MOOC Strategic Management
Strategic Management and Innovation Specialization
1|P ag e Roxana-Maria Proca 15 December 2015
<< A sense of becoming: the E-Types 21st century approach
to design and business strategy >>
I. The E-Types design firm1
’’ E-Types is a design firm, based in Copenhagen, on the rise... ambitious ...successful...
profitable... extremely busy. Everybody's working hard...extra hours. .. It has an expanding base of
international clients. If we look at its history, it's the result of several mergers of smaller firms. E-
Types got its start when 4 graduates of the Danish Design School decided to get together and start a
business. They'd just graduated from the Danish Design School, and they decided they didn't like
what they saw there very much. They had seen the world of design, and they decided they didn't like
it very much, and so they adopted a phrase... They wanted to smash the world of design. This was
the beginning of a firm that considered itself extremely edgy, extremely revolutionary.
II. The E-Types Assignment / Project information: Logo &
Identity for Denmark’s National Sports, Team Denmark.
’’ In 2006, E-Types, ... was invited unexpectedly to participate in a design competition. They were
competing against 2 other much more prominent firms, that's why they were surprised, and it was a
very prominent competition. It was a competition to provide new logos and new identity for
Denmark's national sports team. So, the logo that they defined, the look that they defined would be
on television, it would be on shirts, it would be on hats, it would be on anything that Team Denmark
fans wore, or encountered at a sports event. Very, very high visibility for the winner. A very big deal
for e-types if they could win. The problem that e-types had is that they had 2 designs, not one. They
began with the brief, the document provided to them by Team Denmark. The document that
described what Team Denmark was asking for, in a new logo, in a new identity. They developed a
design very quickly from that, and it fit very well, and people thought it was a good design, but there
was a problem. The designers didn't like it. These are smash the world, revolutionary, edgy designers.
And they decided that this logo, this identity, was boring. That it wasn't the kind of work that they
were proud of. And so they went back to the drawing board and produced a much younger radical
design, which they called the edgy design. The designers loved this one, but everyone agreed that it
might just be too radical for the client.
1
[Link]
2|P ag e Roxana-Maria Proca 15 December 2015
…A design competition is not the way e-types likes to work. They like to dig into the soul of a
company. They like to learn what a company is about better than the company knows it themselves.
They can't do that in a design competition. Everyone who is in a competition has to work from the
same document, the design brief. ... The fact that they had 2 designs generated a huge controversy.
In the end, they came up with 3 options for how they thought they might proceed.
a. Present only the edgy design to the client. Now, they estimated the probability of winning the
competition if they went this route was only about 20%. And by the way, the designers
agreed with that. The designers agreed that the edgy design was unlikely to win, but they
didn't care. They weren't proud of the other design, they wanted to present work that they
were proud of, that fit their smash the world spirit. (Edgy)
b. Option two, present only the classical design to the client. Here, they believed, and by the way
these numbers are just their own estimates, they could be wrong about this. But they thought
they had a very strong, conservative, too conservative as far as the designers were
concerned, classical design. They believed that they had an 80% chance of winning the
competition if they went with the classical design. And, again, the designers were adamantly
opposed to it, despite it's high probability of winning. (Classical)
c. Option three, they could present both designs and let the client choose which design the client
liked. ( Edgy and Classical) ’’.
III. Which of the 2 designs, edgy or classical, do you think E-
Types should present to its client and why ?
Which design should e-Types present?
We consider that E-Type clearly does not have a ploy or a pattern strategy2 because it does not
intend to out-manoeuvre opponents or competitors on an already very fragile market with no need
to threaten or discourage competitors. Moreover, theirs is not a strategy as a position because they
do not have a special environment a product-market ’’domain’’ and their position is not identified
with respect to competitors – because there is not a niche clearly defined for their added-value
products on the market. In fact, as they describe themselves, they bring something that nobody else
– none of the competitors – has, can. In their own words:
’’’We have two different currencies in this company. We have money, like cash flow.&
then we have prestige/street respect/doing something great. And sometimes, the
currencies work in the same direction and sometimes you can get a lot of one
currency but then not get the other. And then however you choose. Here we actually
had a lot of work, had a lot of cash flow, and we could take the decision based on
2
Source: © 1987, by The Regents of the University of California. Adapted from the California Management
Review, "The Strategy Concept 1: Five Ps for Strategy" by Henry Mintzberg, Vol 30, No 1. By permission of the
Regents. [Link]
3|P ag e Roxana-Maria Proca 15 December 2015
what we felt was right for our design style, for a little bit of what was right for the
client also. And then in the end also, the decision was about what kind of company do
we want to be? Do we want to be the kind of company that just does what the client
wants or the company that challenges our clients? But in terms of integrity, honest, ’’’
Our recommendation is based on the following criteria to provide it the soundness and
persuasiveness needed in the meetings with stakeholders of E-Types and feasibility needed ( without
requiring anything impossible or cause anything catastrophic): the E-Types approach to Strategy – is
a very 22 century approach: innovative, smart, eco-friendly, honest and efficient driven. E-Types is
formed by a young group of experts which have a thorough understanding of the evolution of design.
E-Types seem to have analyzed and know their company very well and came up with the conclusion
that the best Strategy is a combination between Strategies as a plan – some sort of consciously
intended course of action, to deal with a situation, in order to capture a certain market type of
clientelle and something new. Their strategy as a plan is developed therefore consciously and
purposefully. In a changing world of globalization, multi-criteria innovation, unsustainable financing
for development and climate change first ever signed world agreement3, E-Types approach makes
sense towards breaking new boundaries. Moreover, in the country where E-Types is based and has
its Headquarters, the rate of innovation is very high. Innovation is therefore a very important variable
of that market; it is almost an expectation from all new companies and firms. E-Types approach to
this new project is reflecting this status quo and raises its stakes with a very bold statement: I am not
what the market wants. I am more. I am a trendsetters dedicated to an even more specific market.
We cannot recommend a single move E-Types should take to ensure the direction of future success
and growth because their market is fluctuating and uncler/unknown, because it was a challenge E-
Types faced in 2006 and because in the past 10 years markets changed drastically ( both in terms of
form/concept and fond/content). What we can do, is point to the following: in order to remain
faithful to the raison-d’être this type of firm was created, the decision to prefer quality and
uniqueness over main-stream targeted-responses based mainly on clients ‘requests and preferences
is better in their case now and most probably also for the future, because their own ideology about
their firm, their role on the market, their reflection of E-Types in the future support is thoroughly:
’’Why win the competition and maybe you earn some money, but it's not that big amount
of money, and you make this thing that doesn't have any meaning for you? I mean, you
don't want to show it to anybody …. So your touch as a company is distillate is rooted in
very classical graphic design tradition, taking on more the role of a consultant or a trusted
advisor to companies, but at least some one you can trust with your identity. The best
projects we make, I think it's the ones where people say, this is what we've been thinking
all the time, we were just not able to express it ourselves. So where we don't make like a
fast makeover of something, or tells people to say something or whatever, that's not the
way we work, but where we go and dig deep into the soul of the company and also the
strategy of the company, where it wants to go and then finds out how to express this in a
way that people think this is themselves, and it's maybe even more themselves than what
they had been able to say by themselves.
3
December 2015 - Paris Climate Change Summit, 196 countries have agreed on an ambitious plan to address
climate change on a global level and within their own borders.
4|P ag e Roxana-Maria Proca 15 December 2015
Identity is both about identification with value or whatever, but it's also about
aspiration that you're striving for a goal. I would say that identity is really about a sense
of belonging and also a sense of striving towards something. A sense of becoming. To
create an identity that people feel at home in but also they have to work every day to
fulfil the promise, because it's over promised that's not yet realized. So it might sound
over profound for Covert Identity Company, but we really take what we do very seriously’’
Describe a step by step plan for implementing their future strategy, including short term, medium
term and long term actions.
Based on the above description of their interests and identity, in the future the E-Types ’’audience’’
and products will need to be broadened if they wish to have the feedback and take the correct pulse
of the markets for their products. Recognition of clients is most important and not own self-
satisfaction from the results of their services and products – as the clients pay and the clients are
always right to express what they desire. However, in markets where it is not necessarily demand –
led services which impose the outcomes perhaps it is not irrelevant or absurd that the company
should be paid to decide that is if E-Types is willing to assume responsibility for the outcome of their
products. That said, if the products fail, E-Types is not paid, if the products are a success and sales
rise, E-Types is paid. This is not an approach easily accepted and it depends on the cultural
background. If French or more Northern designers would never accept to risk work for no pay,
Romanian and more Southern designers would definitely take the risk. This is already happening in
areas of EU Funding Projects and Programs were the European Commission encourages all Member
states to apply for EU funding with project proposals and if accepted the projects shall receive up to
85 – 100 % reimbursements. If not selected, the applicants have to cover all their projects costs.
Therefore the period of projects initiation and grant application (research, conceptualization) is done
pro-bono by the experts with no payment for that specific period incurred in the Budgets plan.
We doubt that all markets are prepared for the E-Types services. It all depends on which markets
they want to grow big on and on which they settle to be present to be more selective or in the BGC
chart, the STAR. However, it cannot be that no type of price is paid by E-Types to the market for their
ambitious growth plans.
In this situation E-Types have 2 options:
A. They stay small and true to the form their products take and growth for a very selected base first
and then, hopefully the market grows to a level whereas their services are as valued as Apple
products: quality over price (No compromise to quality/innovation design – Short and long term
approach). (See: from a STAR to a CASH COW – BGS Matrix, below).
B. They make compromises now to allow more clients to enter their market share and make profits
towards more growth and afterwards they become selective towards clients/projects and true to a
preferred quality of products initially intended to reflect the direction and status of such a firm
(Compromises for short term growth; No/ Less compromises on Medium/Longer term); ( From a
CASH COW towards a STAR - BGS Matrix, below).
In could also be said that the best approach for E-Types is a situation-based approach. They could, as
a third option under evaluation, also separate their firm in two informal strategies: 1 group as a first-
response strategy and a 2 group as a true-response strategy. Some clients might feel more
5|P ag e Roxana-Maria Proca 15 December 2015
comfortable to remain in a first response strategy camp while others would encourage E-Types to
explore their full potential and together with a market-research of their market share and clientele –
accept or not – to implement it in the short, medium or long terms. In conclusion, let s not forget
that their past approach made such a bold statement that it remained in the manuals of strategic
management representative as a flux of thought in the domain ever changing in itself that needs
further analysis so no 100 % statement can fully capture this area.
The should remain faithful to their identify even if they do not receive all projects/ clients/ grants/
funds they wished to access - because success does not come only from constant successes but also
from crisis and failures/negative results/bad periods. Some projects perhaps you were not supposed
to get because the project in itself had another added-value for you: it was not about the project or
the money but about finalizing and better defining your own identity as a company and clarifying
those details and position with your stakeholders while stepping up your strategy formulation and
strategy implementation4 by verifying and testing the market.
In short, if they started in this strategic direction, then they should implement some of the few above
mentioned changes and keep this strategy while going forward. They should focus on a hyper
differentiation strategy without refusing to work on certain kinds of jobs. By assuming their market
position they should also clarify to the market /clients the all-around added benefits of their
approach and the added-value. They should never turn down clients but always challenge
themselves and the clients by providing the most design-edgy versions/alternatives possible and
establish themselves as the trendsetters they see themselves becoming. Stakeholder management
shall vary in the future and clients need to be thoroughly managed with a view to creating a culture-
clientelle. The clients must accept the status of E-Types and enjoy their products and services and
therefore the clients are the never-ending fountain of possible and future projects, of challenges and
of honest feedback. This is the Questions time period where, according to the BGS matrix, E-Types
should maximize the received feedback to the fullest while deciding their future strategies.
Therefore, E-Types management strategy going forward should continue to focus on edgy work and
build a reputation as trend-setters with a view to growing and broaden their appeal to more clients
(new clients or second-handed clients by former clients.)
Is the client likely to see this recommendation as legitimate and reasonable (e.g., not
stretching the rules of the design contest)?
This client might have more restrictions but that does not have to define the identify of E-Types. This
is a challenge in all competition for prizes, projects, grants and should be clarified before with the
clients and the design contest organizers so as all the information is made public and transparency is
ensured. Certainly E-Types do not want to be accused or involved in a scandal.
4
"Get the World," By Sanoma: [Link]
6|P ag e Roxana-Maria Proca 15 December 2015
The BGS Matrix5
Will the recommendation keep e-Types employees sufficiently happy to keep the company
together and functional on future jobs?
This recommendation is based on the core ideas that human resources are fluent values and should
not impede the firm to step in the desired direction. If the human resources in the design firm do not
identify with this set direction to the point of contrasting interests then a new solution should be
found for those employees although it is rarely the case that in these types of groundbreaking design
firms employees are not clear about the risks the company faces on the market and the dependency
of the firm on their identity being understood and their skills appreciated by the market/clients. Cler
5
[Link]
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7|P ag e Roxana-Maria Proca 15 December 2015
cut short term, medium as well as long term roles and responsibilities should be able to keep
employees happy and satisfied. Stability of clientele and uniqueness of design should be able to bring
fulfilment searched for by such innovative design professionals.
Bibliography
MOOC Strategic Management Course materials – the Copenhagen Business School, 2015.
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learning/
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group-the-one-force-that-really-matters/
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learning/
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chimpanzee/
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8|P ag e Roxana-Maria Proca 15 December 2015