Executive Summary: While I previously shared a thought exercise (link) on the kind of capabilities Netflix can demonstrate against its competition, this post is about the hard work that goes into creating an organization where teams work in concert, and in diverse ways, to develop these competitive capabilities. From the Desk-of-George-Lucas-Theory-When-In-Doubt-Make-Star-Wars-Prequels.
Why am I talking about Netflix?
Three reasons.
1. Innovation:
Netflix has been called an innovator that leverages its investments into innovation effectively towards business capabilities.
2. Market Capabilities:
Recently, there was news about Netflix looking at original programming, that kicked off this thought exercise on innovation and tactics below:
http://randomjunkyramblings.blogspot.com/2011/03/innovation-and-tactics-series-netflix.html
3. Distinct Context:
Unlike the iPhone, Netflix has entered existing markets and upended them without much "confetti about cool". It's almost like a B2B company in a B2C market.
What does Netflix mean for Other Organizations?
Netflix continued to invest in streaming capability for many years, before launching the product. This demonstrates a long term thinking about its business and its markets.
How does an organization connect
a. investing in long term capabilities, and,
b. thinking about markets,
In hindsight, all of this is as easy as pie. Lets look at the challenges.
Challenges with Making the Organizational Connections:
Let's take two cases within two functions in an organization.
1. Finance:
Say you are a business finance manager, and a business manager comes over to you about a prototype he would like to acquire and integrate into the company's product and marketing portfolio. How do you not only help him acquire the prototype, but also give him the leeway to invest time and resources toward patiently integrating an early stage startup product into a reliable portfolio asset at the company?
2. Marketing:
As a marketing manager, say, you realize you need an organization wide communication and analytics sharing capability to meet the product and competitive environment in the medium term. What kind of marketing programs, and in what prioritized order, do you push, to deliver phased, sustained capabilities to your organization over the medium term?
Suddenly, this doesn't look all that easy, does it?
For managers battling to get things done within their silos on a daily basis, these are not easy questions to answer. Thinking about this gives you the scale of the effort that an organization needs to put into developing capabilities that impact its markets.
What do you think?
Why am I talking about Netflix?
Three reasons.
1. Innovation:
Netflix has been called an innovator that leverages its investments into innovation effectively towards business capabilities.
2. Market Capabilities:
Recently, there was news about Netflix looking at original programming, that kicked off this thought exercise on innovation and tactics below:
http://randomjunkyramblings.blogspot.com/2011/03/innovation-and-tactics-series-netflix.html
3. Distinct Context:
Unlike the iPhone, Netflix has entered existing markets and upended them without much "confetti about cool". It's almost like a B2B company in a B2C market.
What does Netflix mean for Other Organizations?
Netflix continued to invest in streaming capability for many years, before launching the product. This demonstrates a long term thinking about its business and its markets.
How does an organization connect
a. investing in long term capabilities, and,
b. thinking about markets,
In hindsight, all of this is as easy as pie. Lets look at the challenges.
Challenges with Making the Organizational Connections:
Let's take two cases within two functions in an organization.
1. Finance:
Say you are a business finance manager, and a business manager comes over to you about a prototype he would like to acquire and integrate into the company's product and marketing portfolio. How do you not only help him acquire the prototype, but also give him the leeway to invest time and resources toward patiently integrating an early stage startup product into a reliable portfolio asset at the company?
2. Marketing:
As a marketing manager, say, you realize you need an organization wide communication and analytics sharing capability to meet the product and competitive environment in the medium term. What kind of marketing programs, and in what prioritized order, do you push, to deliver phased, sustained capabilities to your organization over the medium term?
Suddenly, this doesn't look all that easy, does it?
For managers battling to get things done within their silos on a daily basis, these are not easy questions to answer. Thinking about this gives you the scale of the effort that an organization needs to put into developing capabilities that impact its markets.
What do you think?
