Contrarian Companies That Redefined The Strategy Playbook
In the world of business brimming with copycat and/or zombie strategies, a breed of contrarian business folks, unpersuaded by received wisdom, chose to trust their intuition and dance to their own rhythm. These strategic mavericks (and their cannot-be-overstated-in-importance early followers), in much the same ways that avant-garde artists unshackle chains of conformity, kept faith with their convictions, and in one stroke, rewrote strategy playbooks.
Here are some ...
Amazon - Why have a slice when you can have the whole cake? Amazon turned on its head the received wisdom of "focus on one vertical" by expanding into adjacent industry verticals that traditionalists would have balked at. e.g., expanded into manufacturing (Kindle) and streaming (Prime) to sell more content.
Apple - Defied then industry trend of focusing solely on product features, and risked the belief that beauty matters, i.e, it made design the competitive edge. One of the resulting strategic decision is to own manufacturing in order to ensure a more tightly integrated and controlled user experience.
AirBnB - Seemingly from nowhere, AirBnB leveraged the nascent sharing economy market, and agitated the sleepy hotel industry when, without owning a single property, succeeded in converting millions of travelers to the charm of local home-away-from-home.
Nespresso - Single-handedly, by introducing a premium, single-serve coffee system, Nespresso revolutionised the way people make coffee at home. And by pioneering a direct-to-consumer business model, Nespresso was able to capture more of the value chain.
Netflix - In one fell swoop, Netflix's decision to pivot into streaming made titans of the movie industry look like deers caught in the headlight. Like a forest fire, Netflix raged through the industry redefining distribution, pricing models, business models, content creation, and consumer expectations.
Patagonia - Ever heard a company asking its customers not to buy more of its products, and actively encourages repair, reuse, and trade-in? Well, the more Patagonia rejects consumerism, the more the brand sells. Yes, Patagonia has been repeatedly accused of hypocrisy, but here's an interesting question to consider, "how long can grand scale hypocrisy be sustained?"
Semco - Flying in the face of critics, Semco's experimentation in the 1980's with radical decentralised decision-making, openly sharing financials with all employees, allowing employees to choose their work-hours and set their own salaries etc., resulted in both record growth and profit and boasted low employee turnover and a highly engaged workforce.
Southwest - While other airlines busied themselves with route planning based on a hub-and-spoke model (which was how everyone planned their routes), Southwest decided to focus on point-to-point routes, and offering one-class service. This enabled them to drastically reduce flight times at an unbeatable price. Slowly but surely, Southwest won, and continues to win, the American sky.
WeChat - Can one app be your solution to anything-anywhere-anytime? Seemingly, only Blackberry thought so, but even their imagination paled in comparison to WeChat's vision. So exceptionally sticky has WeChat become that companies are compelled to market on WeChat. If ever there was a perfect flywheel, WeChat might just be it.
Zara - Fast fashion didn't know it could get any faster till Zara showed up to the party and introduced new designs every few weeks (instead of seasons), and in limited quantity. Not only did it whip up a frenzy among consumers who knew that "it's now or never", it left many a competitor biting the dust left by its blitz.
Having browsed the list above, it is perhaps wise to ask yourself: "Am I willing and able to pay the price that these founders and their early leadership team paid to arrive at where they are today?" Keeping in mind that the price tag only arrives after-the-fact.
PS: As you browse the list below of a sampling of these contrarian companies, remember that hindsight is conveniently 20/20.
What to read next? Try Ending the Love Affair with Strategy's Sacred Cows.
To find out how I can help you and your organisation co-create a Me-Only corporate strategy, click on the button below to connect with me.
Here are some ...
Amazon - Why have a slice when you can have the whole cake? Amazon turned on its head the received wisdom of "focus on one vertical" by expanding into adjacent industry verticals that traditionalists would have balked at. e.g., expanded into manufacturing (Kindle) and streaming (Prime) to sell more content.
Apple - Defied then industry trend of focusing solely on product features, and risked the belief that beauty matters, i.e, it made design the competitive edge. One of the resulting strategic decision is to own manufacturing in order to ensure a more tightly integrated and controlled user experience.
AirBnB - Seemingly from nowhere, AirBnB leveraged the nascent sharing economy market, and agitated the sleepy hotel industry when, without owning a single property, succeeded in converting millions of travelers to the charm of local home-away-from-home.
Nespresso - Single-handedly, by introducing a premium, single-serve coffee system, Nespresso revolutionised the way people make coffee at home. And by pioneering a direct-to-consumer business model, Nespresso was able to capture more of the value chain.
Netflix - In one fell swoop, Netflix's decision to pivot into streaming made titans of the movie industry look like deers caught in the headlight. Like a forest fire, Netflix raged through the industry redefining distribution, pricing models, business models, content creation, and consumer expectations.
Patagonia - Ever heard a company asking its customers not to buy more of its products, and actively encourages repair, reuse, and trade-in? Well, the more Patagonia rejects consumerism, the more the brand sells. Yes, Patagonia has been repeatedly accused of hypocrisy, but here's an interesting question to consider, "how long can grand scale hypocrisy be sustained?"
Semco - Flying in the face of critics, Semco's experimentation in the 1980's with radical decentralised decision-making, openly sharing financials with all employees, allowing employees to choose their work-hours and set their own salaries etc., resulted in both record growth and profit and boasted low employee turnover and a highly engaged workforce.
Southwest - While other airlines busied themselves with route planning based on a hub-and-spoke model (which was how everyone planned their routes), Southwest decided to focus on point-to-point routes, and offering one-class service. This enabled them to drastically reduce flight times at an unbeatable price. Slowly but surely, Southwest won, and continues to win, the American sky.
WeChat - Can one app be your solution to anything-anywhere-anytime? Seemingly, only Blackberry thought so, but even their imagination paled in comparison to WeChat's vision. So exceptionally sticky has WeChat become that companies are compelled to market on WeChat. If ever there was a perfect flywheel, WeChat might just be it.
Zara - Fast fashion didn't know it could get any faster till Zara showed up to the party and introduced new designs every few weeks (instead of seasons), and in limited quantity. Not only did it whip up a frenzy among consumers who knew that "it's now or never", it left many a competitor biting the dust left by its blitz.
Having browsed the list above, it is perhaps wise to ask yourself: "Am I willing and able to pay the price that these founders and their early leadership team paid to arrive at where they are today?" Keeping in mind that the price tag only arrives after-the-fact.
PS: As you browse the list below of a sampling of these contrarian companies, remember that hindsight is conveniently 20/20.
What to read next? Try Ending the Love Affair with Strategy's Sacred Cows.
To find out how I can help you and your organisation co-create a Me-Only corporate strategy, click on the button below to connect with me.