Better Decisions | Better Outcomes
WHY DO I NEED OPEN H2O?
There Are Limits to Conventional Growth Models
Why are there so many firms that exist to help you with New Product Development and Acquisitions? It is because there are so many challenges to these conventional growth models.
An alternative perspective, is to bridge the gap between these two approaches by helping companies PARTNER their way to growth.
PARTNERING adds an entirely new dimension to the classic BUY vs. BUILD equation.
BUILDING is an independent endeavor limited to your own internal resources and constraints. BUYING is trannsactional and by its nature, adversarial.
In contrast, PARTNERING is not only collaborative and synergistic, but can often generate ongoing benefits over the long run.
Limited Open Innovation Opportunities for Mid-Sized Companies
Large companies have created “External Business Development” or “Open Innovation” groups to drive successful partnerships. P&G, for one, was an early pioneer with their Connect & Develop group, which delivered real benefits:
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Improved Return on R&D Investments
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Increased New Product Success Rate
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Faster Speed to Market
However, few companies are large enough to enable an investment of this magnitude.
The concept of Open Innovation has great potential, but only when approached in a disciplined way, otherwise you can drown in the possibilities.
This is why Lockstep Partners developed Open H20 as a more cost-effective, partner-driven growth model better suited for mid-sized companies or business units of this size.
We offer Trickle Down (top-down) and Bubble Up (bottom up) approaches, depending on your needs. Whatever the approach, the objective remains the same: more fluid, adaptive and innovative growth through better recognition and more active management of partnership opportunities.
We Are Overly Reliant On Our Existing Partners
Even though we know that fresh perspectives can help identify new opportunities, we tend to rely on the same set of PARTNERS.
When seeking solutions, employees will…
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ROUTINELY seek help from internal partners
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OCCASIONALLY reach out to current external partners
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RARELY, consider new partners that may be of help
OPEN H2O helps you get more growth and savings from existing partners, and identify new partners that can help accelerate your business.
Current Partners Are Not Always Well Managed
Typically, each progressive project with a particular Partner has less of a positive growth impact over time.
This is to be expected in part, because the "low hanging fruit" tends to gets tackled first. But there are a couple of other key factors, which Open H20 can help you address.
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Each new project tends to migrate farther from the Partner’s core expertise.
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The more familiar the Partner becomes with you organization, the more vulnerable they become to “group think" ultimately mirroring existing institutionalized thinking.
Responsibility For Innovation Is Concentrated Among
Too Few People
While all employees are ultimately dependent on company growth, the responsibility for innovation and new products only falls to a small fraction of employees.
OPEN H20 can help you implement a culture of "Distributed Innovation," which gets everyone involved.
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Gets all key functions and brain power engaged who interact with the outside world of suppliers and partners…not just marketing and business development
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Break the routines and paradigms that often fail to identify value creation (encourages “open water” thinking)
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Gets to a more robust refinement, sorting and prioritization of opportunities with mobilization recommendations and accountabilities.
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