·Corporate Strategy
A Merger Is Not an Idea
Why the Omnicom - Interpublic deal reveals a deeper failure of imagination in advertising
#Innovation
282 results
·Corporate Strategy
Why Emotions Are First Principles in Product Strategy
Products succeed when they answer what people feel, not just what they need
·Corporate Strategy
Book Extract: From customer journeys to integrated experiences
A brand’s attempt at relevance and how AI worked for it. An extract from Sangeet Paul Choudary’s new book, “Reshuffle”
·Corporate Strategy
Power shifts and algorithms
Sangeet Paul Choudary in conversation with Shrinath V on how AI is changing business strategy. Part one of the two-part podcast: “The Next Game: Competing When AI Changes the Rules.”
·Corporate Strategy
Where to Play and How to Win in the AI Era
Sangeet Paul Choudary, author of ‘Reshuffle’, in conversation with Shrinath V. The final in a 2-part podcast: ‘The Next Game: Competing When AI Changes the Rules’
·Product & Innovation
From Bazaar to Breakthrough
The next phase of global innovation may emerge not from invention, but from how India adapts and stretches existing tools.
·Corporate Strategy
Tech Titans and Billion Dollar Bets
SoftBank insider Alok Sama talks about the mind of the investment company’s iconic founder Masayoshi Son, how venture capital operates, the tech bros, India’s true potential, and more
·Corporate Strategy
Just Do It, Again
Iconic brands have a strong core. Any attempt to transform the core, driven by big consumer and lifestyle changes, can be particularly tricky, as global sportswear brand Nike discovered recently
·Corporate Strategy
Heatwave, Flood & Water Stress: India Inc’s Tryst with Extreme Weather Patterns
Why businesses need a holistic climate action plan. Now!
·Corporate Strategy
Hybrids in an EV era
Propelled by the Toyota and Suzuki partnership, the resurgence of hybrids is a signal that the electric mobility revolution in India may take a lot longer than was assumed
·Corporate Strategy
Paytm: Emperor’s new clothes
At the heart of the fintech major’s precarious slide lies the abject failure of its Super App strategy. But that’s just one part of the story.
·Founder Journeys
The risk taker
What makes Elon Musk tick? Insights from the biography by Walter Isaacson
·Corporate Strategy
Noel Tata’s brahmastra
His value lifestyle brand Zudio has caught the attention of the entire retail industry. It also signals a coming of age of retail in small town India
·Corporate Strategy
Fintech Special Report Part 1: Indian fintech at a crossroad
The outlook for fintech companies has shifted from unchecked optimism to uncertainty. The rose-tinted glasses are off and some of the well-funded companies are pivoting. Their future will depend on their ability to look beyond technology as the panacea. Part 1 of a 4-part series
·Corporate Strategy
Fintech Special Report Part 2: From competition to collaboration
The ground reality has changed. Fintechs are realising that partnerships and ecosystem thinking are key to winning the market, not competing with the incumbents. Part 2 of a 4-part series
·Founder Journeys
From employee to entrepreneur
A message to young graduates: Don’t ignore regular salaried employment. It can gain you valuable business experience and serve as a springboard to an entrepreneurial career
·Corporate Strategy
12 Deadly Sins That Bedevil Incumbents
Here’s a pattern that I’ve observed throughout my career: incumbents mostly lose; they somehow survive but don’t thrive. An incumbent growing faster than the market over a decade is more an exception, rather than the rule.
·Business Model Innovation
How does a firm develop a business model with sustainability at its core?
Book Review: ‘Sustainable Business Model Design - 45 Patterns’ by Florian Ludeke-Freund, Henning Breuer, and Lorenzo Massa
·Founder Journeys
The Middle India consumer
Middle India has low trust for a new interface. Here’s how Razorpay, Smartstaff, Meesho, Dehaat and Krazybee are investing in gaining trust. An extract from ‘Winning Middle India: The Story of India’s New-Age Entrepreneurs’, by Bala Srinivasa and T.N. Hari
·Founder Journeys
FF Insights #701: Making trillion-dollar companies
July 25, 2022: Climate propaganda; The trouble with education’s ‘success formula’; Age of surveillance
·Corporate Strategy
FF Insights #698: A car that would open up mobility
July 20, 2022: Parle-G versus Udaan; Elon Musk’s madness; Summer explained
·Corporate Strategy
FF Insights #697: Betting against conventional wisdom
July 19, 2022: NSE’s old war horse; Age is just a number; Exponential thinking
·Founder Journeys
FF Insights #696: Treat everything as an experiment
July 18, 2022: James Webb’s impact; What can’t be taught; The paradox
·Corporate Strategy
FF Insights #691: Figuring out selling
July 11, 2022: The superapp fascination; Abe: The original democrat; Critics and artists
·Corporate Strategy
FF Insights #684: The enemy of creativity
June 30, 2022: Business and science; Managing Twitter; Cryptic clues
·Corporate Strategy
FF Insights #677: Go directly to the source
June 21, 2022: The Sridhar Vembu story; Musk on Twitter; Confusion compounded
·Corporate Strategy
The hare and the tortoise
The R K Swamy Hansa group remains the last man standing, even as almost all the large homegrown advertising-led groups have thrown in the towel. How did the Swamy brothers, Srinivasan and Shekar, pull it off?
·Corporate Strategy
Building Back Better: Lessons from Zoho's founder
Sridhar Vembu and Sharad Sharma talk about creating resilient, uniquely Indian companies; questioning buzzwords and received wisdom; investing in deep tech; and more
·Founder Journeys
The Contrarian
Sridhar Vembu built Zoho by questioning the conventional wisdom. For the longest time, no one took much notice. But now people are curious about what makes him—and Zoho—tick
·Corporate Strategy
FF Insights #632: The happiness paradox
April 18, 2022: What’s new about Tata Neu?; What’s Elon Musk up against?; Mad at aggregators?
·Corporate Strategy
FF Insights #630: Design for the extremes
April 13, 2022: Teenage sadness; On Sevantibhai of Kolkata; No country for foodies
·Corporate Strategy
Making Sense of the 10-minute delivery phenomenon
Hari Menon, co-founder & CEO, BigBasket, deconstructs e-commerce’s latest obsession with superfast delivery
·Business Model Innovation
Tata Neu: Stripping the hype
Is it even a super app? Or a coalition loyalty programme? A loyalty business veteran dissects the challenges and complexities the Tatas—and customers—will have to grapple with
·Corporate Strategy
FF Insights #625: The pattern of truth
April 6, 2022: The evolution of Tata’s super app; The solo capitalist ecosystem; Two factor authentication
·Corporate Strategy
FF Insights #600: Learning organisations
March 1, 2022: A Third World Axis?; How 10-minute deliveries work; Theory of relativity
·Founder Journeys
FF Insights #592: Sustainable innovation
February 17, 2022: The average and the poor in India; How to be a bad boss; Corrigendum
·Business Model Innovation
FF Insights #569: Unbundle the media business model
January 17, 2022: Decoding Omicron; The Turing trap; The problem with masses
·Corporate Strategy
FF Daily #547: Success can’t be taken for granted
December 13, 2021: Be customer-obsessed; How to communicate during the pandemic; Why map is not the territory
·Founder Journeys
How Sugar Cosmetics found its sweet spot
Vineeta Singh, CEO of Sugar Cosmetics, talks about turning fears into wins, taking an unconventional approach to succeed in a David & Goliath scenario, and building resilience from unexpected sources