Anthropology and the Abduction of Strategy 15th March 2012

1. Anthropology and the Abduction of Strategy
UPA London, March 15th 2012
Simon Roberts
ReD Associates

2. Thank you for inviting me…
www.redassociates.com
@ReD_Associates
@ideasbazaar
sr@redassociates.com
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3. My journey to date
1996
2012

4. What’s in an anthropologist’s name?
Applied
Business
Commercial
Design
Corporate

5. Back story: anthropology in business

6. The repeated discovery of anthropology in business
“Five years later, in 1996, the Fast Company article titled
‘Anthropologists Go Native in the Corporate Village’ reports (again)
the enthusiasm of increasing numbers of major corporations for
consultants with anthropological credentials. And as we’ve seen a
decade later, in 2006, the commercial market for anthropology is still
news”.
Anthropology as ‘Brand’: Reflections on corporate anthropology, Lucy Suchman

7. In the recent past the focus was on the method…
''If you want to understand how a tiger hunts,
don't go to the zoo. Go to the jungle.''
A.G. Lafley, former P&G CEO

8. …and methodological ‘innovation’ flourished
The pure and the impure? Reflections on applying anthropology and doing ethnography, Simon Roberts
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In Sarah Pink (Ed) Applications of Anthropology: Professional Anthropology in the Twenty-first Century (Bergahn)

9. Increasingly confident claims are made about the power of these approaches
Laying bare the cultural erotics of consumers (Sherry)
Puzzling things out in situations of complexity (Cefkin)
An opposable thumb
An externalised mis en scene (Darrouzet et al)
A messy engaged romp with uncertain outcomes (Blomberg)
A cultural project

10. Anthropology/ethnography has staked a claim to a home within business, and beyond
Created an audience
Formed a community
Put up boundaries
Split into clans and tribes
…and started to move, slowly but surely, from the small
details to the big picture

11. But what it is and what it’s for is still open to interpretation. (And that’s no bad thing).
-----Original Message-----
From: XXXX.com [mailto:XXXX.com]
Sent: 27 October 2004 17:02
To: Simon Roberts
Subject: Now I understand....
Si
I see a lot of company managements in my line of work, but I have just now met the first
one who have talked about taking an ethnographic approach to their market research. Very
exciting stuff. It was egg, specifically the chief executive Paul Gratton. He explained it as
getting punters to do some drawings with crayons!
Can I sense your influence in this?
Eric

12. Anthropology’s abduction of strategy

13. At ReD we identify gaps between what people want and what companies give them.
We translate those insights into solutions that will thrive in the marketplace.
55 consultants in two offices.
Copenhagen & New York
PRACTICES
Product and Service Development
Commercial Growth
Complexity Reduction
Organizational Performance
DISCIPLINES
KEY INDUSTRY SECTORS
Ethnography and Anthropology
Consumer Electronics
Business and Economics
Telecom and IT
Sociology and Organization
Health and Medical Devices
Political Science
Consumer products
Architecture and Design
Public Sector and NGO
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14. We are a strategy consultancy focused on top line growth
01.
02.
03.
04.
Product/Service Commercial
Complexity
Organizational
Development
Growth
Reduction
Performance
• New product definition
• Sales channel management
• Identification of over met • Innovation training
• Brand and messaging
• Sales force effectiveness
needs / wasted activity
• Solutions for cultural issues
• Product road mapping
• Marketing spend
• Portfolio simplification
• Innovation intent
• Future visions
• Customer profiling and • Segmentation simplification
• Innovation audits and metrics
targeting
IDENTIFYING INSIGHTS
Insights from field research, expert interviews and secondary research
UNDERSTANDING PEOPLE
Social situations, personal motivations, interpersonal dynamics…real world data
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15. While every ReD project follows a similar and proven process, the approach can differ
based on the starting point
RESEARCH AGENDA
DEVELOPMENT AGENDA
Open-ended Discovery
Strategic problem-solving
Opening New Doors Solving the Problem
For example:
For example:
• What emergent interaction paradigms should we be • How can we accelerate the technology refresh cycle
taking seriously?
in small and medium size businesses?
• What impact are social networking technologies having • How can we extend our franchise with small
on the way we think about friends?
businesses?
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16. Open-ended Discovery is about opening up completely new terrain– whether a new
market, a new technology or a new business domain.
EXPLORING A NEW MARKET
SEEKING VALUE IN NEW TECH
VENTURING INTO NEW BUSINESSES
Display advertising technology: is this
The future of sound
the right example here?
Defining Prospects for 1st Time
How do you pick up on the Identify growth areas for Y Corp, the
Computing Devices in Emerging
technology adoption in K-12 edu? leading hearing aid manufacturer
Markets
What it is good for:
What are the limitations:
- Exploring new usage situations
- Doesn’t deliver a definitive strategic direction
- Developing a new vocabulary around a subject
- Without strategic objectives there can be a lack of a solid case
- Inspiring new thinking through speculative ideas
- Opportunities are inspirational, not necessarily impactful
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17. Open-discovery projects give executives a consolidated point of view around
uncharted territory to help reach consensus and have a perspective on first steps.
Open-discovery to open up fresh new thinking
Content
- Deep customer understanding around unknown territory
- What to focus on, relevant issues to consider
- A differentiated point of view tailored to a newcomer
Audience
- Executives looking for a consolidated viewpoint and approach
Impact
- A fresh perspective that can facilitate consensus among the team
- Inspired action (“we can do this”)
- Clues on meaningful first steps
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18. Strategic Problem-Solving involves finding a fresh customer-centric perspective to business
issues that lie at the heart of the core business.
ADDRESSING UNMET NEEDS
NEW PROPOSITION DEVELOPMENT
IDENTIFY MARKET ADJACENCIES
Identifying adjacent opportunities for
Getinge -
a digitally-disrupted postal services
business
Create a new innovation road map Create a SME centric cloud Identify opportunities for a digitally-
and value proposition computing proposition for US telco disrupted postal services business
What it is good for:
What are the limitations:
- Helps clients take key decisions
- Concepts often aren’t radical, but they are right
- Gives an ambitious yet realistic vision of what can be done
- Customer insights aren’t exhaustive, they focus on the problem
- Can unite multiple divisions under a common value goal
at hand
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19. Strategic concerns are increasingly about how to differentiate within a market, and
how to climb up the value chain as a business
Strategic Problem-solving to address competitive issues
Content
- A differentiated perspective within well-known territory
- Rethinking the ‘basics’, things that businesses can control
- A strong sensitivity to client needs based on their competencies
Audience
- An implementation group looking for fuel to innovate
Impact
- Value propositions that are tactical with clear industry positioning
- Concepts that are ambitious and realistic enough to take on
- A formulated and rationalized approach that gives confidence to a
team’s next steps
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20. Lafley’s tiger meets two philosophers in the jungle
"Business schools tend to focus on inductive thinking [based on
directly observable facts] and deductive thinking [logic and analysis,
typically based on past evidence]…
…design schools emphasize abductive thinking - imagining what
could be possible. This new thinking approach helps us challenge
assumed constraints and add to ideas, versus discouraging them.”
A.G. Lafley, former P&G CEO

21. Our approach requires questioning traditional management science & applying social
science
Mystery
LEVEL 4
Conflicting data Not even a range of
possible future outcomes
pointing in all
directions
Social Science
- No hypothesis
Abductive reasoning
LEVEL 3
Range of possible
future outcomes
Heuristic
Some connecting dots
Weak hypothesis
- Heuristic
A LEVEL 2
Inductive reasoning
B Limited set of possible Management
future outcomes, one of
C
which will occur Science
Algorithm
Strong understanding of situation
and future
LEVEL 1
Single view of the future
- Reliability in testing
Deductive reasoning
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22. And starting, and finishing, in the world of business
Client’s
Change in
Existing Situation
Client Practice
Business Practice
PHASE 1 - Frame
Social Science
PHASE 6 - Realize
Defining the problem
Articulating impact and
its consequences
Challenges to Roadmap of
Existing Solutions &
Assumptions
Initiatives
Depth
PHASE 2 - Research
PHASE 5 – Recommend
Value
Uncovering insights
Proposing a course
from the real world
of action
New Discoveries
PHASE 3 PHASE 4 Platforms for
And Insights
Organize A Fresh New Perspective
Synthesize
Growth
Analyzing data Prioritizing
and finding impact
patterns
Relevance

23. The promise of anthropology
A highly specific, understanding of what is going on
A focus on identifying opportunities
Landing those back inside the business
“A strategy is a coherent set of analyses, concepts, policies, arguments and action that
respond to a high stakes challenge” Richard Rumelt, Good Strategy, Bad Strategy (Crown Business)

24. Thank you. Please stay in touch.
www.redassociates.com
@ReD_Associates
@ideasbazaar
sr@redassociates.com
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