Guest Insights
Strategy Needs Creativity
Adam Brandenburger
Introduction
If you’re reading this, I’m probably either (a) at home or in the hospital with my wife and a baby girl or (b) outside on an errand for one of the two young women above. That said, I’m thrilled to be able to give you all a chance to hear from Prof. Adam Brandenburger and learn about strategy and creativity this week.
Adam Brandenburger (http://adambrandenburger.com/) holds appointments at New York University as J.P. Valles Professor at the Stern School of Business, Distinguished Professor at the Tandon School of Engineering, and Director of the NYU Shanghai Program on Creativity + Innovation. He was a professor at Harvard Business School from 1987 to 2002. He received his B.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Cambridge. Adam researches in the areas of game theory, information theory, and business strategy.
Instructions
Strategy professors use a variety of analytical tools in order to teach students. While these tools are useful, there is a certain disconnect when trying to apply them to innovating new ideas or prototypes. They work well for ‘mature’ businesses, but oftentimes can fall short of helping you think about a product within the scope of a new business or innovative area of thinking.
1. Porter’s 5 Forces Model
First, we’d like you to learn a bit about one of the more popular and prevalent holistic ways of thinking about an industry and understanding the structural drivers of profitability. Read and watch the following, as you do, think about how you might position your own, early-stage product within an industry. What types of challenges would you face? What information eludes you?
Now, watch Porter Explain the 5 forces model in his own words
Brandenburger’s 4 C’s Model
Read the following two articles by Prof. Brandenburger. As you read them, write down some of your answers to What pieces of conventional wisdom are ripe for contradiction?
For Next Week:
Individually:
Write short answers to the questions posed by each of the 4C’s.
- Contrast: What pieces of conventional wisdom are ripe for contradiction?
- Combination: How can you connect products or services that have traditionally been separate?
- Constraint: How can you turn limitations or liabilities into opportunities?
- Context: How can far-flung industries, ideas, or disciplines shed light on your most pressing problems?
Post these to the course application system by Monday morning.
Groups:
In your groups, think about how your product fits into each of the 4C’s, for example, what two products / services or features could you combine to add value to your product? What conventional wisdom can your product contradict and why?
- Design an A3 sized poster that communicates your strategy within each of the 4C’s. Highlight the one ‘C’ you feel could create the most opportunities. (For example, perhaps your product does not have an interface at all, and relies upon voice chat to operate it — this was the contrast that lead to one of Amazon’s most successful products, the Alexa).
