Govindarajan is Earl C. Daum 1924 Professor of International Business and Director, William F. Achtmeyer Center for Global Leadership; Trimble is the Executive Director, William F. Achtmeyer Center for Global Leadership and Adjunct Associate Professor of Business Administration at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. They have collaborated on numerous research projects, articles, and books. Their most recently published joint effort is Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators.
In this volume, Govindarajan and Trimble affirm the value of strategic experiments because they can have high revenue growth potential, focus on emerging or poorly defined industries, test an unproven business model, involve radical departure from existing business, require allocation of at least some existing assets and competencies, develop new knowledge and capabilities, create discontinuous rather than incremental value creation, have greater uncertainty across multiple functions, tend to be unprofitable for several quarters (or more), and offer little (if any) indication of performance, at least initially. In other words, strategic experiments can be messy and unpredictable. Why bother? They suggest that strategic innovation is a process by which to test new, unproven, and significantly different answers to at least one of three fundamental questions: Who is the customer? What is the value offered to that customer? How is that value delivered? Presumably Govindarajan and Trimble agree that it is difficult (if not impossible) to manage what cannot be measured. Two other questions also need to be asked: How to measure the value of what is offered? How to measure the effectiveness of the delivery system? To obtain appropriate answers to each of these and other questions, experiments of various kinds are necessary. Messiness and unpredictability seem a small price to pay, given the value of what can be learned from the experiments and then applied effectively within the given competitive marketplace.
Of special interest is the material that Govindarajan and Trimble provide with regard to three different challenges: “Forgetting” assumptions, mind-sets, and biases which may no longer be valid or even relevant; “Borrowing” assets and resources with concrete value; and “Learning” how to improve predictions of business performance. Govindarajan and Trimble’s skillful use of two hypothetical companies, CoreCo and NewCo, facilitates all manner of comparisons and contrasts which help to illustrate the various strategies and tactics which they recommend. For example, in Chapter 1, when explaining why strategic innovators need a different approach to execution, they examine the four elements of organizational DNA, cross-referencing CoreCo and NewCo to make their key points.
Govindarajan and Trimble provide a conceptual framework for a cohesive, comprehensive, and cost-effective program within which to formulate appropriate strategies. Organizational DNA may have to be re-wired in terms of staffing, structure, systems, and cultural values when facing the three challenges of forgetting, borrowing, and learning. Expect messiness, confusion, frustration, and–yes–setbacks while completing that immensely difficult process. Eventually, however, with total commitment of everyone involved, supported by sufficient resources (which include patience), the best of CoreCo can be combined with the best of NewCo.
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