Guillaume Villon de Benveniste, Auteur à The Innovation and Strategy Blog

Generating revenue in emerging markets : making an additional 20% in revenue

March 8, 2016January 11, 2017

How should large Fortune 500 and FMCG companies go about growing their revenue in emerging markets? What sales and distribution tactics should they use in order to boost revenue? The obvious answer is simply to replicate what works in the Western world and apply it in an emerging market? Rajiv Prabhakar, founder of Ivy Mobility, warned me that this was not an effective tactic, as…

In english

On producing 23.3 percent compound annual return: exceptional CEO performance at General Dynamics—1/2

February 9, 2016March 12, 2019

I’ve often believed that innovation is a critical component in any competitive strategy. But, in reading The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success by William Thorndike, Brian Troxell and Phil Gigante, I was led to analyze in closer details the making of superior performance in a depressed market segment. The example of General Dynamics, a defense company that survived…

In english

The secret of Oracle’s performance: a discussion with Mark Hurd, CEO of Oracle

October 20, 2015January 11, 2017

How to grow the total available market when business-to-business IT spending remains constant? How to increase revenue when so many things are changing in the business environment : clients, consumers, employees ? How can an established company like Oracle generate double-digit growth when client spending stays flats ? Where does Oracle’s find the market space to fuel additional growth? These are some of the questions that came…

Non classé

Innovation is a share valuation booster, a discussion with Luka Mucic, CFO and COO of SAP

October 13, 2015March 12, 2018

About two years ago, I had an extensive discussion with François Darchis, Senior Vice-President of Air Liquide, on how to build competitive advantage. He indicated that the company had pursued multiple strategies to develop a sustainable competitive advantage. Implemented strategies included: cost reduction operational excellence Geographic expansion in BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China) François Darchis also told me that he was adding a…

In english

Disrupt from inside out, a discussion with Linda Yates, CEO of Mach49

September 22, 2015January 11, 2017

Innovation and organic growth are the two biggest challenges facing most large companies today. The way out? Disrupt from inside out! Despite tremendous assets and talented teams, many of the G1000 find it hard to help their new ventures reach the escape velocity required to disrupt existing markets and create new ones. Conventional wisdom says that large companies don’t have what it takes to meet…

In english

Dave’s take on developing innovation in global 1000 fortune companies

August 11, 2015January 11, 2017

Innovating in large companies has always been difficult. Senior leaders flock to innovation, but they have to meet their quarterly goals in established business operations. So how can large companies that get their resources from existing and established lines of business, with a proven profitability rate, find the resources to nurture innovation internally and pursue it with the same consistency and rigor? For a…

In english

Which innovation practice will work best for you?

July 14, 2015January 11, 2017

This is the question that Dave Blakely and I covered in a recent discussion. Dave mentioned that there are four important and overlapping perspectives on innovation in the Silicon Valley: open innovation disruptive innovation design thinking The lean startup I/ Introducing Dave Blakely Dave Blakely helps mach49’s clients build businesses at the intersection of emerging technologies, business opportunities, and customer needs. He…

In english

Innovations in healthcare : a discussion with Merv Turner (3/3)

March 10, 2015April 13, 2019

What are the transformational innovations that will affect the healthcare industry by 2020? This is a question that Merv and I discussed in a recent conversation. I/ Innovations in Alzeihmer’s Disease (AD) Merv mentioned Alzheimer’s Disease as an area where there is the potential for a binary outcome by 2020. A number of pharma companies – Merck; Lilly/Astra Zeneca; Biogen Idec/Esai; Roche; Novartis –…

In english

Innovations in healthcare : a discussion with Merv Turner (2/3)

February 3, 2015April 13, 2019

What are the critical innovations in healthcare? How are they changing the relationship between patients and caregivers ? What are the forthcoming developments in healthcare? These are some of the topics I talked about with Merv, an advisor for Bay City Capital in San Francisco and Merck’s former Chief Strategy Officer. I/ Measuring outcomes In clinical development studies, we are accustomed to the gold…

In english

Innovations in healthcare : a discussion with Merv Turner (1/3)

January 20, 2015April 13, 2019

I recently had the opportunity to discuss developments in healthcare with Mervyn Turner, Merck’s former Chief Strategy Officer. Some of the topics we covered include : what were the most remarkable developments in healthcare, looking back over the last 5 to 10 years ? How have these developments changed the patient experience ? How have they changed the physicians’s practice ? How have they changed healthcare companies ?…