The pursuit of purposeful growth...

…or what can we learn from business in the quest of battling climate change?

During my last two years, I had the privilege to spearhead the resilient water infrastructure vertical in the newly founded venturing and innovation division Aliaxis Next . Being one of the world’s largest and most successful pipe manufacturer with a presence in more than 42 countries, Aliaxis are close to many of the really big water challenges the world is facing.

But what can a global corporate contribute with in the sustainability domain?

A lot actually. Like with all challenges, opportunities are inherent, if you look good enough. And if you are really good, you can find those sweet spots, where commercial success and sustainability goes hand in hand.

I am a strong believer, that sustainability should be driven by product performance, and thereby become the natural choice for us all – be it a corporate, a citizen or a nation.

I have written earlier about the journey of Procter & Gamble in making sustainability the irresistible choice for its customers. At Aliaxis Next, our utmost task was to identify and engage with the best startups in the world, and help them grow and expand their offerings globally. Our belief was, that what is good for the planet also can be good for business.

A few of the learning points from my journey, that I believe could be valuable to share with you are:

• Your success when engaging in corporate venturing activities is not only dependent upon the startups you engage with, but your ability to connect your core business with the entrepreneurs. By aligning the general business strategy with the venturing activities, decrease the internal friction when trying to connect agile entrepreneurs with the core environment. The Danish energy company Ørsted is a good example of this, where venturing is only one of many tools that are utilized to support the company’s mission: Accelerate the transition to a world that runs entirely on green energy. Every new innovation project, independent of the “tool” applied, is based on a desire to increase the capability, extend a current offering or entering into a new business domain, fully aligned with the business strategy.
• The whole is bigger than the sum of all parts. Few companies are in the fortunate position to provide the full end-to-end solutions that pave the way for sustainable change. However, when engaging in collaboration and building an ecosystem together with other solution providers, with offerings that complement what you bring to the market, everyone is better off. The customers get a more coherent solution stack, and each collaboration partner gets a share of the value created. A example of this is TRATON GROUP with their newly formed Traton Charging Solutions subsidary, which will accelerate green transportation by building an ecosystem of charging points for heavy cargo transport around Europe. By working together towards a joint vision and inviting charge point operators to participate in realizing the vision, freight operators get reliable and broad access to the charging stations needed to move goods between countries in a green fashion.
• Innovations closest sister is change. Every new innovation that is brought to the market, no matter where it stems from, will incur change. For the customers, the changes are hopefully positive (being able to work faster, more accurate, save resources etc.). For the producer, the new product or solution will need to be supported, produced, sold or marketed in a (often) new way. The “not invented syndrome” can easily appear, when a specific R&D initiative without warning “lands” in another division within the company. Smart companies have acknowledged, that creating internal anchoring and followship is key to minimizing friction and increasing value creation, both for the customers and for the inventor. The producer of trucks, Scania Group , is a company that master the internal anchoring, thus releasing the full potential of the company’s strategic, technical and human capabilities in their quest of reshaping green transportation.
• Customer understanding is key to creating customer value. Countless are the examples where a brilliant solution is put on the market, but where the solution does not solve the actual problem the customer are standing with. Sometimes, this is a matter of lack of customer/problem – solution fit. And sometimes it is about lack of customer-oriented communication. I have touched upon the problem in earlier posts, and a prime example is the advent of the exciting opportunities digital technology present for the water industry. But if your customer is lagging behind in digital maturity, no AI-based algorithm or fancy dashboard will conceal the fact, that your solution needs to explicitly address a real customer need. This was one of the interesting topics at a water conference I attended last year, where water utilities, solution providers and advisors spent three days together, exploring and discussing the future of water. Several of the water utilities I spoke with, expressed their frustration of having very concrete problems to be solved, and experiencing startups and solution providers talking on a completely different level. For me, this is an important reminder of, that AI, IoT, machine learning, large language models and digital technology is not worth anything in themselves but are a tool for achieving something else. And when going into “innovation mode”, having a deep understanding of your future customers’ needs should always be in the forefront of your head, when exploring new, exiting technological opportunities.

Let it rip!