• Mayrig
• Yeni Raki
• Aerolife
• Beauty'in
• Graze
• LA Organic
• Moa Beer
• Nespresso
22. Futuretech.. changing the game of technology and networks
Technologies have most impact when they empower people through intelligent interfaces, supported by smart devices and enabling networks.
• Samsung
• ARM
• Raspberry Pi
• Alibaba
• Bharti Airtel
• GiffGaff
• Google <X>
• Huawei
• Tencent
• Xiaomi
23. Futuremakers.. changing the game of manufacturing
Manufacturing has become smart and on demand – responsive to global aspirations of connected markets, and customized to local needs.
• Tesla
• GE
• Syngenta
• Corning
• Tata
• 3D Hubs
• Braskem
• Space X
• Dyson
• Local Motors
Case studies for other categories, updates of the brands in these categories, plus winners of regional ‘Gamechangers' competitions to find the best local innovators, can be found at www.Gamechangers.pro.
ARE YOU READY TO GET STARTED?
At the end of the book you will find the ‘Gamechanger Labs'. These consist of 16 canvasses, practical toolkits and workflows to apply the best ideas to your own business.
PART 1
ARE YOU READY?
Next generation businesses win by changing the game. They don't want to be a little better, they think bigger.. they see things differently, and think different things.. they define and shape markets in their own vision. They combine all the tricks of 21st-century business to engage and inspire people.. to enable more, to make life better. And to win.
1
PLAY.. THE GAME
THE GAME, CHANGE THE GAME
‘Moonshots' are the incredible, seemingly impossible, ideas that can change our world.
Google <X> is a moonshot factory. Full of creative thinkers, optimists, seeking out the big opportunities and most challenging problems, that with a little imagination and a lot of innovation might just make our world a better place. From intelligent cars to augmented vision, the <X> team fuses technological possibility with human need, to create more audacious, inspiring futures.
This is how we move forwards.
From Galileo's vision to da Vinci's mechanics, Ford's cars to Bell's phones, Apple's devices to Dyson's cleaners. They enrich society, and make life better. Markets emerge out of new possibilities, seeing things differently, thinking different things. Brands capture big ideas, innovation turns them into businesses and future growth.
We live in the most incredible time.
Days of exponential change and opportunities limited only by our imagination. A world where impossible dreams can now come true. A period of awesomeness. From Alibaba to Zespri, Ashmei to Zidisha, Azuri and Zipcars, a new generation of businesses are rising out of the maelstrom of economic and technological change across our world.
‘Gamechangers' are more ambitious, with stretching vision and enlightened purpose. They see markets as kaleidoscopes of infinite possibilities, assembling and defining them to their advantage. Most of all they have great ideas, captured by brands that resonate with their target audiences at the right time and place, enabled by data and technology but most of all by rich human experiences. Social networks drive reach and richness, whilst new business models make the possible profitable.
Our challenge is to make sense of this new world, to embrace the new opportunities in innovative ways, and to be a winner.
WHAT'S YOUR GAME?
Branson flashed his trademark grin, flicked his shaggy, maverick hair.
‘Business is like the best game you could ever imagine.'
We talked about his multi-billion dollar investments in financial services, media and telecoms, airlines and space travel. He described his responsibility to hundreds of thousands of staff, and millions of customers.
And he was calling it a game.
He was having fun now, challenging the notions of conventional strategies and structures, especially in the biggest companies. The essence of Virgin, he said, is to do things significantly different and better.
He talked about his admiration for kids and for the next generation of entrepreneurs – especially those in fast-growing markets who have hunger and passion, and how he was inspired by iconic revolutionaries, Nelson Mandela and Steve Jobs.
‘You've got to think different, uninhibited like a child, never give up, have an ambition that you really care about, take more risks, be ingenious, make a bigger difference to people's lives, have incredible fun, but also play to win.'
I asked him what keeps him going. ‘Doing things different, unexpected and a bit crazy,' he said. ‘It's about playing the game. But the best way to win is to change the game.'
Whilst he says he's not too old for an all-night party, Branson loves a game of tennis, and that's after he's swum for an hour each morning along the coast of his own Necker Island.
From his earliest venture, launching a student magazine, he would always do things differently. He launched his first airline with no knowledge of the travel industry, but he had a big idea, to provide low-cost travel that was modern and fun. And he had a brand that at least some people loved. He could see an opportunity to disrupt the market, to be on the customer's side. When he launched mobile phones, he piggy backed on somebody else's network to grow further and faster, and targeted a new generation of consumers.
Even Virgin Galactic, his latest and craziest business, is not all it might seem. He had no experience of space travel. But he got together with glider designer Burt Rutan to do things differently, launching his spacecraft from the back of a mother ship, eventually to be fuelled by his algae farms on the Carribean, hugely reducing costs and carbon emissions and enabling daily departures and landings.
Perhaps the most surprising revelation is that space is not really the frontier. Branson's real ambition for Virgin Galactic is inter-continental travel. Imagine a one-hour flight from Rio to Jakarta, or Cape Town to Beijing. It could get a little weightless on the way, but could transform the way we think about the world.
Whilst Branson was still playing, it was already evening in Beijing.
Li Ka-Shing was sitting down to a dinner of his favourite snake soup. The Chaozhou-born, Hong Kong-based chairman of Hutchison Whampoa is the richest man in Asia, worth around $30 billion according to Bloomberg.
Yet