Collaborating with your competitor

And how changing in perspective on your business can help

Some years ago, I worked with a company who sold their software to the top three telecoms operators in the top 50 markets in the US.  Frequently, CEOs and CIOs would ask for an exclusive right to use the software in their market, and every time I would refuse. On the face of it, this was an unfriendly and commercially dangerous act.

But it was not. I always suggested that it was better for their customers, in these ways:

  • It’s not what you use to make the cake that matters – it’s how your present it and serve it up. Is your product and service memorable?
  • Competition creates innovation – which is always better for customers and better for companies’ profitability. And a community of users fosters collaboration with suppliers, and influences their development of product innovation for you
  • New business models emerge – and it’s possible to challenge the (sometimes wrong, sometimes expensive) assumptions upon which your business is based
  • Higher levels of service are possible – creating higher barriers of entry to the market and protecting the investment of the first movers

It may seem odd. Yet some of the most successful companies have come to understand that they have much to learn from, and to teach, their competitor.

It is said that Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, once travelled 17 hours round-trip on a bus just to observe how another supermarket operated. This kind of thinking differently is at the heart of Consulting Inside Out.

Since my learning experience with the US operators, they have made many radical changes in their business.  Unthinkable then, except for a few, they are now common practice:

  • Asset Sharing – they now share passive assets like cell sites and backhaul
  • Collaboration – they collaborate on roaming agreements to leverage scale
  • What is Core – they no longer view every asset in their business as core to success
  • Service Quality – they now understand that they can be unique on quality of service

Sam Walton again: “Most everything I have done, I have copied from someone else”.  This is not about stealing ideas, as much as it is about understanding your business, understanding your customers, and moving your focus from the inside to the outside. Making this change requires patience, and it requires you to think differently.  These US operators came to understand what was unique, and what was not, in their businesses, by working together.

It may be that you need the help of the right consultant to create the right conditions for you to make the change. And to change your perspective.

How Can a Change in Perspective Help – and Why Collaborate?

Changing your perspective on how you think about your business can help you achieve that moment of awakening your company needs when you realize that:

  • Customers – are the only boss that matters, they can fire everyone in the company simply by going somewhere else
  • There is no exclusivity – on good ideas. And those companies who fail to learn from the competition, and from their own teams, may be doomed to failure. Collaboration internally and externally is key
  • When you do what you’ve always done – you will get what you’ve always got. So, what you do with your new knowledge, your attitude to change, will matter most
  • You are not alone – getting a different perspective, from competitors and from consultants with broad experience, can raise your level of performance through sharing knowledge and continuous learning

Above all, you will want someone you can trust.  Who lives and works where you live and work.  Who understands what is possible in your environment.  And who can be available for you when you need them. Collaborating with the competition?  It might be best for you.

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Co-founder and Managing Director

Originally from Scotland, Iain has spent the last 35 years working with companies as diverse as IBM, The Boeing Company, AT&T, British Telecom, and small family businesses to help them be better at what they do.  And become self-sufficient as they do it. He has worked across three continents – US, Europe, and Asia.

For the past 15 years in Thailand, Iain’s greatest joy has been working with young leaders to help them first see, and then unlock their passion, skill and talent.  Every day, Iain dedicates his time at Zanas MacKenzie to enablement and communication, which he believes are key to growth and awakening in most modern companies.

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