The document summarizes key points from a breakfast meeting hosted by BMGI to discuss strategic trends. Participants analyzed external factors influencing business using the STEEPLE framework and prioritized technology trends. These included driverless cars, ecommerce, and advances in supply chain transportation and energy storage. Common strategic themes that emerged were the shift from ownership to usage-based models, time as a critical resource, and the need for businesses to evolve their models to maintain relevance in a changing market.

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Breakfast Meeting Hosted by:
Tom Jones, Managing Director, Europe
Michel Rooyen, Business Development
Executive Strategy
Breakfast: Strategic
Positioning & Creating
Competitive Advantage
Meeting 14: 1st May 2015
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Executive Summary
General trends in strategy had been discussed in previous
breakfasts. This meeting was used to go into deeper
discussion around external trends that have the potential to
influence participants’ business over the next five years.
The meeting was facilitated by using the analysis tool
STEEPLE to gather insights and affinitize them into
categories. The results are outlined in Section 1 and the
discussion of the prioritized trends is in Section 2 of this
report.
SECTION 1: STEEPLE Analysis
A reflection on external changes influencing business strategy
Participants were asked to add four to five significant trends or external factors that are influencing their
business and strategy and then place them under the STEEPLE headings:
SOCIAL
TECHNOLOGY
ECONOMIC
ENVIRONMENTAL
POLITICAL
LEGAL
ETHICAL

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Without going into all the inputs, three categories held the most contributions: Social, Technology and
Political. Following this exercise, Technology was selected as the main basis for discussion with the
following outputs:
Trend 1: Driverless and Smart Cars
The technology for driverless cars is now a reality, with their integration into daily life now looking like a
real potential within the next five years. As this concept turns to reality, it stands to have a disruptive
market impact on many businesses, not just automotive but also logistics, public transportation, car
leasing, insurance, etc. Combined with emerging SMART technologies, the possibilities for innovation are
radical. Driverless cars bring the ideas of “customized mobility” into focus, the idea of having
transportation when you want it, where you want it and without having to own it. It is set to solve a lot of
problems around efficiency, logistics and public transport resources. We can already see movements into
this market with the development of new business models such as Uber and the rise of shared leasing
models. The remaining concerns regarding driverless cars, such as safety and legal responsibility, currently
provide a barrier to immediate implementation but are expected to be resolved in the next few years,
making this a near-term reality that will affect many businesses.
Trend 2: eCommerce
eCommerce has been around for a long time but is still
developing in its scope and capabilities. Online purchasing
and consumer confidence is increasing with new
opportunities for online or mobile payments emerging.
eCommerce is not only driving a new method of selling but
also entirely new business models and market entry. An
example given was Amazon, which is planning to enter the
flower market through its online channels, acting as a new
intermediary seller with more customized solutions,
customer-focused offerings and a flexible supply chain.
Trend 3: Supply Chain Transportation
Supply chains and the technology used to transport goods are rapidly developing. In the flower industry,
for instance, shipping containers can now transport flowers that are still fresh up to 3 to 4 weeks instead of
3 to 4 days, radically changing the possibilities for global growing of flowers and the business model for
resale. Similar advances are taking place in many other specialist supply chains, disrupting the traditional
models of supply and demand. This holds massive opportunities to develop global trade and export
markets, as well as to reduce costs. Businesses that have large or complex supply chains must follow
critical developments and ensure they are adapting their business models and investment in order to
remain competitive in the market long-term.
Trend 4: Energy Storage
For a long time, businesses and governments alike have been exploring alternative energy sources and how
to better harness and utilize energy produced. With impacts not just on business but on political stability

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and international relations, energy is perhaps one of the
biggest influencing factors to businesses today. New energy
solutions are now more widely being invested in (wind, solar,
hydro, osmotic, etc.), but the ability to store, share and utilize
energy across countries and businesses continues to be a
critical factor to the success and development of energy
markets. Trends for the future look at new and more advanced
ways of energy storage and use (batteries, energy sharing,
interconnected grids, etc.). These developments will change
not only the type of energy we use, but also the entire business model for how energy is produced and
consumed as a critical resource.
SECTION 2: Common Strategic Themes
Connecting the dots between industry sectors
Out of these specific discussions around trends and industry-specific changes, key macro trends or
strategic themes emerged as common to all executives attending, regardless of industry. These concepts
will be important to consider and react to within all business strategies.
Strategic Theme 1: Time as a Critical Resource
Time, and the way that time is used and viewed as a critical resource, was consistent
in all discussions. Linked closely with Strategic Theme 2, the move from ownership to
usage, the utilization of time is increasingly important to businesses and consumers.
Customers are expecting more and more on-demand, which is putting pressure on
traditional business models. New delivery methods for products and services are
emerging that make better utilization of time. In a world where time is value, those
businesses that fail to adapt and take their customers’ time into consideration run
the risk of losing out to competitors.
Strategic Theme 2: From Ownership to Usage
In this increasing on-demand world, many consumers are switching mind-sets from a preference for
product ownership to leasing, shared ownership and more flexible usage models. These new models
provide a higher value for investment, with consumers only paying for the amount of the resource they
actually use, when and where they wish to use it. The model of Uber cars mentioned before is a great
example of this as is the rise of car sharing networks and overnight rentals like Airbnb. This move to usage
over ownership is likely to disrupt more industries, not just B2C companies, as the need for more value-
added and efficient, on-demand resources continues.
Strategic Theme 3: Changing Business Models
As markets evolve and consumers’ expectations increase, traditional business models need to evolve to
maintain relevance. With pioneering disruptive companies such as Google, Amazon and Apple challenging
the traditional market structures and pushing the boundaries, those businesses that fail to adapt will

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unfortunately lose their market position. Businesses need to cannibalize their own market in order to
adapt to the future.
Underpinning all of these themes is the need for increased
stakeholder management, something that continues to be a
challenge for all business.
Many leaders recognize the importance of investing in these
strategic themes, but the willingness to actually give time and
money and the ambition to make “big moves” is just not there
amongst many stakeholders. The adoption of many of these
essential changes is often slow, with traditional businesses set in their ways and failing to see the
opportunity. The questions this leaves us with: Is this incremental, tentative change enough to protect
businesses from disruptive market forces. Will they be able to respond to survive?
Summary:
The trends mentioned are by no means the only external influencing factors that businesses need to be
aware of, but a reflection on those discussed by the executives present. The ability to monitor and analyze
trends is an important part of strategy creation and should be a fundamental part of any strategy
discussion. Tools like STEEPLE help us to reflect on these trends in a structured way and can be helpful to
drive discussion.
Further STEEPLE exercises will be carried out in future breakfasts and collated in a more comprehensive list
for attendees.
For further information about the authors and future events, please contact:
Megan James, Marketing & Operations Europe, BMGI
Email: info.eu@bmgi.com | Tel: +44(0)7788292824
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