Author
5 articles
Biography in German
Marcus is an entrepreneur, consultant, trainer and facilitator. As managing director of zagmates, he helps companies to thrive on their journey of strategic growth and innovation. In addition, Marcus is CEO of Boardle.io - the leading independent portal for online workshop templates. He is passionate about strategic foresight, business modelling and measurement, making ideas tangible and focusing on their impact. Prior, he had been working for more than 15 years in leading positions in international industrial companies focused on marketing, sales, business development and product management.
How should you deal with uncertainty in business cases? This article helps to understand the opportunities, anticipate risks and - most importantly - make better investment decisions.
InnovationDr. Marcus Liehr11 minutes
ISO standards such as ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 are among the most popular management systems for companies worldwide. With the ISO 56000 family, the International Organization of Standards is currently introducing a new series for innovation management. This article explains the components of the standard, the benefits for companies, and the innovation management systems guide ISO 56002, which is at the heart of this series.
ProcessesDr. Marcus Liehr9 minutes
"Never let a good crisis go to waste." This sentence, addressed by former Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to then U.S. President Barack Obama, makes it clear that crises are not only a threat, but also offer special opportunities. Crises can expose weaknesses in companies that were not visible in good times or whose elimination was not important. A sense of urgency is created to address large and small change processes. Changes in markets and customer needs also create new opportunities for growth. Unique opportunities arise to make targeted investments in the future.
StrategyDr. Marcus Liehr11 minutes
Innovations are one of the key drivers for the growth and survival of companies. However, as various studies show, there is a very high probability that an innovation idea will not fulfill the goals associated with it. For example, between 70 and 90% of all newly launched products fail. Almost 2/3 of all startup investments lose money. According to a recent study by CB Insights, one of the main reasons for the failure of startups is that there was no sufficient market need for the developed solution. In view of these figures, the following will first show why the classic approach of creating a business plan is not sufficient or can even be a waste of time and resources. Subsequently, the Bayes theorem, innovation options and Monte Carlo simulations are presented as three powerful but simple methods for evaluating the chances of success of innovations in the early development phases.
InnovationDr. Marcus Liehr13 minutes
No one needs to become a scientist to conduct experiments to test business ideas. However, there are a few basic principles to keep in mind. In this article, I discuss why validating business ideas is important and how experiments are most effectively implemented.
InnovationDr. Marcus Liehr10 minutes
