Published by De Gruyter

Inspiring the Next Game

Strategy Ideas for Forward Looking Leaders

Edited by: Martin Reeves

ISSN: 2701-8857

e-ISSN 2701-8865

Overview
Volumes

The Inspiring the Next Game series is a set of perspectives on emerging themes in business from the BCG Henderson Institute, the strategy think tank of Boston Consulting Group.

Strategy is by definition a changing art: strategy is about generating competitive advantage, but what it takes to create advantage is always evolving. This is especially true today, when the business environment is changing rapidly and causing similarly rapid change in the demands on companies.

Leaders need not only new strategies but new ways of thinking about strategy. This series takes a broad view of strategy, reflecting the multifaceted imperatives that leaders face. It goes beyond the static view of classical strategy and explores the dynamic side of strategy that is necessary for a complex, uncertain context. And it goes beyond the traditional role of the strategy function to explore implications in other areas, such as technology, organizational design, and management and leadership broadly.

The BCG Henderson Institute is dedicated to creating ideas and inspiration that will help forward-looking leaders shape their next game. This series will draw on the work of dozens of BHI Fellows, Ambassadors and collaborators to develop new, valuable new insights from business, science, technology, economics and society.

Topics

Book 2022

The Rise of AI-Powered Companies

François Candelon, Martin Reeves

More Cite

Artificial intelligence is emerging as a game-changer in the business world, with impacts across all sectors. AI allows business to process massive amounts of data instantaneously, and to scale solutions at almost zero marginal cost, forcing companies to adapt and reimagine their business and operations.

The Rise of AI-Powered Companies examines some of the most successful examples of companies using artificial intelligence to their advantage. From AI-enabled countries across the globe that stayed resilient and strong in the face of COVID-19, to Business-to-Consumer businesses that transformed their product development processes thanks to unprecedented amounts of consumer data, increasing their revenues manifold along the way.

The book then delves into the critical enablers to becoming AI-powered and the critical steps to activate and integrate them within business organizations. Starting with data strategy, it examines new forms of data sharing and how companies should think about governance and privacy risks. It then focuses on human–AI collaboration and its role in building a stronger team culture. Finally, "Responsible AI" is discussed as well as the impact of AI-powered businesses on society at large.

AI-powered companies will become the norm in the years to come. By unpacking and showcasing the major steps of a successful AI transformation, this book will help guide organizations in making the critical leap to become AI-powered—essential to survive and remain competitive in the near future.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110775112
ISBN:: 9783110775112
ISBN:: 9783110775099
ISBN:: 9783110775198
Subject:: Business and Economics
Subject:: Business Management
Subject:: Management, Organization, Corporate Governance
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2022

Business Ecosystems

Martin Reeves, Ulrich Pidun

More Cite

A business ecosystem may be defined as a dynamic group of largely independent economic players that create products or services that together constitute a coherent solution for customers. Business ecosystems are high on the agenda of many business leaders. They are now highly prevalent, frequently disruptive, and all companies should add the required capabilities to their strategy toolbox.

Business Ecosystems is based on more than three years of research by the BCG Henderson Institute, their work with dozens of companies on their ecosystem strategies, and hundreds of conversations with academics, managers, investors, entrepreneurs, and government employees. Part I reviews the fundamentals of business ecosystems – definition, design, success factors, governance, strategies. Part II elaborates on special topics, such as trust and data, industry applications, and their potential for sustainability.

Ecosystems might not be a solution for all problems, but they are also not a transitory phenomenon. The field is evolving fast and as the success factors for creating, managing and participating in business ecosystems are increasingly accepted and understood, many established and emerging companies have the opportunity to put themselves in a position to unlock great innovation and value creation potential by engaging in ecosystem business models. This book will support business professionals and executives on this journey.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110775167
ISBN:: 9783110775167
ISBN:: 9783110775228
ISBN:: 9783110775044
Subject:: Business and Economics
Subject:: Business Management
Subject:: Management, Organization, Corporate Governance
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2022

New Leadership Imperatives

Martin Reeves, François Candelon

More Cite

Leaders and their organizations do not operate in a vacuum but both influence and are influenced by the environment. Today's business organizations are fast moving, uncertain, politicized, sustainability challenged and technologically fluid. This business climate requires new approaches to leadership. Some leaders will rise to the occasion, while others will struggle to adapt.

New Leadership Imperatives explores the new challenges of leadership and discusses how leaders can help their organizations to successfully adapt to new conditions. Drawing on lessons from various fields—from military to sports to psychology and neuroscience—this book delves into the challenges leaders face, ranging from social polarization to geopolitical instability.

This book aims to guide leaders in making the right choices for their teams, their organizations, their stakeholders, and society as a whole.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110775174
ISBN:: 9783110775174
ISBN:: 9783110775204
ISBN:: 9783110775082
Subject:: Business and Economics
Subject:: Business Management
Subject:: Management, Organization, Corporate Governance
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2021

Dynamic Business Strategy

Competing in a Fast-changing, Uncertain Context

Martin Reeves, François Candelon

More Cite

The playing field for business has changed significantly in recent decades. The pace of change is accelerating, driven by increased technological progress and shrinking business lifespans. Economic and political uncertainty has risen dramatically and is likely to remain at elevated levels. Industry boundaries are blurring, increasing the potential paths to competitive disruption.

Strategy is not dead—in fact, as the gap between winners and losers within industries continues to grow, it is more important than ever. However, the playbook needs to be reinvented for today’s business environment. Classical sources of competitive advantage, such as scale and differentiation, have not gone away, but they have been complemented by new dimensions of competition.　

This book discusses the new role of strategy in a dynamic, unpredictable context. Part 1 of this book revisits classical strategy frameworks and what changes should be made to apply them to the modern era. Part 2 discusses new strategic capabilities companies need today, such as adapting to uncertain environments and shaping new or disrupted ones. Part 3 examines the expanding boundaries of strategy, including new competitive imperatives as well as the wider range of timescales on which businesses must now operate.

Drawing on the work of the BCG Henderson Institute and its fellows and ambassadors over several years, Dynamic Strategy will help business professionals as well as academics and students with an interest in strategy understand the new competitive challenges that businesses face and develop a playbook to address them.

Events around the book

Link to a De Gruyter Online Event in which Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, talks about successful business strategies in turbulent times:
https://youtu.be/84YE4DBdQpo

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110755381
ISBN:: 9783110755381
ISBN:: 9783110755275
ISBN:: 9783110755503
Subject:: Business and Economics
Subject:: Business Management
Subject:: Management, Organization, Corporate Governance
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2021

The Resilient Enterprise

Thriving amid Uncertainty

Martin Reeves, François Candelon

More Cite

The Covid-19 crisis caused massive disruptions to businesses around the world. Many were caught unprepared by the pandemic, putting some in danger of collapse. But not all were equally affected—some emerged from the crisis in a position of advantage. Research on corporate performance over decades shows that the dispersion between companies consistently increases in times of crisis. In other words, resilience to unexpected shocks has a disproportionate impact on long-term competitive advantage.

Furthermore, ongoing trends are making it harder for businesses to sustain success over time. New offerings are being adopted, matched, and made obsolete faster, and competitive advantage is becoming less durable. In order to survive in the long run, businesses must reinvent themselves regularly—doing the same thing over and over will eventually lead to failure.

Many business leaders are now expressing an intention to make their companies more resilient, but there is not yet a well-codified playbook for doing so. This book, drawing on research from the BCG Henderson Institute over many years, provides a set of perspectives on how to thrive under adverse conditions and how to reinvent businesses for the changing context. Overcoming both of these challenges is necessary for leaders to build long-lasting companies.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110745511
ISBN:: 9783110745511
ISBN:: 9783110745382
ISBN:: 9783110745573
Subject:: Business and Economics
Subject:: Business Management
Subject:: Management, Organization, Corporate Governance
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2021

Winning the ’20s

A Leadership Agenda for the Next Decade

Martin Reeves, Kevin Whitaker

More Cite

Over the past decade, businesses have faced relentless change on multiple dimensions, and the list of the world’s largest companies has changed enormously. The keys to success are likely to be just as different for the new decade. Winning the ’20s analyzes the new competitive environment that businesses face and outlines what will it take to win in the 2020s.

To stay ahead of the trends that are reshaping business, leaders need to rethink existing assumptions and retool their companies. Both traditional incumbents and younger digital giants will face very different but equally critical challenges in the 2020s—and would do well to learn from each other’s strengths.

This book discusses the new dimensions of competition that will affect corporate strategy in the next decade and how leaders can reinvent their organizations to be better suited for the new environment. The companies that succeed in the 2020s will look very different than they do today—they will have evolved their businesses to harness new technologies and reshaped their external relationships, organizations, and approaches accordingly.

Winning the ’20s will help business professionals as well as academics and students with an interest in strategy and leadership answer this critical question for the start of this decade: How should you prepare your company to avoid being left behind and emerge as a winner in a rapidly evolving business landscape?

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110730067
ISBN:: 9783110730067
ISBN:: 9783110730111
ISBN:: 9783110735031
Subject:: Business and Economics
Subject:: Business Management
Subject:: Management, Organization, Corporate Governance
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2021

Mastering the Science of Organizational Change

Martin Reeves, Kevin Whitaker

More Cite

As the business context evolves more rapidly, driven by accelerating technological, political, and social change, an increasing strategic priority for business leaders is how to enact large-scale organizational change. Even companies that are current industry leaders are vulnerable to disruption. Company leaders need to watch over their shoulder for—and transform the company in anticipation of—the next disruption.

Mastering the Science of Organizational Change summarizes the work of the BCG Henderson Institute and its fellows and ambassadors over several years to develop a more scientific approach to change. Hundreds of companies are analyzed in the book’s discussion on how to beat the odds in large-scale change management using an evidence-based approach—a large-scale analysis of what approaches actually work in which circumstances.

Part 1 of the book reviews the imperatives for self-disruption. The second part elaborates on how to manage the process of change. Finally, Part 3 discusses how organizations can take change to the next level.

Events around the book

Link to a De Gruyter online event in which, Martin Reeves, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute, will share lessons on how to develop a more scientific approach to change including how to self disrupt, how to manage the process of change, and how organizations can take change to the next level:
https://youtu.be/TfzFllmL4Cg

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110697834
ISBN:: 9783110697834
ISBN:: 9783110697940
ISBN:: 9783110697711
Subject:: Business and Economics
Subject:: Business Management
Subject:: Management, Organization, Corporate Governance
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2023

Sustainable Business Model Innovation

David Young, Martin Reeves

More Cite

Reimagining business models is a tall order for any management team, and especially so in today’s business landscape of continual disruptive change. Having examined hundreds of businesses over the course of their research, the BCG Henderson Institute has developed a systematic approach for reimagining business models for economic and social sustainability, creating new modes of differentiation and advantage, embedding societal value into products and services, managing new performance measures, and reshaping business ecosystems to support these initiatives.

This book explores the why, what, and how of sustainable business model innovation (SBM-I) – a new method by which corporations can optimize for both business and social value using their core businesses to deliver the financial returns expected by their owners and, in tandem, to help society meet its most significant challenges. It details the SBM-I innovation cycle linking to value creation and scaled transformation, and expands the application of SBM-I to sustainable business ecosystems and corporate lead sustainability alliances.

Sustainable Business Model Innovation offers inspiration and guidance to create more competitive and sustainable companies. Your company's future, our environment, and society depend on doing so.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111295268
ISBN:: 9783111295268
ISBN:: 9783111295954
ISBN:: 9783111294896
Subject:: Business and Economics
Subject:: Business Management
Subject:: Management, Organization, Corporate Governance
Subject:: Business Development, Change Management, Cooperation
Publisher:: De Gruyter