Great (digital) business is not a coincidence! The material presents you a structured visual framework for strategic thinking and a design toolset for managers, business developers and designers. This part 1 is about company core and how to start mapping it. Upcoming parts 1. Company core 2. Customer insights 3. Customer experience management 4. Business model & Value proposition 5. Operational models 6. Applying the framework

1. Great (digital) business
is not a coincidence!
Part 1: Company core

2. Who am I?
@MikkoVaatainen
Consultant| Designer | Catalyst
Designing businesses, services and products with co-prefix.
Things may be serious - doing doesn't have to!

3. Sneak preview to whole set
The whole set is a structured visual framework for strategic thinking and a design toolset for managers, business
developers and designers. This part shows how to start mapping your company core.
Core building blocks

4. The basis…

5. The basis
?Who are our customers and
what jobs they hire us to do?
Why should I select
that company?
First two fundamental questions that you as a company need to have answers. One for yourself and the other for your
Customers.

6. The basis
Value proposition
What is your value proposition?

7. The basis
Touchpoints
Where are the touchpoints between you and your customers and what kind of experience you deliver in those
moments of interactions?

8. Who are you
as a company?

9. Company core
Why we do
what we do
Action plan What we do
Purpose, strategy, value and brand are the core building blocks of a company.
Manifestations

10. 1 - Purpose
Why you do what you do as a company?
Purpose statement
The purpose statement describes the reason the company exists.
Of course all companies need to have sustainable business models (=make
money) to exist but that’s not the purpose. The purpose describes the
mission the company is set to do and the values how the company does it.
The purpose statement should not be more than 5 sentences! It needs to
be crystal clear. If it’s more than five it’s not clear.
What is the purpose statement of your company?

11. 2 - Strategy
The basis for the strategy is build on competencies, capabilities and positioning.
Competencies “What you know”
§ What are the knowledge & skills your company possesses?
§ Are any of the competencies the best within your industry?
§ Which of the competency areas produce the greatest differentiated
value for your customers?
Capabilities “What you do”
§ What are the top3 capabilities in your company?
§ What is the evidence to proof this?
§ What are the competing companies top3?
Positioning
§ What is your position in the competing environment?
§ What types of innovations your company is set out to do?
§ In which position you wish to be in?

12. 2 - Strategy
Strategy is an action plan to bring about a desired future. GOST is a great framework for making that action plan
from high-level goals to concrete actions.
Goals – Objectives “What to achieve”
Goals and objectives describe what the company is trying to achieve. Goal
is a target in general term and objectives are specific descriptions of that
goal.
Strategy – Tactics “How to do it”
Strategy and tactics describe the path to achieve the set goals & objectives
and how to allocate the company’s resources. Strategy is more general
resource allocation plan and tactics outline the specific actions how the
company will actually realize that plan.
Are your objectives SMART?
SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound

13. 3 - Value
3 STAGES
Your existence as a company is build around the value.
In simple terms, first you need to create value for someone in one way or
another. Secondly there needs to be ways you deliver that value to your
paying customers. Finally in order for you to have a sustainable business
you need to capture the value and make sure that you capture more than
you spend on creating and delivering.
Basically the business model of every company is a structured
description of how an organization creates, delivers and captures
value.
Value is the center block in company core.

14. 3 - Value
1. Create
What is your value proposition and how you as a company create it?
Who is your customer? What is the need you fulfill or job you help getting
done? How you satisfy that need or accomplish the job? The benefit for
customer from using your offering?
What is your elevator pitch?
Elevator pitch is a 30s sales pitch for your value proposition.
The first stage is to create value.

15. 3 - Value
2. Deliver
What kind of relationship you have with your customers and what
channels and methods you use for delivering the value?
What kind of disruptive models the digitalization enables in your
industry?
The second stage is how you deliver the value you offer.

16. 3 - Value
3. Capture
How you capture the value generated by your offering?
Is the pricing in line with your positioning and sincere to your purpose?
How the pricing is perceived in qualitative and relative terms by your
customers in your market?
Are you seeking growth? Is your business model scalable for
(exponential) growth?
The third stage is capturing the value.

17. 4 - The brand
The brand is the fourth core block.
Prefer Understand
& remember
Notice
The manifestations of you as a company
The purpose statement answers to the question why you do what you do.
The brand is how you do it. It is everything you do as a company!
Your company has a solid core when the brand is manifestations of your
purpose. This makes your voice sincere and your targeted customers will:
1. Notice you over the chaos
2. Understand the thing you are doing and from that also remember you
3. Eventually start preferring you over time.
Is your brand sincere to your purpose?

18. Core building blocks
Why we do
what we do
Action plan What we do
The core building blocks of a company: purpose, strategy, value and brand.
Manifestations

19. Core building blocks
Simply put the company core basically answers to questions why, how and what. Start mapping your core and
remember KISS.

20. End of part 1: Company core
@MikkoVaatainen
What do you think?
Ask, comment and question. You’ll find me in twitter.