your Turn: What’s the most significant IT integration challenge you’ve seen? What worked? What failed? Let’s discuss. Please Like & Share #MergersAndAcquisitions #ITStrategy #Mergers #CIO #Innovation

Are you generating enough value for users net of the value to your company? Business value can only be created when you create so much value for users, that you can “tax” that value and take some for yourself as a business. If you don’t create any value for your users, then you can’t create value for your business. Ed Biden explains how to solve this in this week's guest post: Whilst there are many ways to understand what your users will value, two techniques in particular are incredibly valuable, especially if you’re working on a tight timeframe: 1. Jobs To Be Done 2. Customer Journey Mapping 𝟭. 𝗝𝗼𝗯𝘀 𝗧𝗼 𝗕𝗲 𝗗𝗼𝗻𝗲 (𝗝𝗧𝗕𝗗) “People don’t simply buy products or services, they ‘hire’ them to make progress in specific circumstances.”  – Clayton Christensen The core JTBD concept is that rather than buying a product for its features, customers “hire” a product to get a job done for them … and will ”fire” it for a better solution just as quickly. In practice, JTBD provides a series of lenses for understanding what your customers want, what progress looks like, and what they’ll pay for. This is a powerful way of understanding your users, because their needs are stable and it forces you to think from a user-centric point of view. This allows you to think about more radical solutions, and really focus on where you’re creating value. To use Jobs To Be Done to understand your customers, think through five key steps: 1. Use case – what is the outcome that people want? 2. Alternatives – what solutions are people using now? 3. Progress – where are people blocked? What does a better solution look like? 4. Value Proposition – why would they use your product over the alternatives? 5. Price – what would a customer pay for progress against this problem? 𝟮. 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 Customer journey mapping is an effective way to visualize your customer’s experience as they try to reach one of their goals. In basic terms, a customer journey map breaks the user journey down into steps, and then for each step describes what touchpoints the customer has with your product, and how this makes them feel. The touch points are any interaction that the customer has with your company as they go through this flow: • Website and app screens • Notifications and emails • Customer service calls • Account management / sales touch points • Physically interacting with goods (e.g. Amazon), services (e.g. Airbnb) or hardware (e.g. Lime) Users’ feelings can be visualized by noting down: • What they like or feel good about at this step • What they dislike, find frustrating or confusing at this step • How they feel overall By mapping the customer’s subjective experience to the nuts and bolts of what’s going on, and then laying this out in a visual way, you can easily see where you can have the most impact, and align stakeholders on the critical problems to solve.

WHY DO TRANSFORMATIONS FAIL? Business transformations often falter, not due to a lack of effort, but because of fundamental misunderstandings about the relationship between strategy and change. Here's a look at the real reasons transformations stumble: 1. STRATEGIC AMBIGUITY: THE SILENT KILLER Vague strategies like "becoming more flexible and agile" are transformation poison. They offer no concrete direction and create conflicting demands between efficiency and innovation. The antidote? Craft a razor-sharp strategy with clear, purposeful tradeoffs. Remember: strategy IS change. Treat them as one and the same. 2. PROCESS WORSHIP vs ORGANISATIONAL REALITY Processes don't shape behaviour – structure does. Your carefully crafted collaboration initiative will crumble if your organizational design reinforces siloed thinking. The fix? Align your organisation design with your strategic intent. Structure trumps process every time. 3. THE BIOLOGY OF RISK AND UNCERTAINTY Prolonged transformations breed anxiety, triggering a physiological "risk aversion" response. Cortisol levels spike, innovation plummets. The solution? Opt for short, intense bursts of change rather than drawn-out campaigns. Keep the momentum high and the uncertainty low. 4. STIFLING NATURAL ADAPTABILITY Rigid transformation playbooks suffocate your people's innate ability to adapt. Engagement dies when employees feel like cogs in a machine. Instead, foster reflection and empower informal leaders. Let your people own the change, not just execute it. 5. THE LEADER'S QUANTUM DILEMMA Leaders, beware the observer effect. Just as in quantum mechanics, your intense focus on one aspect of the organisation (efficiency) can cause another (effectiveness) to collapse. People do what is 'inspected' - not what is 'expected'. Be deliberate in where you shine the spotlight. The path to successful transformation isn't paved with buzzwords and rigid methodologies. It's forged through strategic clarity, organisational alignment, and a deep understanding of human nature. Embrace these principles, and your transformation will have a fighting chance at success. Lisa Carlin, The Turbochargers, Lisa Ainsworth

Researchers and technology transfer professionals hold the key to a more dynamic and improved innovation ecosystem. In today’s rapidly evolving innovation landscape, characterized by disruption and conflict, it’s more important than ever to empower universities, research institutions, and innovators to commercialize their intellectual property effectively. World Intellectual Property Organization – WIPO latest guide on technology transfer incentives, entitled “Incentives in Technology Transfer: A guide to encourage, recognize and reward researchers and professionals,” is designed to bridge the gap between academic research and real-world application. This guide, part of our WIPO IP Toolkit for Universities (https://lnkd.in/ebRW-V-d), addresses the crucial role of academic research in driving innovation. It emphasizes the importance of providing incentives and support to translate research into practical solutions. The guide is divided into two different sections, aimed at the main players: academic researchers and technology transfer professionals (TTPs). Supervised by Alejandro Roca Campana and led by Lien VERBAUWHEDE KOGLIN, with the support of the guide also highlights the vital contribution of Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) in facilitating knowledge transfer from academia to industry. Key insights from the guide include: ·        Optimizing Incentive Programs: Discover strategies to navigate the challenges of incentive programs, striking the right balance and timing to drive research commercialization effectively. ·        Understanding Motivations: Gain insights into the motivations and barriers of researchers and technology transfer professionals, essential for designing impactful incentive strategies. ·        Examining Incentives: Explore successful financial and non-financial incentives for researchers, as well as academic career advancement incentives implemented by leading institutions. These measures foster a culture of innovation and collaboration within academic communities. We believe that the insights from this guide will serve as a practical tool for governments, universities, researchers, businesses and funders as they navigate the complexities of technology transfer in today’s innovation-driven world. For more information, access the guide here: https://lnkd.in/eGcbMkdU #WIPO #TechnologyTransfer #TechTransfer #Innovation #WIPO #InnovationEcosystem #Incentives #AcademicResearch #EconomicDevelopment #Inventors #Incentivize #Researchers

People think strategy is about predicting the future. But real strategy is about creating the future. There is this widespread idea that strategy is all about predicting the future. About being the one who knows what’s coming. But in reality, no one knows the future, not even the best strategists. The world is too complex, too interdependent, and changing too fast for that. In such world, strategic strength is not about KNOWING the future. It is knowing how to SHAPE it. The real skill lies in understanding how to influence the forces that will determine what happens next, not in pretending to foresee them. Thist means: - Seeing patterns before others do. - Creating options rather than choosing between fixed paths. - Mobilizing people and resources toward what’s possible. - Executing with focus and persistence. - Learning fast from what works and what doesn’t. Shaping the future is not about prediction or control. It’s about agency. It’s about realizing that the future is not something that happens to you, but something you actively create. The strongest organizations don’t ask, “What will the future bring?” They ask, “What future are we building?” Strategic foresight is useful. But strategic capability, the ability to shape what comes next, is what truly sets great leaders apart. What helps you move from predicting to shaping?

Is Product Positioning really a Marketing problem? Think Again. Let me share why positioning is fundamentally a CEO's responsibility, not just another marketing or sales initiative. 1. THE TRIPLE INSIGHT REQUIREMENT Effective positioning demands deep understanding of: - Customer pain points and aspirations - Competitive landscape dynamics - Company's long-term vision Only the CEO sits at the deepest intersection of all three. 2. WHY MARKETING ALONE CAN'T OWN IT Marketing teams excel at execution, but they: - Lack full competitive intel - Miss strategic board-level discussions - Don't have complete revenue visibility - Cannot make fundamental product decisions 3. WHY SALES CAN'T DRIVE IT EITHER Sales teams are closest to customers, but: - Focus on short-term wins - See only their territory view - Miss the broader market context - Cannot influence product roadmap 4. THE CEO'S UNIQUE POSITION The CEO is the only one who: - Holds all the strategic cards - Can align all departments - Makes final product decisions - Shapes company vision - Has complete market view 5. THE RIGHT APPROACH Success comes when: - CEO drives the positioning strategy - Marketing crafts the message - Sales validates with customers - Product delivers on the promise At PipeBagger, we've seen this pattern repeatedly. Companies struggling with positioning often have delegated it too far down the chain. Want to build authority in your market? Start by getting positioning right at the top. Interested in learning more about building market authority through strategic positioning? Let's connect. This is exactly what we help B2B founders achieve - turning their unique market position into sustainable growth. Positioning is a business strategy. Revenue is a business strategy. Sales is a revenue strategy. And so is marketing. #SaaS #RevenueGrowth #Positioning

This brilliant interview with Waters Corporation CEO Udit Batra by my colleague John Chartier highlights many best practices for launching a strategic transformation. Four things that stood out in particular, all of which match our recent findings on the 'Strategy Champions' that achieve top 20% economic profit. 1. He quickly built a shared fact base focused on the fundamentals, namely a) how customers recognize your value, b) how you make money, c) the attractiveness of your markets and trends driving them, d) the true sources of your existing or potential competitive advantage. 2. When setting strategy and distilling how the business would create more value, he created simple rules to help leaders both understand the logic and make decisions consistent with it. This is a step beyond having a compelling change narrative and is a powerful part of locking in commitment to a strategy. 3. He focused on unlocking courageous decision-making across the org by promoting it as one of three leadership characteristics alongside competence and compassion, and, critically, measuring it. This, paired with disproportionate resourcing, unlocks the muscle to mobilize towards strategic opportunities. 4. There continues to be a disciplined focus on external changes and potential impacts, with a team reporting on this every week, not just a few times a year or just during a strategy cycle. This helps a top team update their shared beliefs (not just facts) and sustain continuous strategic dialogue that drives action. https://lnkd.in/eUCcABpD