Editor’s letter

Citation

Randall, R.M. (2022), "Editor’s letter", Strategy & Leadership, Vol. 50 No. 6, pp. 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1108/SL-09-2022-236

In their article in this issue, a team of IBM researchers notes, “The combination of data and technology has dramatically altered the manner in which customers are engaged, markets are accessed, and business opportunities are developed and executed.” In keeping with this forward-thinking concept of customer-centric data tech innovation, Strategy & Leadership is introducing a significant added value for readers and authors. S&L articles can now be published online accompanied by extensive “supplemental material.” Two articles in this issue make use of this new online feature, one offering some 21 pages of research and background data for three scenarios of the future and the other presenting a how-to guide of Cousera material for assessing innovation capability. The print versions of S&L and PDFs will note that readers can access the supplemental material online at www.strategyandleadership.com.

In this issue:

• Why customer-focused data technology innovation is critical is illustrated by Stephen Denning’s article “Why customer primacy must become the driver of performance at JP Morgan.” Denning, a senior contributor at Forbes. com and a Strategy & Leadership contributing editor, explains, “To succeed in digital, JPM needs to articulate what unique benefits customers will get now and in the future from its digital banking services.” To make investors believe in its data tech innovation plans, “JPM must rethink how banking can be re-invented to improve customers’ lives, using the new capabilities of digital.”

• In his provocative study, “Three scenarios of the United States’ future – 2022 to 2050,” Bill Ralston invites readers to visit several possible U.S. timelines. Ralston, a strategy consultant, is the co-author, with the late Ian Wilson, of the highly regarded guide, The Scenario Planning Handbook. He suggests, “Immersing ourselves in realistic narratives of the future helps us sidestep our inclination to go with what we’ve done in the past.”

• “Without a brand that attracts ecosystem partners an ecosystem will not exist,” warn Zhang Ruimin and Kaihan Krippendorff in their article “Building an ecosystem brand.” Ruimin, the founder and chairman emeritus of the board of Haier Group, and Krippendorff, the founder of Outthinker strategy consultancy, explain how, “In addition to attracting and engaging users/customers and employees, the brand must now be effective with a third stakeholder group: ecosystem partners.”

• As a consequence of the fact that “Innovation has become everyone’s job and requires the management talents of every function,” all company units can learn from this article, “Assessing and developing an organization’s innovation competency profile,” by Jeanne Liedtka, United Technologies Professor of Business, UVA Darden School and Adam Billing, Founder of Treehouse Innovation consultancy. Based on extensive research they “Have identified five unique bundles of behaviors that, taken together, comprise an innovation capability.”

• In their article “The co-evolution of data and the modern enterprise,” IBM Institute for Business Value researchers and consultants Cindy Anderson, Jacob Dencik, Anthony Marshall and Raj Teer studied CEO responses to how “From coping with uncertainty, change and complexity, to the need for more actionable insights, to empowering the individualization of the customer experience and engagement with ecosystem partners, data and digital technologies are now central to helping organizations address their top challenges.”

As we complete this sixth issue of our 50^th anniversary volume, the authors, reviewers, contributing editors and I hope you find your reading useful and stimulating!