Start-up, Technology, Social impact. Three of the major drivers modern strategy professionals list on their quest for the dream Industry role out of consulting.
There are fewer sectors that struggle with these demands more than FMCG. The capital investment required to start your own Consumer Goods business beyond an artisan experience is significant, and beyond a lean, agile operating model receptive to innovation there’s not a lot your average corporate giant can do about being a start-up.
This leaves us with Tech, and the tricky idea of an innate Goodness to fall back on. Beyond the jokes about electric shampoo bottles and a panda saved for every 10 packs of gum, there are very real things going on within the Industry to get excited about.
James Quincey’s promise that Coca-Cola will recycle the equivalent of every plastic bottle by 2030, announced one year ago this week, is setting oneself a herculean task. 110 billion one-use plastic bottles a year is a lot of bottles. It’s exactly 110 billion bottles.
How do you do that? From a giant ocean hoover, to a continental bottle collection scheme, to finding a de-composable alternative to plastic altogether, the company are exploring a myriad of solutions who’s fate will all be entwined with the feasibility and ingenuity of the technology and organisation underneath it.
If they achieve that 2030 goal it will be a massive achievement that will surely set industry leading templates for other companies, governments and organisations to follow. So green, yes. (Nobody’s rooting against them.) Technology, yes. (It’s impossible for the image of the hoover – a saltwater Nessie gobbling up our sins like the dog when you’ve spilt the cereal – not to be your favourite). But, Will they manage it? Is it possible? How?
Surely, that, is what strategy is all about.
I’d like to hear from you. Do you think becoming more technology-focused and boasting a social impact will help you attract more strategy professionals?
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