In “ Novas bases de vantagem competitiva , ”Argumentamos que o aumento da turbulência no ambiente de negócios invalidou uma suposição implícita e crítica da estratégia de negócios clássica: que a concorrência é suficientemente estável e previsível para que a base da vantagem competitiva seja facilmente determinada. As abordagens tradicionais para o planejamento estratégico se tornam inúteis em um mundo em que as principais variáveis = as principais variações são constantemente que a previsão é de uma previsão e a previsão estratégica. A volatilidade nas posições do mercado, a imprevisibilidade dos resultados e a ampliação do desempenho entre os vencedores e os perdedores. Os serviços. Empresa através de um processo de evolução gerenciada. Neste artigo, explicamos como a vantagem adaptativa pode ser aproveitada na prática. Eles podem ser alcançados por medidas estáticas, como previsão aprimorada, tomada de decisão descentralizada e buffer com excesso de capacidade, respectivamente. No entanto, para obter uma vantagem sustentável em um ambiente turbulento, as empresas devem empregar uma abordagem mais dinâmica e recursiva, na qual as estratégias de melhor ajuste evoluem continuamente em resposta à mudança. (Consulte o Anexo 1.)
We can distinguish three important dimensions of turbulence: volatility in market positions, unpredictability of outcomes, and the widening gap in performance between winners and losers. Most industries have experienced instability on at least one of these dimensions, but some—such as technology-driven industries and commercial banking—have been affected on all three. The hardest-hit industries are those that have been disproportionately affected by globalization, deregulation, digitalization, connectivity, deconstruction, and the shift from products to services. Most companies, and especially those in industries characterized by both unpredictability and a high rate of change, need a more adaptive and dynamic approach to strategy—an approach that emphasizes iterative experimentation in order to overcome the limitations of deductive approaches and keep pace with incessant change.
With such an approach, organizations gain adaptive advantage: the ability to achieve superior outcomes in a turbulent environment by continuously reshaping the enterprise through a process of managed evolution. In this article, we explain how adaptive advantage can be harnessed in practice.
Elements of Adaptive Advantage
Three attributes are essential for survival in a changing environment: readiness, responsiveness, and resilience. They can be achieved by static measures such as improved forecasting, decentralized decision-making, and buffering with excess capacity, respectively. However, to gain a sustainable advantage in a turbulent environment, companies must employ a more dynamic, recursive approach in which better-fitting strategies continuously evolve in response to change. (See Exhibit 1.)
Recursion occurs through a four-component iterative process comprising variation, selection, and amplification, with modulation at its center (VSAM).
Variação. A novidade é essencial para responder a um ambiente em mudança. Os métodos para alcançar a variação incluem inovação direcionada e modificação natural ou induzida de práticas internas. Responder a sinais do ambiente externo ou alavancar as capacidades inovadoras de partes interessadas externas também pode ser usado para gerar variação.
Seleção. As variações mais promissoras devem ser selecionadas através de mecanismos como portas de estágio e gerenciamento de portfólio, projetos piloto ou testes limitados e testes em escala completa realizados diretamente no mercado. alocação ou indiretamente, através da concorrência interna ou externa. Variation alone will not allow companies to adapt to a changing environment. The most promising variations must be selected through such mechanisms as stage gates and portfolio management, pilot projects or limited tests, and full-scale tests conducted directly in the marketplace.
Amplification. Selected variations must be scaled up, optimized, and, where appropriate, hard-wired into the routines and structures of the organization, either through a formal and deliberate process of resource allocation or indirectly, through internal or external competition.
Modulação. Ele molda e febre os outros três componentes do sistema adaptativo em resposta ao contexto ambiental e às metas e capacidades corporativas. A estratégia adaptativa é, portanto, bastante diferente da evolução biológica, na qual nenhuma vontade ou intenção abrangente está em ação. Modulation is the locus of strategic intent. It shapes and fine-tunes the other three components of the adaptive system in response to the environmental context and corporate goals and capabilities. Adaptive strategy is thus quite different from biological evolution, in which no overarching will or intention is at work.
Embora cada componente no loop VSAM possa parecer familiar, a abordagem adaptativa é diferente da estratégia clássica em vários aspectos fundamentais. Primeiro, funciona modulando o contexto a partir do qual surgem novas estratégias, em vez de especificar exatamente quais devem ser essas novas estratégias. Segundo, apaga amplamente a distinção entre planejamento e implementação, uma vez que estratégias bem -sucedidas emergem da prática e não da análise e do design. Portanto, a disciplina da estratégia adaptativa se concentra nas escolhas que uma empresa faz no loop VSAM, a fim de se adequar ao mecanismo adaptativo ao contexto ambiental. As opções se relacionam principalmente com quatro fatores:
Styles of Adaptive Strategy
As noted above, there are many ways of executing and modulating the activities of the VSAM loop. The choices relate principally to four factors:
- grau de proatividade. Sistema de negócios estendido? Do the adaptive mechanisms anticipate and shape change, or do they simply react effectively to it?
- Degree of Modification. Is adaptation directed merely at the level of products and processes or, more fundamentally, at the level of the business model or the extended business system?
- grau de exploração. resultado de colaboração ou concorrência interna ou externa? Existem quatro estilos amplos de estratégia adaptativa. (Consulte Anexo 2.) Is the focus on refining and exploiting a successful model, or on exploring new frontiers and possibilities?
- Degree of Intentionality. Are the adaptive mechanisms primarily analytical, structured, programmed, and deliberate, or do they emerge indirectly as a result of either internal or external collaboration or competition?
A company’s optimal choices are mainly a function of the environment—especially the rate at which it is changing, the predictability of change, and the degree of change required. There are four broad styles of adaptive strategy. (See Exhibit 2.)
O velocista. A varejista de moda Zara, por exemplo, concentra -se na criação de um ciclo de feedback rápido entre os dados de vendas de suas lojas e o design e a fabricação de novos produtos. Esse modelo permite que a empresa permaneça na vanguarda das tendências da moda sem ter que fazer grandes apostas sobre para onde as tendências estão indo. O McDonald's, por exemplo, usa um processo estruturado para projetar, testar e introduzir itens de menu, mantendo seu modelo de negócios abrangente inalterado. Isso permite evoluir junto com as preferências do cliente e ainda preservar a eficiência bem afiada do modelo de cozinha no núcleo de suas operações. A Virgin, por exemplo, gerencia sistematicamente um portfólio diversificado de negócios desafiantes, ampliando rapidamente os vencedores em potencial e desimpedando ou desligando os perdedores. In environments with only a moderate degree of both turbulence and required change, companies can focus on rapidly optimizing and exploiting existing business models to track an increasingly volatile environment. The fashion retailer Zara, for example, focuses on building a fast feedback cycle between sales data from its stores and the design and manufacture of new products. This model allows the company to stay at the forefront of fashion trends without having to make big bets on where the trends are headed.
The Experimenter. In environments where turbulence is high but the degree of change required is low, companies whose business models are fundamentally sound must nevertheless modify their product mix or other low-level aspects of their business through a process of iterative experimentation. McDonald’s, for example, uses a structured process to design, test, and introduce menu items while keeping its overarching business model unchanged. This enables it to evolve along with customer preferences and still preserve the well-honed efficiency of the kitchen model at the core of its operations.
The Migrator. In environments with moderate turbulence and a high degree of required change, companies must deliberately migrate their obsolescent business models or domains toward more attractive ones using a targeted and deliberate process. Virgin, for instance, systematically manages a diverse portfolio of challenger businesses by rapidly scaling up potential winners and cleanly divesting or shutting down losers.
The Voyager. In environments with a high degree of both turbulence and required change, companies need to deploy an exploratory approach to the business model or system. This can involve “live” tests with a mixed portfolio of competing business models and strategies, some of which may even be mutually contradictory.
Netflix, which has reinvented fundamental aspects of its business strategy and model several times in the extremely turbulent movie-rental business, is a good example of a voyager. It removed late fees (at one time a mainstay of industry profits) and is exploring video streaming on a variety of platforms, potentially cannibalizing its DVD-by-mail business in order to stay ahead of the competition. Netflix has succeeded in dominating and reshaping a chaotic industry in which less adaptive competitors have fared poorly.
Beginning the Journey
Adaptive advantage is a powerful concept for companies facing unstable environments. It involves not only different ways of operating but also very different ways of thinking about strategy. The first step in embracing adaptive advantage is therefore to create awareness of the challenges and opportunities presented by turbulence and unpredictability—and the adaptive choices available.
Leaders can begin the journey by asking their management teams to consider five basic questions:
How rapidly and fundamentally is the basis of advantage changing in our industry?
How effectively are we tracking, shaping, and adapting to these changes?
What is the cost of not adapting to change?
Which of the four styles of adaptive strategy—sprinter, experimenter, migrator, or voyager—would be most appropriate, given our environment and situation?
What practices, capabilities, or beliefs are bottle-necking our ability to embrace and deploy adaptive advantage?
We believe that adaptive advantage will increasingly supplement the traditional advantages of position and capability. Adaptive advantage is supported and complemented by five additional sources of advantage: signal advantage, systems advantage, social advantage, simulation advantage, and people advantage, which we will explore in forthcoming articles in this series.
