Strategic Market Segmentation

𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 is one of the most impactful paradigms in management research — and also one of the most misunderstood. Since Chesbrough coined the term in 2003, the idea that firms should deliberately open their boundaries to external knowledge has reshaped how companies innovate, how universities engage with industry, and how governments design innovation policy. But how well do we actually know the foundational literature? I have put together a list of 25 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧— spanning founding theory, empirical evidence, literature reviews, ecosystems, SMEs, users and communities, and practice. Academic papers and practitioner-facing pieces. The articles that shaped the field and continue to shape it. Starting today, I will share one article per day — from #25 down to #1 — with a short explanation of what each paper is about and why it still matters, for researchers and practitioners alike. 📌 #25 — Lichtenthaler & Lichtenthaler (2009), "A capability-based framework for open innovation" — Journal of Management Studies What is it about? This article extends Cohen & Levinthal's absorptive capacity concept into an open innovation framework. It identifies six interconnected knowledge-related capabilities — inventive, absorptive, transformative, connective, innovative, and desorptive — that firms need to manage knowledge flows across boundaries. It bridges dynamic capabilities theory with OI practice in a rigorous and comprehensive way. Why does it matter? For academics, it provided one of the most cited theoretical bridges between dynamic capabilities and open innovation. For practitioners, it offers a diagnostic checklist to assess whether their firm has the organizational capabilities required to actually benefit from openness — not just the strategic intent. Connective capacity has been central in understanding the success of OI, and desorptive capacity is still underexplored in the OI literature, but has been picked up by Rita McGrath and others. 🔗 Read it here: https://lnkd.in/eHWsPJ9z #OpenInnovation #Innovation #InnovationManagement #ResearchMatters #KnowledgeManagement #AbsorptiveCapacity

Traditional Design vs Generative Design – A Shift in Engineering Thinking In the world of mechanical and aerospace engineering, design methods are evolving rapidly. The image above clearly illustrates the contrast between Traditional Design and Generative Design using an example of aircraft seat mounting brackets. 🔹 Traditional Design This approach relies on human intuition, experience, and established standards. Designers use basic geometric shapes and overengineer components to ensure safety, often leading to excess material usage and heavier parts. In the image, the traditional bracket weighs 1,672 grams, made with solid material and a blocky design to ensure strength. However, it lacks material efficiency and may contribute to increased fuel consumption in aircraft. 🔹 Generative Design This is an advanced, AI-driven design process. Engineers input goals (like weight reduction, strength requirements, material type, and load conditions), and the software generates multiple optimized design solutions. The result is often an organic, lattice-like structure that removes unnecessary material. In the image, the generatively designed bracket weighs only 766 grams — a 55% weight reduction — while still meeting performance criteria. 💡 Key Differences: Design Process: Human-driven vs AI-assisted Material Usage: Excessive vs optimized Shape: Simple, blocky vs complex, organic Efficiency: Heavier and stronger than needed vs lightweight and just as strong Generative design is not just a trend—it's a strategic shift toward sustainable, high-performance engineering. It helps industries like aerospace, automotive, and manufacturing to save weight, reduce cost, and innovate faster. This transformation is a perfect example of how technology is redefining the boundaries of what's possible in design and engineering. --- #TraditionalDesign #GenerativeDesign #MechanicalEngineering #CAD #DesignInnovation #AerospaceEngineering #LightweightDesign #TopologyOptimization #FutureOfEngineering #AutodeskFusion360 #EngineeringTransformation #ProductDesign #AIInEngineering

PMMs, Stop saying your product is "better" 14 ways you should differentiate 👇 Check out this masterclass by Scott Jones (Scott is the SVP Marketing at Agentsync) Let's dive in! 👇 Scott has been launching B2B products for 25 years. The biggest challenge for PMMs? Differentiation. You need to show EXACTLY how you're better. With concrete specific examples. 📌 First, understand why B2B buyers make changes: There are only 4 scenarios that drive B2B purchase decisions: 1. More for less: Better outcomes, lower investment 2. More for same: Better outcomes, same spend 3. More for more: Better outcomes, higher investment (rare) 4. Same for less: Same outcomes, lower costs The key? You're not just competing against other vendors. You're really fighting: - Status quo (manual processes) - Internal development - Alternative vendors Here's how to prove you're actually better: 1️⃣ Every claim needs THREE elements: 1. Defendable adjectives with metrics 2. Clear "from/to" state 3. Demonstrable capabilities 2️⃣ Scott shared 14 concrete ways to differentiate: The gold standard? "New and never achieved" Example: "First platform to fully automate account targeting, media execution, and paid optimization in real-time" But there are 13 others including: - More actionable - More comprehensive - More responsive - More compliant - More accurate - More predictable 3️⃣ You need THESE for enterprise deals - Steering committee sign-off - Multiple management layers - CFO approval That's why... Your differentiation must tie to financial outcomes like: "Company X reduced spend from $5M to $4M" "Company Y grew topline 15% YoY" 📌 TLDR for you PMMs; Stop saying you're "better." Start proving it with: 1. Customer validation 2. Financial outcomes 3. Concrete metrics -- P.S. What else would you add PMMs? (Make sure you give Scott a follow btw!)

One of the most common questions I get is, "How do we position a product with no differentiation?" I'm going deep on this in the newsletter this week. In my positioning process we start by listing the true competitive alternatives (including the status quo), then we list the capabilities we have that that alternatives do not. Then we translate those capabilities into a set of value themes. This "differentiated value" is the answer to the question "Why pick us over the alternative solutions?" When I hear "we have no differentiation," one of two things is true. Either: 1️⃣ There is truly no distinct value for customers or 2️⃣ Customers see differentiated value in your offering that some folks on the team do not understand. If we truly have no differentiation, then sales is a disaster. There is no reason to pick us so prospects do not. That is not a problem that positioning can solve - in B2B, we don't get to simply make up value. Buyers have to justify their choices to a buying team and saying "I was just into the vibes man" isn't likely to cut it. That said, you would be surprised at how often I see the second option, where at least one person on the executive team does not see any value vs the competition, despite the fact that every single day, prospects choose their solution over the alternatives. When we get the entire team together, it turns out there is a LOT of differentiated value for us to build a story around. What’s going on? Why do some folks on the team see clear value while others do not? I’ve seen this enough that I can point at a set of root causes: 💠 Value Blindness – the business is winning deals, but parts of the org aren't really sure why 💠 Product Illiteracy – the product has significant differentiated capabilities, but the value of those capabilities for customers isn’t clear to the marketing and sales teams 💠 An inside-out view of competition – members of the team are attempting to differentiate against many alternatives customers never consider or miss a key alternative (often the status quo). 💠 Loss obsession, Win ignorance – parts of the team are overly focused on lost deals (often a poor fit for the product in the first place) and under-exposed to won deals. 💠 Product Pessimism – the product team is overly focused on gaining feature parity with every alternative in the market and has become blind to the places where the product is ahead. 💠 Sloppy Segmentation – members of the team are trying to find differentiated value for an overly broad slice of the market, making it seem impossible. Notice the common theme? Parts of the organization understand the value and other parts do not. More on this and how to fix it in the newsletter this week (link in comments).

Culture is everything 🙏🏾 When leaders accept or overlook poor behaviour, they implicitly endorse those actions, potentially eroding the organisation’s values and morale. To build a thriving culture, leaders must actively shape it by refusing to tolerate behaviour that contradicts their values and expectations.
 The best leaders: 
 1. Define and Communicate Core Values: * Articulate Expectations: Clearly define and communicate the organisation’s core values and behavioural expectations. Make these values central to every aspect of the organisation’s operations and culture. * Embed Values in Policies: Integrate these values into your policies, procedures, and performance metrics to ensure they are reflected in daily operations. 
 2. Model the Behaviour You Expect: * Lead by Example: Demonstrate the behaviour you want to see in others. Your actions should reflect the organisation’s values, from how you interact with employees to how you handle challenges. 3. Address Poor Behaviour Promptly: * Act Quickly: Confront and address inappropriate behaviour as soon as it occurs. Delays in addressing issues can lead to a culture of tolerance for misconduct. * Apply Consistent Consequences: Ensure that consequences for poor behaviour are fair, consistent, and aligned with organisational values. This reinforces that there are clear boundaries and expectations.
 4. Foster a Culture of Accountability: * Encourage Self-Regulation: Promote an environment where everyone is encouraged to hold themselves and others accountable for their actions. * Provide Support: Offer resources and support for employees to understand and align with organisational values, helping them navigate challenges and uphold standards.
 5. Seek and Act on Feedback: * Encourage Open Communication: Create channels for employees to provide feedback on behaviour and organisational culture without fear of reprisal. * Respond Constructively: Act on feedback to address and rectify issues. This shows that you value employee input and are committed to maintaining a positive culture.
 6. Celebrate Positive Behaviour: * Recognise and Reward: Acknowledge and reward employees who exemplify the organisation’s values. Celebrating positive behaviour reinforces the desired culture and motivates others to follow suit. * Share Success Stories: Highlight examples of how upholding values has led to positive outcomes, reinforcing the connection between behaviour and organisational success.
 7. Invest in Leadership Development: * Provide Training: Offer training and development opportunities for leaders at all levels to enhance their skills in managing behaviour and fostering a positive culture. 8. Promote Inclusivity and Respect: * Build a Diverse Environment: Create a culture that respects and values diversity. Inclusivity strengthens the organisational fabric and fosters a more collaborative and supportive work environment.

Why differentiation is a strategic decision - not a marketing exercise. Your marketing team cannot save a strategy problem. Yet most businesses hand differentiation to them anyway. A new brand. A sharper tagline. A better campaign. And underneath, the business remains exactly the same. Customers see through that quickly. Real differentiation is built much deeper - in the decisions leaders make about where to play and how to win, and just as importantly, where not to. When we built HomeServe, we didn't start with brand positioning. We started with a question: What is the one problem we want to be known for solving better than anyone else? That led us to focus on emergency home repairs. Not all home services. Not general maintenance. One clear, high-urgency need. And that single decision shaped everything: the product we built, the partnerships we formed, how we priced, and the experience we delivered. The strategy created the brand. Not the other way around. You see the same pattern in businesses that genuinely stand out. Apple's differentiation isn't advertising. It's a strategic commitment to simplicity and integration. Innocent's tone of voice works because the business itself is built around transparency. Gymshark didn't just market to a community; it structurally embedded itself within one. In every case, what you see externally is a reflection of choices made internally. And those choices come with trade-offs. You can't be premium and mass market at the same time. You can't serve everyone equally well. You can't solve every problem without diluting what makes you valuable. So the real question isn't "how do we make our brand stand out?" It's "what are we willing to be known for and what are we willing to give up?" Until that's clear, differentiation will always feel like an add-on. And customers don't buy add-ons. They buy clarity. Want more ideas on building your business? My weekly newsletter is a good place to start: https://lnkd.in/ergDQtiK

LinkedIn gurus are divided. Some say that legacy FMCG is eroding revenue like a glacier, sweating in the endless summer of global warming. Others believe that D2C is a niche play that won’t scale. The answer is somewhere in the middle. Both will co-exist. But the undifferentiated middle will disappear. Technology has fundamentally fragmented the supply-side and demand-side layers that have supported the Great Indian FMCG industry for decades. 1. Contract R&D and manufacturing has made it easy to launch new products quickly 2. Ecommerce+quick commerce have made it easy to discover new brands, on an infinite retail shelf 3. Digital media has made it easy to discover new products As a result, the physical friction of product discovery and shopping has disappeared. But it has been replaced by cognitive overwhelm. When the brain drowns in choices, evolutionary hard wiring takes over and simplifies decisions. So, brand choice has become binary - unless the consumer gets EXACTLY what she wants, she REVERTS to the safe, trusted and familiar. I want a shampoo with vanilla fragrance that controls my frizz without making my hair sticky. If I can’t have that, I will buy Pantene. Ergo, the messy, undifferentiated middle of a thousand floral shampoos disappears. Alex Danco calls this barbell-shaped demand. I call it The Default and The Differentiated demand. That’s why, If you are planning to launch the 800th Niaciamide Serum in a Minimalist look-alike bottle which was a copy of The Ordinary, Stop!! You’ll fall into the Chasm of the Undifferentiated Middle. Never before has the need for differentiation been more dire. Never before have product propositions been more 'copy-pasted' than before. That's Strategy Blindness™. ______________ This thinking has been inspired by Alex Danco's article on Abundance for the tech world. I write for consumer leaders who know their strategy looks right but feels wrong. If you want to read more like this, link to my newsletter is in my profile.

Inflation often forces businesses into a dilemma—raise prices and risk losing customers, or keep prices stable and shrink margins. But what if data could help strike the perfect balance? 🚀 Challenge: Flipkart, one of India’s largest e-commerce platforms, noticed fluctuating customer retention rates and declining repeat purchases, especially during inflationary periods. Traditional deep-discount campaigns led to short-term sales spikes but failed to build long-term customer loyalty. 🔎 Solution: Data-Driven Discounting Strategy Flipkart’s analytics team uncovered a key insight: Small, frequent discounts (e.g., 5-10% on repeat purchases) led to higher engagement. Personalized offers based on purchase history encouraged repeat buys. A/B testing revealed that customers preferred consistency over occasional deep discounts. 💡 Implementation: Using AI-driven dynamic pricing, Flipkart rolled out: ✅ Tiered discounts for loyal customers. ✅ AI-powered coupon recommendations. ✅ Targeted email campaigns promoting small, time-sensitive discounts. 📈 Results: After three months of testing, Flipkart saw: ✔️ 17% increase in repeat purchases ✔️ 12% uplift in customer retention ✔️ Higher profit margins vs. deep discounting 🎯 Key Takeaway: In an inflationary environment, data-driven pricing isn't just about maximizing revenue—it’s about customer psychology. Businesses that personalize their offers and optimize discounts intelligently can boost retention while protecting margins. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔? #datadrivendecisionmaking #DataAnalytics #DiscountStrategy #BusinessStrategies

Most B2B companies treat thought leadership as a PR function. Alex Lamascus, Workato's first dedicated thought leadership hire, treats it as a revenue driver. One of the first things he did was move the function off the comms team and closer to the sales floor. His reframe is simple: "The primary value of content is not only gaining attention. It's building business infrastructure." That changes how you build it and how you measure it. Instead of stopping at reach and downloads, his team tracks win rates for deals with key thought leadership assets attached, deal velocity, and average sales price. The mechanism isn't publishing more. It's getting the right perspective in front of buyers at the moments that actually change minds, including the internal stakeholders who can quietly speed up a purchase or kill it. A few ideas worth borrowing: 1) Perspective before product. Thought leadership lives at the opinion layer, meaning your vision for how the market should work. That's a different job than lead gen. As AI commoditizes content marketing, an original point of view becomes the thing that sets you apart. 2) Skip the quick win. If you sell leadership on one early campaign, that single result decides whether you keep your mandate. Build flywheels instead, with room to experiment and fail. 3) Run like a media company. Podcasts, books, a newsroom, all built by talking to people inside your ICP rather than writing in a vacuum. The insight and credibility come first. Traffic follows. The marketers who pull ahead will be building something that drives real pipeline and didn't exist before. Read the full interview with Alex Lamascus on State of Brand here: https://lnkd.in/dvb9czbB

Selling into complex B2B Industries requires a completely different approach on LinkedIn. At Triangle, we typically spend 15+ hours on research before writing a single post. Step 1: We study your customers We go into LinkedIn and pull up 20-30 profiles of your ideal buyers. We analyze patterns across: - What posts are they engaging with right now? - What topics are they commenting on? - What language are they using when they discuss industry challenges? - Which thought leaders are they following? If your buyers are CROs or Heads of Strategy inside growth-stage companies, the nuance matters. Are they focused on regulatory risk? AI adoption? Margin pressure? Procurement scrutiny? That context determines what earns attention – and what creates instant skepticism. Step 2: We reverse-engineer your sales process We listen to your recent sales calls. We review your sales decks. We talk to your sales team. Why? Because your strongest content already exists – it's just trapped in private internal conversations. The objections you handle on calls, the moments where prospects lean in, the explanations that unblock deals – that's content. We translate what already works one-to-one into one-to-many positioning. Step 3: We map the competitive landscape We analyze: - What are competitors talking about? - What are the biggest voices in your industry saying? - Where's the white space opportunity? Most companies create content in a vacuum. They talk about their features, their team, their milestones – without considering what's already saturating the market. We identify the gaps where a credible, experience-led point of view can stand out. Step 4: We anchor everything to your differentiation After we've done all that research, we sit down for a strategic Deep Dive interview. We ask: - What you believe that others don't - The trade-offs you've made - The experiences that shaped your judgment That differentiation is what pulls you out of comparison mode and into category leadership. In long-sales-cycle, high-ACV deals, buyers aren't choosing based on features. They're choosing based on judgment, conviction, and evidence that you understand how they operate. That's why we spend time listening to your podcasts, watching your talks, reviewing sales calls, and getting genuinely immersed. The result: A commercial growth strategy that drives growth, not a content calendar.