Strategic Market Position Analysis

Not a lot of businesses are recognizing the power of Change Management as a vehicle for enhancing customer experience efforts. Here's how to unlock the power of change management principles in the context of CX. 🎯 Understanding Customer Needs Before initiating any change, you must have a deep understanding of what your customers really want. Utilize data analytics, behavioral data, operational and financial data, customer interviews, surveys, market dynamics, competitive information, and other signals to assess and understand needs. 🤝 Aligning Objectives Leadership Alignment: Ensure that your leadership is onboard and committed to customer experience improvement. Stakeholder Involvement: Involve the frontline employees who interact with customers daily to contribute to the decision-making process. 🗓️ Planning Identify Key Changes: Prioritize which areas require change based on customer feedback and business metrics. Set Targets: Establish measurable KPIs to gauge the success of the changes you plan to implement. These should be business- and customer-driven metrics. Don't make this a metric like "increase OSAT from X to Y." 📣 Communication Internal Communication: Clearly communicate the why and the how to all internal stakeholders. This should include executives, directly impacted employees, and the broader line of business. Tailor it to the stakeholder. Customer Communication: Be transparent with customers about what changes to expect and how they will benefit. Keep them up to date on progress. 🛠️ Implementation Pilot Testing: Conduct a small-scale test of the changes to assess their effectiveness. Feedback Loop: Gather continuous feedback from customers and employees throughout the implementation process. 📊 Evaluation and Adaptation Assess Impact: Examine metrics regularly to determine whether the changes are having the intended impact. Iterate: Use data-driven insights to make necessary adjustments. 🚀 Sustaining Changes Training: Continuously train your team to adapt to new changes. Feedback Mechanisms: Keep the dialogue open with customers and employees for sustainable improvements. 👩💻 Leveraging Technology 👨💻 Data Analytics: Use analytics to pinpoint improvement areas. Communication Platforms: Use tools like Slack or Teams for internal communication. Automation: Implement bots for routine tasks. CRM Systems: Manage customer relationships digitally to gain insights. 💡 Involve Employees Effectively Employees are the face of your customer service. Include them in planning, provide training opportunities, establish regular feedback forums, and reward those who contribute to customer experience improvements. Have you applied change management principles to enhance the customer experience in your organization? What worked for you? What didn't work for you? #ChangeManagement #CustomerExperience #Leadership #DataAnalytics #EmployeeEngagement #Technology

I have spent years in the highs and lows of the consumer goods industry but never seen a pricing climate quite like this. Manufacturers are getting squeezed from every direction-tariffs, skyrocketing raw material costs, and relentless supply chain disruptions. The old playbook of raising prices to cover costs? That’s dead. Why? Because consumers are feeling the pressure too. A 2024 Nielsen report makes it clear: today’s shoppers are scrutinizing every dollar they spend, and brands that aren’t strategic about pricing risk losing market share fast. Here’s what I’m seeing from top CPG brands that get it: 1️⃣ Walmart is investing heavily in AI-driven pricing models to keep costs competitive-e-commerce now makes up 18% of total revenue. 2️⃣ PepsiCo is doubling down on pack-size innovation, offering smaller, affordable options to maintain volume without excessive discounting. 3️⃣ Luxury brands are using price elasticity models, testing demand thresholds before rolling out increases-avoiding consumer pushback. 4️⃣ Supply chain resilience is non-negotiable. Companies are shifting manufacturing away from China, despite short-term cost spikes, to avoid future geopolitical risks. The smartest brands aren’t just reacting. They’re rethinking. They’re moving toward Revenue Growth Management (RGM) frameworks that help them: ✅ Optimize pricing and promotions (because blanket price hikes are a losing game) ✅ Focus on margin-smart growth, not just revenue ✅ Leverage data analytics to make smarter, faster pricing decisions Brands that don’t evolve risk eroding profitability or pricing themselves out of the market. CPG leaders who master strategic pricing, operational efficiency, and consumer-driven value creation will own the future of this industry. Are you adjusting your strategy, or just reacting to rising costs? Because in 2025, only the most adaptable brands will win. #CPG #FMCG #PricingStrategy #RevenueGrowth #ConsumerGoods

Find new unmet customer needs by four ways of looking … Identifying unmet customer needs, pains or dreams are crucial. To increase your chances of accurately detecting customers’ problems and dreams, you must diversify how and where you look. That’s why I introduce in my new book ‘Breaking Innovation Barriers’ the ‘Four Ways of Looking’, a new model, originally developed by Louis Barsoux, Michael Wade, and Cyril Bouquet. It involves two main approaches: improve your vision of mainstream users and challenge your vision by looking at unconventional users. 1. The Microscope Strategy. By zooming in on the experiences of your mainstream users you can identify unsurfaced needs through regular focus groups, interviews, or questionnaires. You step into a role of an anthropologist to understand the passions, frustrations, needs, and wants of your users. 2. The Panorama Strategy. By this way of looking, you can find unmet needs of mainstream users by looking at aggregated data, such as errors, complaints, and accidents, that amplify weak signals. Digital tools make it much easier to observe the behaviour of large numbers of individuals. The ‘big data’ needed can be collected from multiple sources like apps and smartphones and can be analysed for trends. 3. The Telescope Strategy. With this strategy you study fringe users, extreme users, nonusers, or even misusers. Demands from small niches are often dismissed as irrelevant. But when you zoom in on users at the periphery, you might uncover pain points that are relevant to the masses too, especially when they are lead users. 4. The Kaleidoscope Strategy. You can also look at distant groups together and find similarities that show unmet needs. It’s like spotting patterns in a kaleidoscope. The challenge, especially for managers in established companies, is to think beyond the usual groups like suppliers, distributors, and competitors. Make use of digital tools and AI to quickly analyse masses of data and identify patterns. Use this new model to diversify you way of finding new unmet customer needs. #customerneeds #jobstobedone #innovation #customerinsights

Today's episode will make you better at developing a strategy, and evaluating other people's strategies. Roger Martin is one of the world’s most sought-after experts on strategy, and the author of "Playing to Win", one of the most popular (and most actionable) books on learning the art of strategy. He’s written extensively for the Harvard Business Review; consulted for dozens of Fortune 500 companies, including P&G, Lego, and Ford; and written 11 other books on strategy, leadership, and clear thinking. In our conversation, we cover: 🔸 The five key questions you need to answer to develop an effective strategy 🔸 How most companies get strategy wrong 🔸 How to avoid “playing to play” instead of playing to win 🔸 Real-world strategy examples from Figma, Lego, Procter & Gamble, and Southwest Airlines 🔸 Why you need to either differentiate or be the lowest cost 🔸 Shortcomings of current strategy education 🔸 Much more Listen now 👇 - YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gTyPQZus - Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gKWWm-Fp - Apple: https://lnkd.in/gCing92Q Some key takeaways: 1. Strategy is an integrated set of choices that compels a desired customer action. 2. Great strategists aren’t born; they’re made through practice. Even if you see yourself as more operational than strategic, remember that strategy is a skill that anyone can develop over time. Just like any skill, it improves with practice. 3. To win in business, you must be either a low-cost provider or differentiated. If you’re neither, competitors can “bully” you and take market share. Two questions can help you figure out whether you’re winning in these ways. First, could you match competitor price decreases and remain more profitable than them? If not, you’re not a low-cost provider. Second, could customers essentially flip a coin between you and a competitor? If so, you’re not differentiated enough. 4. Use the Strategy Choice Cascade to define and implement effective business strategies. This framework consists of five essential questions: a. What is our winning aspiration? Clarify what you aim to achieve with your strategy. This guides all subsequent decisions and actions toward a clear objective. b. Where will we play? Select specific markets, segments, or niches where you will compete. Focus is crucial; trying to be everywhere can dilute effectiveness. c. How will we win? Determine your competitive advantage. You must either offer customers superior value or operate at a lower cost than competitors in your chosen areas. d. What capabilities must be in place to win? Identify and build capabilities that are critical for executing your chosen strategy effectively. These should be distinctive strengths that set you apart from competitors. e. What management systems are required to ensure the capabilities are in place?

As I meet more people, especially budding tech founders, a recurring question is about leveraging partnerships as a revenue channel. One key aspect that often stands out in these discussions is identifying the right partner. The right partnership can provide up to 80% leverage in your ROI by aligning perfectly with your goals and capabilities. Consider the example of a health tech startup partnering with a large hospital chain. By integrating their cutting-edge telemedicine platform with the hospital's extensive network, the startup was able to provide virtual health services to a vast number of patients. This partnership enabled the startup to scale rapidly and gain credibility in the healthcare market, while the hospital chain could offer innovative services to their patients without developing the technology in-house. To help identify the right partner, I recommend using a simple framework like the "PARTNER" scoring model: - 'P'urpose Alignment: Do your missions and goals align? - 'A'ccess to Market: Can they help you reach new or larger markets? - 'R'esource Complementarity: Do they offer resources you lack and vice versa? - 'T'rust and Reliability: Can you trust them to deliver consistently? - 'N'etwork Synergy: Do their connections and networks benefit you? - 'E'conomic Benefit: Is the partnership financially advantageous? - 'R'eputation: Does partnering with them enhance your brand image? By scoring potential partners on these criteria, you can identify the one that offers the best strategic fit and highest potential for ROI. #B2BPartnerships #TechFounders #BusinessGrowth #StrategicAlliances image - courtesy to Freepik

Partnerships (like the recently announced $7Bn one with Blackstone) enable data center giant Digital Realty to grow faster. The global data center industry is seeing an explosion in customer demand and by extension, capital looking to invest in the asset class. I found this interview with CEO Andrew (Andy) P. Power illuminating on multiple strategic topics: 1. AI is a real driver of demand AI is not a fad and will be a wind in the sails of the sector a long time. In the long term, he envisages a world where new workloads go 50/50 between GPUs and CPUs. 2. Partnerships will increase “runway of growth.” Digital Realty has announced a range of partnerships around the world with "passive, capital partners" including: - Blackstone for sites in Europe and the US - 500 MW of IT load across Frankfurt, Paris and Northern Virginia - GI Partners in Chicago - TPG in Virginia These allow Digital Realty to recycle capital and do more with its balance sheet, earn fees for its expertise from these partnerships with deep pools of capital and leverage its land bank. “We can buy larger land banks, have longer inventory runways, and really future-proof our customers’ growth.” How does he think about "strategic" partners? "We have a view that we're very good at delivering for our customers the design, build operations of data center, and connectivity infrastructure. But we also are very sure that this is a very localized business. And there are certain parts of the world where we just feel we're better partnering with different capital sources or strategic partners.” That’s not a new idea, he says: “It’s our heritage. When we went to Japan we initially went alone, and then we ultimately entered into a partnership with Mitsubishi called MC Digital Realty that we own 50/50.” “The Indian market is tremendously large and we really wanted someone with boots on the ground and a deep enterprise outreach in the Indian market,” he says - referring to the partnership with Indian giant Reliance Industries Limited and Brookfield. He describes these as “strategic partnerships,” where Digital brings the data center expertise, and “our partners are not only bringing capital and ownership, but they're bringing extensions of our salesforce and supply chain, and local know-how. 3. Choosing *where* to play - wholesale colo or the cloud Both. Catering to the full spectrum, he thinks there are benefits of colocation close to the cloud. 4. The road to net zero Bringing new renewable energy to the grid is a priority. 5. Diversity and skills “we've tapped into numerous employee resource groups, be it veterans groups, diversity groups, to bring more talent into the pool.” He reckons he can learn from being with different kinds of people: “When I somewhat reconstituted the leadership team here, it included a mix of internal promotions, and outside talent, with a diversity of backgrounds, international and domestic. Different folks bring more to the table.”

My Favorite Analyses: Conjoint Analysis Let’s talk about conjoint analysis, a valuable tool for businesses seeking to understand consumer decision-making. Rather than asking consumers what they want, this approach goes further by revealing the trade-offs people are willing to make and at what cost. What is conjoint analysis? Conjoint analysis examines how customers make decisions when faced with options. It presents various product combinations and asks for choices, helping businesses understand what their target audience values and how much they are willing to pay for it. For example, a conjoint analysis for smartphones may present customers with the choice of two different options to choose from: Smartphone A: 24-hour battery, 24 MP camera, $700 price, Apple brand Smartphone B: 18-hour battery, 48 MP camera, $900 price, Samsung brand Conjoint analysis imitates real-life decision-making situations and can be applied to a range of industries and products. Data is commonly collected through surveys, with respondents selecting between 8-12 sets of product profiles. The more choices they make, the better we understand their priorities for each attribute. How Is The Analysis Conducted? The first step in analyzing survey results is determining what is called “partworths” and evaluating the relative importance of each attribute. Partworths quantify how each element of a product is valued (as the name implies, it expresses how much each PART of a product is WORTH to a consumer). Statistical models are used to calculate partworths, and we will typically rely on a good R package to do the heavy statistical lifting once the data has been collected and cleaned. Next, we must assess the significance of each attribute by examining their partworth ranges. A larger range indicates greater impact on consumer choice, while a smaller range suggests that the element is more of an expectation for consumers than a differentiating product feature. What Does Conjoint Analysis Tell Us? Conjoint analysis provides valuable insights into customer preferences, including the relative importance of product attributes and how much customers are willing to pay for specific features. It helps businesses tailor their products and pricing to maximize customer satisfaction and revenue. Marriott used conjoint analysis to design its Courtyard brand for business travelers, while the Portland Trail Blazers used it to create ticket packages that appealed to fans and increased revenue. Whether developing a new product or making decisions about an existing one, conjoint analysis ensures choices are based on real customer preferences, not assumptions. Art+Science Analytics Institute | University of Notre Dame | University of Notre Dame - Mendoza College of Business | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | University of Chicago | D'Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University | ELVTR | Grow with Google - Data Analytics #Analytics

Most entrepreneurs chase the top 5 million consumers. But what if the real gold lies in 115 million households nobody's talking about it.  India's consumer landscape tells a powerful story:  5 million households with premium durables (cars, ACs, laptops) versus  115 million with basic essentials (two-wheelers, TVs, fridges). This NCCS data exposes more than numbers; it reveals untapped potential in serving aspiring households ready for their next lifestyle upgrade. Here's how this data should shape your market approach: → Target the underserved: While competitors fight for 5M premium households, there's untapped potential in 115M households planning their next upgrade. Study their buying patterns and understand their aspirations. → Build upgrade bridges: Create products that bridge basic and premium segments. Each step up-from two-wheeler to car, TV to smart TV is a market opportunity. Design clear upgrade paths. → Expand beyond metros: Premium buyers cluster in metros, but the real scale lies in Tier 2–3 cities. Build distribution that reaches aspiring households where they are. Price products for their transition journey. → Speak their language: Skip the premium pitch. Focus on practical value. Your message should connect with their immediate needs while acknowledging their growth ambitions. Success in India's market isn't about numbers alone. It's about enabling 115 million households on their upgrade journey. Winners will be brands that bridge the gap between aspirations and affordability. How are you bridging this market gap?

Strategic Partnerships in Luxury: A Game-Changer Strategic partnerships have become transformative alliances in the luxury industry, redefining brand value, market influence, and the consumer experience. When done right, these collaborations don’t just elevate a brand’s status—they also pave the way for long-term growth and innovation. Why Strategic Partnerships Matter in Luxury: 1) Market Expansion: Collaborations open doors to new demographics and markets, helping brands expand their global presence. 2) Shared Expertise: Combining strengths allows for unique innovations that truly resonate with discerning consumers. 3) Elevated Brand Prestige: Partnerships with complementary brands enhance credibility and amplify exclusivity. Real-Life Examples of Successful Luxury Partnerships: - Apple x Hermès: This iconic collaboration merges Apple’s cutting-edge technology with Hermès’ artisanal craftsmanship. The result? The Apple Hermès watch—a masterful blend of elegance and functionality. - Loro Piana & Mytheresa: Loro Piana brought its timeless sophistication to a wider audience through curated collections on the premium e-commerce platform Mytheresa. - The Row & Oliver Peoples: Their partnership produced understated yet luxurious eyewear collections that perfectly align with the values of “quiet luxury.” Of course, the road to a successful partnership isn’t always smooth. Misaligned values, unclear objectives, or cultural differences can derail even the most exciting ventures. That’s why thoughtful planning is key: - Align with partners who share your values and vision. - Define clear, mutually beneficial goals. - Be culturally attuned to ensure seamless collaboration. Luxury thrives on authenticity and exclusivity. Partnerships should enhance the story of both brands, creating a synergy that inspires and captivates audiences. If you’re thinking about elevating your brand strategy through impactful collaborations, let’s connect. Together, we can craft a strategy that unlocks new opportunities and drives sustainable growth. Ready to take the next step? #LuxuryStrategy #StrategicPartnerships #LuxuryMarketing #BusinessGrowth #BrandInnovation

The Power of Partnerships: Building Connections That Drive Startup Success 🤝 Hi everyone! Ankita here, excited to discuss how strategic partnerships can unlock incredible opportunities for startups. In today’s competitive environment, the right collaborations aren’t just helpful—they’re essential for scaling, innovating, and making an impact. Why Partnerships Are a Game-Changer With the right strategies, partnerships can transform the way startups grow, adapt, and thrive. Let’s dive into how startups can leverage meaningful collaborations: 🌟 Breaking Into New Markets Strategic partnerships help startups navigate unfamiliar markets faster and more effectively. Tip: Work with local businesses or organizations with established networks to gain market-specific insights and reduce entry barriers. 🌟 Innovating Through Collaboration Collaborating with complementary startups or established players can spark creative solutions and refine ideas. Tip: Pilot projects are a great way to test co-created innovations before scaling up. 🌟 Learning and Scaling with Mentors Partnerships with industry veterans or advisors bring invaluable expertise and open up new avenues for growth. Tip: Align with mentors who understand your vision and can provide guidance rooted in experience. 🌟 Enhancing Customer Experience Joint ventures with companies offering complementary services can elevate the overall customer journey. Tip: Co-develop solutions that add value for customers, creating a seamless experience. 🌟 Boosting Brand Visibility Collaborations with trusted brands amplify credibility and broaden reach. Tip: Explore co-marketing campaigns or events that position your startup alongside a respected name in your field. 🌟 Streamlining Operations Sharing resources like infrastructure or technology with partners can reduce costs while maintaining quality. Tip: Identify shared goals where combining efforts enhances efficiency for all parties involved. 🌟 Driving Social Impact Collaborating with mission-aligned organizations enables startups to amplify their contributions to societal challenges. Tip: Focus on partnerships that balance purpose and profit to create lasting impact. Moving Forward Together Startups grow stronger through collaboration. By building meaningful partnerships, we can share resources, exchange ideas, and collectively create more value. A well-planned partnership strategy isn’t just an advantage—it’s a catalyst for growth. 💬 What partnerships have shaped your startup journey? Let’s share ideas and learn from one another! #StartupGrowth #PartnershipsMatter #Collaboration #SharedSuccess #StartupStrategy