During the early part of my corporate career I had read a book written by Dr Spencer Johnson
titled “Who moved my cheese?” I am sure many of us have read the book. I strongly believe that
all business should seriously ask this question- has this pandemic moved my cheese? Chances are
high that it has.
At Aidias Consulting Group (ACG) we consult with several family run organizations for their
business, marketing, HR, and IT strategies. To serve the interests of our client organizations
better, we have created a framework for business strategy which we are calling ACG-9-Box
Framework for business strategy.
The framework is a simple 3×3 matrix as illustrated below along with the influence of emotion
versus rationale on the customers’ purchasing decision of the product/service:
In the above framework, emotional component on purchasing decision increases as the
customer buys products/services in box number 9 and is driven more by rationale as the
purchasing is closer to box number 1. Any brand of luxury car competes in box number 9 and will
continue to do so even after the pandemic. Our experience suggests that luxury cars are bought
more to satisfy the emotional need of the customer. Rationale or logic is used to choose the
variant within a brand.
This is a dynamic framework and the idea is to make product/service shift more towards
‘essential’ to increase customer demand. Literally, the cheese needs to be moved.
Has the cheese shifted in the first place? The questions which need to be asked is ‘where was my
business before the pandemic?’. Has it shifted due to the pandemic? Let us take a simple
example. Hand sanitizer business was in box number 7 before the pandemic. It has rapidly
shifted to box number 1 or 2 depending on the pricing strategy of the sanitizer brand. How many
FMCG companies have launched brand extensions with sanitizer as the product? Box 1 means
severe competition. And box 9 means lesser number of brands even though the degree of
competition could be extremely high as the number of customers would be less.
Let us use this framework for the automobile industry- 2-wheelers as well as cars. Pre-pandemic
it was a discretionary purchase for sure. Has it shifted to compulsion for people to maintain
social distance? Definitely, yes. Those who can afford will like to own a vehicle to commute to
and from work. Which market is likely to benefit from this ‘compulsion’? The second-hand car/2
wheeler market. This should be a key strategy adopted by automobile companies. There is a
logical extension to this possibility. Better ‘exchange’ value of cars which are old can motivate
few customers to exchange for new. Clearly the business could be shifting from box 5 or 7 to box
3 or 4. The strategy for marketing, sales, after sales, sales of accessories and financing will be
influenced by this shift in the business dynamics to the new box. The ratio of emotion: rationale
in purchase decision is likely to be 50-50. Once a business is clear about this customer
psychology, sales pitches and training of sales teams can be adjusted accordingly.
Does it mean brands featuring in box number 9 have a bleak future post the pandemic? Difficult
times, yes. Bleak future? Perhaps, not. It all depends on how such brands appeal to the emotional
component of decision making to the prospective customers.
Marketing, sales, and CRM strategies will get refined and redefined based on this business
framework and how the cheese has shifted. Businesses also need to understand the shift in
digital touchpoints of the customers path to purchase; define the experience at each touchpoint;
and embark on the journey of digital transformation which will be the greatest impact of this
pandemic. We believe that digital transformation is less about technology and more about
processes, policies and people and their attitude. Digital transformation begins at the top. Sadly,
the understanding of the digital interface of business by the business owners is rather limited
and often underestimated. This could be ‘make or break’ for business in A.C- After Corona.