A new generation of business organizations is showing companies how to adapt to continuous technological and economic change.
From Alibaba to ZaoZao, Ashmei to Zidisha, Azuri and Zipcar, a new generation of businesses is rising out of the maelstrom of economic and technological change across our world. These are just a few of the companies shaking up our world. Over the last 12 months I have completed a huge research project to find the 100 companies, large and small, from every continent, that are changing our world … and how they do it.
Gamechangers are disruptive and innovative, start-ups and corporations, in every sector and region, reshaping our world. They are more ambitious, with stretching vision and enlightened purpose. They see markets as kaleidoscopes of infinite possibilities, assembling and defining them to their advantage. They find their own space, then shape it in their own vision. Most of all, they have great ideas. They outthink their competition, thinking bigger and different. They don’t believe in being slightly cheaper or slightly better. That is a short-term game of diminishing returns.
Why be 10 % better, when you could be 10 times better?
Gamechangers think and act differently. They fuse digital and physical, global and local, ideas and networks. They win by being smart, fast and connected –rather than through scale and efficiency. They capture their higher purpose in more inspiring brands that resonate with their target audiences at the right time and place, enabled by data and technology, but more through empathetic design and rich human experiences. Social networks drive reach and richness, whilst new business models make the possible profitable.
They collaborate with customers, and partner with other business, connecting ideas and utilizing their capabilities. They look beyond the sale to enable customers to achieve more; they care about their impact on people and the world. Ultimately they want to create a better world.
Peter Fisk. Visiting Professor. IE Business School