2010
Inside the Mind of the CEO
12/18/10 Filed in: Strategy
The Western world is stuck in a “new normal” marked by sluggish growth and a hesitancy to invest, as today’s CEOs have been “shellshocked by crisis,” writes Monitor co-founder Joseph Fuller in an article for Newsweek.
“It is not just the world that’s uncertain, it’s the managerial class itself that has lost confidence in its ability to make decisions in a world shaped by volatility and shock,” Fuller writes. As a result, companies are making conservative, incremental investments and changes, or marshaling cash in fear of scarce access to financing.
While this has significant implications for the global economy, it also represents a huge opportunity for CEOs who are able to “stare down their fear and act,” Fuller writes. “The ‘new normal’ has changed the nature of opportunities, not proscribed them. The greatest opportunity may come to those whose competitors are still stuck in their paralysis.” Read more...
“It is not just the world that’s uncertain, it’s the managerial class itself that has lost confidence in its ability to make decisions in a world shaped by volatility and shock,” Fuller writes. As a result, companies are making conservative, incremental investments and changes, or marshaling cash in fear of scarce access to financing.
While this has significant implications for the global economy, it also represents a huge opportunity for CEOs who are able to “stare down their fear and act,” Fuller writes. “The ‘new normal’ has changed the nature of opportunities, not proscribed them. The greatest opportunity may come to those whose competitors are still stuck in their paralysis.” Read more...
Beacons for Business Model Innovation
11/30/10 Filed in: Innovation
Business Model Innovation is a hot topic in management thinking, even though there seems to be little agreement about what it looks like. By using analytic tools that provide better decision-making insights, executives can vastly improve their innovation success rate—and ensure their business model investments generate bigger returns.
This article discusses two critical diagnostic tools. The Ten Types of Innovation® classifies innovation activities organizations pursue. Research shows that while most companies focus on innovations in their offering—their product performance, product system and services—the biggest opportunities are anchored in innovations that deliver a new business model and customer experience. The second tool, Economic Value Estimation® (EVE) pioneered by pricing strategist Tom Nagle, is a simple framework which breaks down the economic value of an offer into its component parts and compares this value to a next-best competitive alternative.
By taking advantage of the insights these tools offer, corporate leaders can analyze which Business Model Innovation projects offer the most value for customers, allowing them to pick the winners and shut down the losers. Read More...
This article discusses two critical diagnostic tools. The Ten Types of Innovation® classifies innovation activities organizations pursue. Research shows that while most companies focus on innovations in their offering—their product performance, product system and services—the biggest opportunities are anchored in innovations that deliver a new business model and customer experience. The second tool, Economic Value Estimation® (EVE) pioneered by pricing strategist Tom Nagle, is a simple framework which breaks down the economic value of an offer into its component parts and compares this value to a next-best competitive alternative.
By taking advantage of the insights these tools offer, corporate leaders can analyze which Business Model Innovation projects offer the most value for customers, allowing them to pick the winners and shut down the losers. Read More...
China, the Life Sciences Leader of 2020
10/11/10 Filed in: The Next Thing | Strategy
In Monitor’s recent report, “China, the Life Sciences Leader of 2020,” George Baeder and Michael Zielenziger find that China is poised to become the global leader in life science discovery and innovation within the next decade.
At a time when the global life sciences and pharmaceutical industries are beset by major challenges, including patent cliffs, skyrocketing costs of drug approvals and failures in key trials for potentially landmark new drugs, China has developed a strategy of targeted government investments. Through a variety of national and regional programs, China is spending billions on a new health care “safety net,” encouraging the growth of life science parks and startups, financing the development of a high-quality research infrastructure and luring back tens of thousands of Western-educated Chinese researchers. Read more... (PDF 7MB)
At a time when the global life sciences and pharmaceutical industries are beset by major challenges, including patent cliffs, skyrocketing costs of drug approvals and failures in key trials for potentially landmark new drugs, China has developed a strategy of targeted government investments. Through a variety of national and regional programs, China is spending billions on a new health care “safety net,” encouraging the growth of life science parks and startups, financing the development of a high-quality research infrastructure and luring back tens of thousands of Western-educated Chinese researchers. Read more... (PDF 7MB)
The Evolving Internet: A Look Ahead to 2025
10/08/10 Filed in: The Next Thing
What will the Internet be like in 2025? How much bigger will it have grown from today’s 2 billion users and $3 trillion market? Will it have achieved its full potential to connect the world’s entire population in ways that advance global prosperity, business productivity, education and social interaction? Or will it be something less?
In an effort to address these questions, Cisco and Monitor Group’s Global Business Network (GBN), the world leader in scenario planning, collaborated to publish “The Evolving Internet: A Look Ahead to 2025.” The report examines the driving forces and uncertainties that will—in whatever combination—shape the path of the Internet over the next 15 years. Read More... ( PDF 5MB)
In an effort to address these questions, Cisco and Monitor Group’s Global Business Network (GBN), the world leader in scenario planning, collaborated to publish “The Evolving Internet: A Look Ahead to 2025.” The report examines the driving forces and uncertainties that will—in whatever combination—shape the path of the Internet over the next 15 years. Read More... ( PDF 5MB)
The Future of Global Smart Grids: A New Energy Internet?
07/15/10 Filed in: The Next Thing
We are facing a high-stakes moment for smart grids, with trillions of dollars of private and public sector investment at stake over the next 20 years. However, the future of smart grids is unclear. Some believe that smart grids will usher in the next Internet boom—democratizing energy management and use. Others imagine the future of electricity grids falling into the hands of a few, powerful, established players that are poised to leverage smart technologies into even greater control over national energy flows.
Now is the time for business leaders across a wide array of sectors to question their assumptions. They should consider how critical uncertainties regarding the differentiated evolution of the global energy and power infrastructure might impact their businesses, as well as their corporate, innovation and investment strategies.
In this paper, Monitor 360’s Olaf Groth, Jesse Goldhammer and Doug Randall outline several scenarios for what the future of smart grids could look like, as well as what the driving forces will be to shape these scenarios. They also discuss what the implications would be for a variety of organizations, and provide recommendations for how organizations can make the right strategic choices. Read more... (PDF 3MB)
Now is the time for business leaders across a wide array of sectors to question their assumptions. They should consider how critical uncertainties regarding the differentiated evolution of the global energy and power infrastructure might impact their businesses, as well as their corporate, innovation and investment strategies.
In this paper, Monitor 360’s Olaf Groth, Jesse Goldhammer and Doug Randall outline several scenarios for what the future of smart grids could look like, as well as what the driving forces will be to shape these scenarios. They also discuss what the implications would be for a variety of organizations, and provide recommendations for how organizations can make the right strategic choices. Read more... (PDF 3MB)