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INTRODUCTION

DEAR READER,

Welcome to “Strategy Design Innovation“!

It looks like the title caught your attention and encouraged you to read on. Let us now try to justify this attention and to keep it high, without wasting time …

The author of this book and his co-authors will use this introduction for the following purposes:

1	explain the general situation and the authors’ intention,
2	outline our main objectives,
3	list the respective target groups,
4	introduce ourselves, briefly,
5	adress words of thanks to those who supported us,
6	describe the intended and expected benefits.

General situation and the authors’ intention

The world that surrounds us is characterized by impressive progress on the one hand, e.g. in the medical sector, in tele-communication, in digitalization or in mobility. On the other hand, considerable influences come from a dramatic increase in complexity and uncertainty, e.g. increasing number of political conflicts, escalation and polarization, progress of global warming and migration. In our perception this increasing complexity is a huge challenge to anyone who needs to create, analyze and develop business strategies, because they need to cope with all these changes in their environment. And, as we learned from Michael Porter: “Strategy is the act of aligning a company and its environment.” With this book, it is our intention to provide orientation and guidance to better achieve this goal, in rough times.

Main objectives of the book

What is in scope, what is out of scope? Our main objective is not to just present a comprehensive overview of today‘s strategic methodologies, tools and processes. Our main objective is rather to offer a flexible and effective system and tools that enable and help readers to design and innovate effective strategies.

This is what led us to the title “Strategy Design Innovation“. Key points are

— to offer a flexible and effective system and model in the shape of a workbook, based on the authors‘ ample experience of 500+ business cases and driven by a problem-solving attitude.

— to offer and describe a scalable system, applicable both to global corporations and to SMEs.

— to use selected established methods and tools from various sources, as well as methods and tools recently developed and combine them, adding new insights.

— to use established terms, wherever possible, to ensure fast and effective communication, understandable around the world.

— to use a structure allowing to read and proceed page by page, but also to jump from topic to topic, connecting insights.

— to strive for continuous improvement and development both of this workbook (from edition to edition), using all kinds of sources, including feedback from our readers.

Target groups of the book

Here are seven questions you can use to check whether this book will offer value to you and to your personal management challenges:

— Are you striving to create orientation for your entrepreneurial team?

— Do you see a need to understand the developments of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity in your business environment?

— Are you challenged by innovative competitors threatening your strategic position?

— Do you feel the need to create tangible advantages for your customers in order to win the competitive game?

— Are you trying to do your best to engage people inside and outside your company?

— Are you searching for a smart way of implementing your business concepts?

— Do you intend to set up a targeted navigation system for your journey toward success?

In terms of ‘groups of people with common interests’, we primarily think of the following ones:

— Entrepreneurs: people who need to innovate their businesses, in a challenging environment

— Intrapreneurs: executives and managers who are responsible for developing their business units with a clear strategic fit, in a global environment

— Consultants: experts who support managers on their way towards success

— Founders and start-up-teams: people who drive innovation and launch new businesses

— Investors: enablers who need to analyze the potential for value creation of a specific strategy design

— Students, graduates, practitioners and MBAs: people who are preparing for their future roles in business

GENERALLY SPEAKING:

people who are interested in designing and innovating business strategies.

„

About the authors

The author‘s and co-authors‘ mission and interest over the past 20 years concentrated on the question of how to create, analyze and develop innovative and successful business strategies, in all kinds of organizations, from small to large and global, both profit and nonprofit organizations.

Our mission and interest in short: how to create successful business by practising “Strategy Design Innovation“, as we call it in this book.

Which areas do we come from?

— from various responsibilities: strategic and operational business, teaching at universities and business academies, consulting, designing and running workshops, start-up coaching etc.

— from different roles: entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, university professors in the field of Business Administration, managers and lecturers in global corporate academies, independent consultants etc.

If you want to know more about the author and co-authors, please, take a look at the profiles, at the end of this book.

Words of thanks to those who supported us

We would like to express our gratitude and say a special word of thanks to all those who have contributed to the development of “Strategy Design Innovation“: most of all to our customers as well as their partners and employees (workshop participants) with whom we had the pleasure to work on more than 500 cases over the last 20 years. Second, to our colleagues who have always been available for a fruitful exchange of ideas and a discussion of the strategic issues. And – last but not least – to our students who were among the first to get to know these concepts, to work with them, challenge them and provide feedback.

Finally, we are grateful to those who decided not only to study our Strategy Design Innovation model and Strategy Design Toolbox, but also to implement it in their real-life business environment, where they practise and share it with their colleagues, partners and customers.

Intended and expected benefits of this book

Since the main objective is to offer a flexible and effective system and model that enables and helps readers to practise Strategy Design Innovation, the main benefits we provide will be:

— You will acquire (and/or enhance) the ability to design and innovate (business) strategies along with the process of Strategy Design Innovation

— You will learn to do so by following a guided procedure, in combination with a toolbox called Strategy Design Toolbox

— You will apply business model patterns and test the results in the agile process of Strategy Design Modelling

— These approaches will give you security, reliability and flexibility, in your Strategy Design Projects.

Our practical experience shows that there is unfortunately no guarantee that a Strategy Design will be successful, but there is a very high probability to get things right, if you follow this path, because

— You will have done the maximum to systematically include whoever and whatever it takes to design and innovate your strategy.

— You will have done this based on a model that did fulfil expectations in so many cases and circumstances.

— You will have done the maximum to systematically avoid traps and errors.

Please, come, apply and see for yourself!

Robert G. Wittmann	Matthias P. Reuter
Author and designer	Michael Jünger
	Norbert Alexy
Augsburg, October 2019	Co-creators