Senior partner Chris Hagedorn and partners Matt Banholzer & Ryan Nguyen discuss balancing transformation & new business ventures, optimizing core operations, reallocation of resources, developing foundational capabilities, and enhancing innovation success through transformation and new business building.
Effective business transformation requires a balance of defensive and offensive strategies for growth.
Companies must invest in capabilities for innovation, reinvention, and new business development to drive sustainable growth.
Deep dives
The Need for Continuous Reinvention in Business
Companies are facing pressures to constantly reinvent themselves due to factors like decreasing corporate longevity and the lowering of industry barriers. This reinvention is crucial to remaining competitive in the face of geopolitical risks and changing market dynamics. Business success depends on a combination of defensive strategies to ensure efficiency and offensive strategies to drive growth, requiring a holistic approach to performance improvement.
Strategy as the North Star for Business Reinvention
A company's strategy should serve as the guiding force behind business reinvention efforts, whether focused on defense, offense, or both. Strategy helps in determining where to focus investments, initiatives, and new business opportunities. By aligning strategies with growth areas and value pools, companies can effectively drive business transformation and continuous innovation.
Importance of Building New Business Capabilities
Establishing the skills and capabilities to innovate, reinvent, and build new businesses is essential for transforming core business operations. Companies need to identify market potential, address customer needs, and adopt a test-and-learn approach for rapid insights. Building these capabilities complements core business processes and drives sustainable growth.
Driving Higher Performance through Business Transformation
Successful companies optimize their core operations, strategically pursue growth opportunities, and invest in new business initiatives. Top performers not only focus on future growth but also navigate downturns effectively by optimizing operations, engaging in strategic moves like divestitures and acquisitions, and investing in innovative business-building strategies.
We discuss the challenges and opportunities of building new businesses within an organization during a transformation. How should business leaders balance the need for transformation with pursuing new business ventures? What is the role of strategy in business reinvention? What evidence is there that optimizing the core business and building new businesses translates into higher performance?