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The New-Market Conundrum

Rory McDonald and Kathleen Eisenhardt | page 096

Brand-new markets are like the wormholes of science fiction, where the usual rules of time and space do not apply. When a market has just been born, the forces of competition there are constantly in flux, it’s unclear who your customers really are, and conventional strategies just don’t make sense. How then can you navigate this constantly shifting terrain?

Over the past few years, two business school professors have interviewed entrepreneurs and corporate innovators in new fields such as genomics, augmented reality, and fintech. They discovered that the most successful ones practice something called “parallel play,” exploring and testing the world the way preschoolers do. Instead of trying to differentiate their businesses, they observe what others in the market are doing and borrow ideas. After relentless experimentation, they commit to a single template for creating value. But rather than quickly optimizing that template, they leave it partially undetermined and pause, watch, and wait. As they gather serendipitous insights and the market begins to settle, they refine their models bit by bit.

HBR Reprint R2003D

The Case for a Chief of Staff

Dan Ciampa | page 106

New CEOs are typically focused on creating and implementing a strategy, building a top team, and driving culture change. Optimizing administrative workflow may not seem to be a priority. But a former CEO who now advises boards argues that many chief executives need a chief of staff (CoS)—someone who goes beyond the executive assistant role to help the office function smoothly. According to one CoS, the role encompasses being an air traffic controller for the leader and the senior team, an integrator connecting work streams that would otherwise remain siloed, a communicator linking the leadership team and the broader organization, an honest broker when the leader needs a wide-ranging view without turf considerations, and a confidant. In this article Ciampa outlines what a CoS does, the qualities one needs to succeed, and the ways companies typically design the role (with varying levels of responsibility) to help make a CEO more focused and productive.

HBR Reprint R2003G

Discovery-Driven Digital Transformation

Rita McGrath and Ryan McManus | page 114

The huge threat posed by digital technologies and models throws many established companies into a panic. In response, they often make big, bet-the-farm moves that fail badly. It’s much wiser to take an incremental approach to digital transformation, say McGrath and McManus. Building on a technique McGrath helped develop in the 1990s—discovery-driven planning—the two advise executives at traditional firms to take things step-by-step. Rather than attempting an all-or-nothing pivot, incumbents should exploit their greater resources and knowledge and explore a variety of ideas at once. By continually finding ways to fix problems with digital technology, testing and refining assumptions about what works, getting new information, and minimizing risks, they can learn their way gradually toward an effective digital response.

Consider Best Buy’s strategy for striking back at Amazon. Best Buy overhauled its processes so that it could cut costs and match prices; turned its stores into an asset by allowing online orders to be picked up there (avoiding delivery headaches); charged brands fees to be in ministores within its outlets; and built a staff of tech consultants who strengthened customer relationships.

HBR Reprint R2003J