In continuation of the previous post on the overfished ocean strategy from the book by Nadya Zhexembayeva, we describe the five principles mentioned by the author. 

Principle one : line to circle

The circular economy is “generative by design” says the Ellen MacArthur foundation where nothing is wasted and everything is going around in a circle. As an example, Gamestop that was originally a software and videogame retailer, started accepting hardware that was tossed away only to recycle them into new ones. This reverse-engineering practice became a strong skills set for Gamestop and sales of the rebuilt devices were upto $200 million.

There are some practicalities to be considered says the author.For example, not everything can be done at once. And so the options for consideration are reuse, refurbish, and recycle.

Reuse has been around for a long time. The example given here is that of cotton in textiles to rotation as fiber-fill in upholstery to insulation for construction.

Refurbish is where the product is made just like new. This is usually cost effective.

Recycle is where the product changes into something else. From line to circle is the fundamental way you do business – the most important shift needed to thrive and survive in the resource-deprived world.

Principal two: vertical to horizontal

Companies like apple are trained to satisfy their customers and in addition to look at their direct competitors. When we are looking downstream tracking the flow, competition is the vertical cut in the chain. But this is the first thing we should leave behind in the strategy we are considering. As the mining companies have discovered, the use of Caterpillar in-loaders produces a core that makes the castings needed to make the engine blocks for a tractor and the spent sand from this process goes to increase  the yield of corn that gets sold to a company which makes biofuel which in turn powers the Caterpillar in-loaders.

Principle three : growth to growth

To secure future growth, we shift from context of collapsing linear economy to moving from products to all-round solutions which becomes the easiest way to find and secure future growth. An effort to sell services rather than products is a shift in perspective along this principle. This addresses sustainability issues and becomes an opportunity for efficiency and profit.

The author argues that the first three principles of the Overfished Ocean strategy have focused on the factors and forces outside the company. But in order to be successful, we must have a principle internally to facilitate such a change.

Principle four : Plan to model

The convention to launch something is to formulate a detailed plan often looking five years into the future. This is about how to get from point A to point B.  A model on the other hand is about the vehicle you use for traveling. The American company Safechem transformed its revenue from one accrued by the volume of selling cleaning products to one that depends on the volume of cleaned surface thereby gaining rise to much more resource savvy business model.

Principle Five: Department to mindset.

Historically, deparments were seen as lending organizational efficieny  but it became so compartmentalized that it failed against the rising trends in the last two decades – which is change management. Similarly this strategy is not a department but a mindset. – one that is built on a range of distinct capabilities involving

Systems thinking  - that focuses on how things interact

Stakeholder management – people and relationships that we never knew existed come into the picture.

Design thinking – This one is new and the goto capability for the managers using this strategy. Its about the easy choices between difficult to create alternatives as opposed to finding the hard choices between tradeoffs

The author concludes with scenario planning to come up with that one compelling story.  This planning begins by asking “what if” cases and then projecting long term trends and changes involved. Scenario planning asks you to define the most material of the risks., brainstorm the possible implications and imagine proactive responses to the future that might be. As we explore everybody’s future, we might find a way to create one. The author asks when the collapse of the linear economy is given, how far are we from taking recourse in this strategy.


#codingexercise
Node getAvg (node root)
{
If (root == null) return 0;
Left = root.left ? GetAvg(root.left);
Right = root.right ? GetAvg (root.right);
Return (left + root.val + right ) / 3;

}