Our client is a leading nutrition added value ingredient supplier, a Bn$ strategic business unit of a global chemical leader. With a macro-planning horizon of 10 years, the client wishes to distill how to deal with potential disruptions within the feed industry, its value chain, consumption behaviors, legislation, adjacent industries (veterinary, breeding, mixing technologies,…). The client selected Venture Spirit as best-in-class against some of the most reputed agencies in the market.
The objectives of the mission are threefold:
Create a collective intelligence, both outside-in and inside-out to identify most likely disruptions (both technical and commercial) incl. relevant trigger points
Develop the key strategic elements how to address these disruptions and leverage them to safeguard existing and generate additional business for the BU
Create an implementation concept of a continuous watchguard to implement the priorities and monitor closely identified change triggers in the ecosystem
To meet the expectations, Venture Spirit developed an unconventional iterative approach using monthly sprints, outlined as follows:
Sprint 0: understanding ‘disruption’ – dynamics & how to deal with them
Sprint 1: create longlist of 40+ potential disruptions in entire ecosystem, prioritized in 9 deep dives
Sprint 2: for priority potential disruptions, generation & collection of ~100 potential business innovation opportunities through gamification
Sprint 3: elaborate in-depth most promising strategic disruptive innovation options for the BU
Sprint 4: integrate in overall BU (disruptive) innovation strategy
Sprint 5: finetune conclusions, land required resource scenario and implementation roadmap
Sprint 6: executive management validation, customer/market validation
“Using gamification dynamics really made the difference to create buy-in, awareness & novel insights. It was a fun, engaging experience, with immediate, tangible ROI” - VP Strategy
Approach & results
Sprint 0: understanding ‘disruption’ – dynamics & how to deal with them through a scenario-based frame of forces reshaping the industry
Sprint 1: create longlist of 40+ potential disruptions in entire ecosystem, prioritized in 9 deep dives, through expert interviews & workshop (client, value chain, ecosystem), basic human needs, global megatrends, R&D/patent/VC/start-up/literature activity… Perform STEEP analysis, severity vs. probability analysis, segmentation in deep dives.
Sprint 2: for priority potential disruptions, perform deep dives (market evolution, inefficiencies, needs, technology impacts, consumer, interesting inspiration, first strategic options). Then launch 5 parallel online Inspiration Games with broad cross-functional audience (400), with specific challenge domains, e.g. Microbiome, Animal-free….
Sprint 3: elaborate in-depth most promising strategic disruptive innovation options in concise 1-pager format, answering: need, segments, value chain, technology, product/service idea, risks, chances, impact size (revenue by 2030), time horizon.
Sprint 4: integrate in an overall BU innovation strategy, clearly outlining the rationale behind the choices, the link with sustainable core competences, the purpose, the resulting portfolio, the business case & investment plan
Sprint 5: Present the strategy to BU executive management and finetune the conclusions based on management guidance, landing the resource requirements, and implementation roadmap.
Sprint 6: Present the entire strategy for the Division Board, to seek endorsement, validation and permission to validate with customers.
Benefits
Competition helped stimulate intrinsic motivation to participate and make a difference, op top of busy agenda
Anonymity in the gamification campaign helped overcome tough debates
Collective evaluation rules in the gamification helped prioritize options beyond beliefs and personal opinions
Blended consulting & gamification brought the outside-in debate of opportunities & threats on the table in a gentle, acceptable manner, in a conventional supply business & culture
“This was just great! With my inputs, the clear insights, I’m motivated to start implementing!” - Winning Core Team member Project Periscope