Chris Lawer blogs about the necessary mental shift from "company as value-chain component" to "company as player in customer-value network":
Quite often, the first question managers need to address is quite simply, what domain of customer value are we operating in?. This is then closely followed by the second question, how we can adapt to identify, design and deliver mutual value within the new individual-centric customer space?. Unfortunately, many organisations are so risk averse that they never even get to the second stage....
The first question is terrific and absolutely essential. In order to answer it, managers must understand what customers actually value. Most managers make assumptions about what customers value (and we all know what 'assume' means...)
I'll take my telecom client as an example. Management assumed that they were operating in the "saving money" domain of customer value. However, customer research revealed that they should be operating in the domain of "make me feel important." Now with a new tag line of "We hear you," the company is answering the second question and making operational shifts to deliver on this promise.
In what customer-value domain is your company playing? What changes must be made to better align your operations with that domain? What complementary companies are also in the same domain, and is there a way to partner with those companies to deliver even more value?
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