Strategy in a 21st Century
Creative Company: e-Types
Strategic Management
Abdel Jr. Quispe Barzola – Perú
Q1: What should the e-Types strategy be going forward? Should they continue to prefer "edgy"
work and build a reputation for that? Or should they "grow up" and broaden their approach to
appeal to more clients? Remember, this is an ambitious company; they want to grow large, but
growth costs money -- what direction will allow them to fulfill their ambitions? Can they make
enough money being edgy? Or must they broaden their appeal to grow?
I consider that e-Types should propose the avant-garde design with which they feel most
comfortable and identified as a company. It's important that this proposal is accompanied by a
robust explanation of every detail of the design, which allows the TD to understand the reason
why it is not opting for a traditional brand design and that this proposal will be a novelty in the
different international competitions where they will participate.
Why do I choose this option?
1. As we have seen, the strategy can be considered in different approaches (5P's) and in this
case, clearly the difference of e-Types consist in their pattern. In other words, their designs
go beyond a specific requirement of the client, they search or “dig” into the soul of the
companies until they find what could not be explained in words and that perhaps was
actually simpler than they thought.
2. The main reason for being of any company are its employees, as long as they feel
motivated, committed and identified with each of their jobs; We will have a solid
organization that will continue to develop day by day focused on its purpose. What's more,
at the beginning of the case, the e-Types execs indicates that the company already has
enough work to do and I am sure that it is part of the effort of its team to do things right
its way.
3. I believe that in this case the e-Types have the dominant strategy: So far, they have earned
a reputation for being designers who bet on an avant-garde style and if they win, they will
be able to make the world see that this new design style is on the rise and traditional teams
like Denmark are already betting on it. In case they lose the competition, they can be
proud to say that they were and will always be faithful to their brand and style, in addition,
the amount of money of the competition, according to one of their execs, is not so high
that we say and the company is currently profitable and is expanding with international
clients.
Q2: How should e-Types implement their strategy going forward? Should they refuse to work on
certain kinds of jobs? Should they turn some clients down? If so, what kind of clients? Describe
a step by step plan for implementing this strategy, including short term (e.g., staring tomorrow),
medium term (next few weeks/months) and long term (next year and beyond) actions.
In general terms, e-Types should maintain its innovative and disruptive design strategy, which
will mark distance from its competition with the potential that customers see in this
organization, a strategic partner that will replicate what it is (Committed to this identity and
way of being) in your company.
Therefore, for e-Types to remain valid over time, they must implement the following actions:
1. Short term
• They must be willing to work on the bids that any type of client requests, because it's
an opportunity to show the originality of their designs; still running the risk that clients
will not hire them, but being faithful to their thinking as a company.
• In order to convince traditional clients, they could do some work ad-honorem or with a
lower profit margin to persuade clients that this new design will be much more
impressive than the traditional one.
2. Medium Term
• Create marketing campaigns on the idea of revolutionary and disruptive design, based
on the phrase "Smash The World". This will allow generating greater interest in
clients and expanding or generating a targeted market that empathizes with this trend.
• The e-Types should generate their own revolutionary design competitions to generate
a greater attention for this new style.
3. Long Term
• Generate strategic alliances with design companies in other continents in order to
make the "Smash the World" trend one of the most commercial.
• Open a school of innovative and revolutionary design so that more professionals like
this new trend. In this way, if they do, they can even expand the market further.
Thanks!