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Part 3 - Customer Focus: What does it really mean to be customer-oriented?

Writer: Magne Bjella
Magne Bjella
20 hours ago
21 min read

"I'll have a conversation with you; it will be all on my terms. Your product is going to have to be visually beautiful, technically perfect, and distinctive. And it has to be available where I shop at a price I'm willing to pay."


"Now, if it is all of those things, you gain the permission, in the one minute the consumer deals with your brand, to devote about 10 seconds to the issue of values. And if you miss any step along the way, you are talking to yourself, which is a terribly sad place to be."


Jeff Swartz - President and Chief Executive Officer, Timberland - Fast Company , August 2008



Many businesses say that the customer is at the center. The wording is found in strategies, annual reports, presentations and core values. But there is a big difference between declaring yourself customer-oriented and organizing your business so that the customer actually influences how products are developed, services are delivered and decisions are made.


Customer focus is therefore not primarily about slogans, politeness or an efficient customer service department. It is about how the business understands the market, how it acquires and shares knowledge about its customers, and how this knowledge influences strategy, innovation, technology, organization and priorities.


The American Marketing Association describes market orientation as a fundamental orientation or business philosophy of a business. There is an important distinction: Customer orientation is not just an activity that can be assigned to the marketing department. It is about how the business thinks and works.


Watercolor from a vibrant retail environment in Oslo where customers compare products and receive assistance. The motif illustrates the fundamental power of the customer in a competitive market: the business can develop the offering, but the customer decides whether she wants to choose it.

From product focus to customer focus

Businesses need products.


They need technology, expertise, production, logistics and efficient operations. But a business can become so focused on what it produces that it loses sight of why the customer buys the product.


The classic problem is defining the business based on the product instead of the customer's needs.


A railway does not primarily transport trains. It helps people and goods from one place to another. A bank does not just sell banking products. It helps people and businesses with, among other things, payment, financing, savings and financial security. A manufacturer of drilling machines does not just sell machines. The customer is trying to solve a problem.


This does not mean that the product is unimportant. The point is that the product is a means to create a value that the customer demands .


A product-oriented business often asks:

How can we sell more of what we already make?


A customer-oriented business also asks another question:

What is the customer trying to achieve – and how can we solve this better?

The difference may seem small, but it can affect the development of the entire business.


Customer focus is not the same as customer service

Good customer service is important, but customer service is only one part of the customer relationship.


A business can have very nice customer service representatives and at the same time have:

  • products that do not meet customer needs

  • complicated ordering processes

  • inadequate product information

  • poor accessibility

  • incomprehensible prices

  • delivery problems

  • digital solutions that are difficult to use

  • complaints processes that create unnecessary work for the customer


In such cases, customer service may end up fixing problems that other parts of the business have created.


It is therefore too narrow to make customer focus the responsibility of the customer service department.


Customer focus must encompass the entire business.


The product developer influences the customer experience.


The IT department affects the customer experience.


Logistics affects the customer experience.


The finance department influences the customer experience through invoicing and payment processes.


Management influences the customer experience through the priorities it sets.


And the employee who meets the customer directly affects both the customer experience and the business's ability to learn from the customer.


Market orientation – the customer as organizational knowledge

Research on market orientation made customer focus something far more comprehensive than marketing.


A central idea in this research tradition is that the business must develop knowledge about the market and customers, disseminate this knowledge throughout the organization, and react to what it learns.

This means that customer information should not be left isolated in one department.


A customer service representative may discover a problem.


The sales department may observe a new competitor.


The online store can show that customers abandon the purchase process at the same place.


The product department can register a new usage pattern.


Logistics may see repeated delivery problems.


Each observation only provides part of the picture. The strength of the business lies in the ability to connect information and turn it into knowledge and action .


This is one of the reasons why modern marketing is described as part of the culture and strategic direction of the business, not just a series of campaigns or sales initiatives. The AMA also points to research that treats marketing as an organizational transformation.


Watercolor of customers and employees in a warm store and café environment where questions, choices and service happen simultaneously. The image illustrates that the customer experience is created through many small encounters between people, products and the company's services.

Customer centricity – but not all customers are the same

Customer focus and customer centricity are often used as if they mean exactly the same thing. They don't necessarily.


Wharton professor Peter Fader has been one of the most prominent voices in modern customer centricity. His starting point is that customers are different, including in terms of behavior, needs, and economic value to the business. Customer centricity therefore does not necessarily mean that all customers should be treated identically.


Father formulates the core as follows:

"Customer centricity is the idea that not all customers are created equal." - Peter Fader

This perspective can seem provocative if customer focus is understood as everyone receiving exactly the same attention.


But businesses have limited resources.


Some customers shop frequently.


Others rarely shop.


Some want comprehensive counseling.


Others want quick self-service.


Some customers may develop into long-term relationships.


Others carry out a single transaction.


Customer orientation therefore also requires an understanding of differences between customers .


It is also important to distinguish between treating customers differently strategically and treating people disrespectfully. All customers should be met properly. But the business does not necessarily need to invest equally in all customers, products, channels or relationships.


Customer focus starts with listening

The business needs information about its customers.


It can come from many sources:

  • direct conversations with customers

  • customer service and frontline

  • qualitative interviews

  • observation of users

  • complaints and claims

  • customer satisfaction surveys

  • sales data

  • search data

  • web analytics

  • product reviews

  • social media

  • return reasons

  • user surveys

  • testing of products and digital solutions


None of these sources alone provide the whole truth.


Customer data can show what the customer does, but not necessarily why.


An interview can explain why the customer believes something, but what the customer says is not always identical to what the customer actually does.


Complaints can reveal serious problems, but they only represent those customers who actually choose to complain.


Therefore, good customer insight requires multiple methods and multiple perspectives.

And even more importantly: the information must be used.


A business does not become customer-oriented by conducting more and more customer surveys if the results do not influence decisions.


The customer service representative is part of the company's knowledge system.

Here we come to one of the most important questions in this entire series of articles.


What do the people who meet customers every day know?


Customer service representatives, store employees, advisors and salespeople find themselves in a position that management can rarely replicate.


They hear the customer's own words.


They face frustration when something doesn't work.


They discover misunderstandings.


They see which questions are repeated.


They get to hear what solutions the customer is missing.


They can detect changes long before they become apparent in the overall statistics.


This makes the front line something more than just an executive service function.


It can be a strategic listening post for the market .


But only if the business has mechanisms that allow knowledge to move forward.


If the employee registers the problem, resolves the customer's case, and moves on to the next conversation, valuable insights can be lost.


If ten employees encounter the same problem without the observations being collected, the business may believe it is facing ten individual incidents when it has actually discovered a system problem.

Thus, customer focus is also about organizational learning .


Information must be able to move upwards

This is perhaps one of the most underestimated questions in customer orientation.


Businesses are often good at sending information downwards .


Management creates strategy.


The goals are communicated.


Routines are established.


Systems are being implemented.


But customer focus also requires a well-functioning information flow upwards and across .


What happens when the employee discovers something?


Can she report it further?


Is the information collected?


Are patterns identified?


Is there anyone responsible for evaluating the proposals?


Does the employee know what happened?


This becomes particularly important when customer insights point to a need for innovation.


A business can have extensive innovation programs and at the same time overlook the ideas that arise in hundreds of customer meetings every day.


Then a lack of ideas is not necessarily the problem.


The problem may be the organization's ability to discover, assess, and use them .


Customer focus requires management to tolerate bad news

Customer orientation sounds pleasant as long as customers are satisfied.


The real test comes when the information is uncomfortable.


The customer thinks the product is bad.


Employees say that a new process is not working.


Users don't understand the digital solution management has just invested millions in.


Customer satisfaction is declining.


A competitor solves a problem better.


Then the business must choose between defending its previous decisions and learning.


Customer focus therefore requires an organizational culture where information is not evaluated based on how comfortable it is for management.


This includes being able to ask:

  • What do customers tell us?

  • What problems recur?

  • What have we misunderstood?

  • What assumptions are our strategy based on?

  • Have the customer's needs changed?

  • What do the front line know that management doesn't?


Customer orientation is thus also a question of management's ability to receive information that challenges the business's own understanding of reality .


Watercolor of customers researching and discussing products with an employee. The motif expresses a central principle in the Customer series: the business can develop an offering, but the value must also be experienced by the person who will use and pay for it.

Customer focus means looking at the business from the outside

Richard Branson has formulated this perspective simply:

"The first thing to do is put yourself in your customers' shoes." - Richard Branson

It's easier said than done.


People who work for a long time in a company learn the language, routines and systems of the organization. What seems natural

internally can therefore be very difficult to understand from the outside.


The business knows the product names.


The customer knows their problem.


The business knows the organizational chart.


The customer just wants to find someone who can help.


The business knows why there are three separate systems.


The customer does not want to provide the same information three times.


The business knows the reason for a complicated process.


The customer just finds the process complicated.


Looking at the business from the customer's perspective can therefore reveal friction that the organization itself has stopped noticing.



Amazon and the idea of working backwards from the customer

Amazon has made customer focus an explicit leadership principle. The company's first Leadership Principle is Customer Obsession , which states that leaders should start with the customer and work backwards, while working to earn and maintain customer trust.


The formulation is interesting because it reverses the usual product logic.


"Leaders start with the customer and work backwards." - Amazon Leadership Principles

Instead of first developing a product and then asking how to sell it, the mindset starts with:


Who is the customer?


What is the customer trying to achieve?


What problem exists?


What should the desired experience look like?


The organization then works backwards towards the technology, processes and resources required to deliver this.


Jeff Bezos has also emphasized that a business can focus on many different things – the competitor, the product, the technology or the business model – but has argued that a strong customer orientation is particularly important for preserving the vitality of the business.


This illustrates the difference between having customers and organizing around understanding customers .


All commercial businesses have customers.


Not everyone is customer-oriented.



Customer focus does not mean that competitors are irrelevant

Of course, a customer-oriented business cannot ignore the competition.


'Customers make choices between alternatives, and competitors influence prices, expectations, technology and standards.


But there is a difference between learning from competitors and letting competitors define the strategy.


A business that only follows its competitors risks becoming reactive.


The competitor launches a feature.


The business copies.


The competitor changes the price.


The business is responding.


The competitor opens a new channel.


The business follows suit.


Customer focus instead attempts to understand why the market moves .


What need does the new solution meet?


What does the customer value?


Have expectations changed?


Is there a better way to solve the problem?


The competitor can thus be important information, but the customer should be a more important source of understanding what the business is actually trying to achieve.


Watercolor from a busy and inclusive café in Oslo with families, seniors, couples and individual customers meeting with employees. The image shows how customer choices are shaped by more than the product itself – the environment, service, simplicity and experience also count.


Customer focus is also not the same as saying yes to everything.

A business that attempts to satisfy every wish of every customer will quickly encounter problems.


Customers may want different and contradictory things.


Some want the lowest possible price.


Others want maximum service.


Some people want lots of choices.


Others want simplicity.


Some want human contact.


Others will never talk to a customer service representative.


The business must therefore choose.


Strategy involves priorities.


Customer focus provides information that improves these priorities, but does not eliminate the need for management and judgment.


Peter Fader's work is particularly relevant here. He argues that customer centricity requires businesses to understand the differences between customers, measure them, and let this understanding influence strategic and tactical decisions.


Knowing your customers also means understanding which customers the business is best suited to create value for.



Customer focus must be visible in the priorities

It's relatively easy to write "customer first" on a presentation.

The interesting question is what happens when customer focus conflicts with other considerations.


What happens when:

  • a better customer solution requires an investment?

  • Do employees need more time to properly resolve a problem?

  • customer data shows that a popular internal project should be changed?

  • A process is cheap for the business but cumbersome for the customer?

  • A product the business likes no longer meets market needs?

  • customer insights point in a different direction than management had planned?


It is in situations like these that we see whether the customer focus is real.


Customer focus does not mean that the customer automatically wins every conflict of interest. The business must take into account finances, employees, owners, legislation, social responsibility and long-term sustainability.


But the customer's perspective must be a real part of the decision-making basis .


Otherwise, customer orientation is primarily rhetoric.



Measurement is important – but the numbers are not the customer

Businesses have gained access to enormous amounts of customer data.


They can measure:

purchases, clicks, searches, conversions, abandonments, repeat purchases, customer satisfaction, delivery time, contact frequency and a number of other factors.


This has given businesses better opportunities to understand customer behavior.


But the numbers represent actions and patterns.


They are not man himself.


A low conversion rate tells you that something is happening.


It doesn't necessarily tell you why.


A declining customer satisfaction indicates a problem.


It does not automatically identify the solution.


Many customer service inquiries may mean that customer service is popular. It may also mean that the product or digital solution is creating unnecessary problems.


Therefore, customer-oriented businesses need both quantitative data and qualitative understanding .


They need numbers.


And they need people who can interpret what the numbers mean.



The technology must support the customer focus – not replace it

Digitalization, CRM systems, analysis tools and artificial intelligence give businesses increasingly better opportunities to collect and analyze information about customers.


But technology does not make the business customer-oriented by itself.


A CRM system can collect large amounts of data and at the same time contain little real customer insight.


An AI model can analyze thousands of customer inquiries, but the organization still has to decide which problems should be solved.


Automation can make service faster, but also create frustration if the customer does not reach a human when the situation requires it.


The technology should therefore be assessed based on what it makes possible:


Do we understand the customer better?

Are we solving the problem better?

Are we reducing friction?

Are we giving employees better information?

Does the business learn faster?


If the answer is no, more technology does not necessarily mean more customer focus.



Customer focus is a learning skill

The most interesting perspective is therefore perhaps to consider customer focus as the business's ability to learn.


A customer-oriented business continuously strives to understand:

  • what customers need

  • how needs change

  • what problems customers face

  • how the products are actually used

  • why customers choose competitors

  • What experiences do the frontline have?

  • what new opportunities the technology opens up

  • where the business itself creates unnecessary problems


The information is collected.


It is being discussed.


It challenges established assumptions.


And when knowledge is good enough, it influences action.


It is this last part that is crucial.


Insight without action is just information.



From customer focus to customer insight

Part 1 defined the customer and the boundaries of the customer concept.

Part 2 showed why the customer is a fundamental player in commercial value creation.


This article has shown that customer focus is not primarily a service philosophy. It is a way of organizing a business's attention and learning.


A customer-oriented business:

  • understands who it is trying to create value for

  • investigates what needs and problems customers have

  • combines data with human insight

  • listens to employees who meet customers

  • shares knowledge across the organization

  • allows customer insights to influence decisions

  • differentiates between different customer groups and needs

  • uses technology as a means, not an end

  • learns when customer expectations change

  • is willing to change when knowledge dictates it


Thus the following question arises:


How does the business actually acquire this knowledge?

That leads us directly to the next article:




Recommended literature

Customer focus, customer insight and customer relationships cannot be understood in isolation from developments in digitalisation, innovation and user experience. The way a business interacts with its customers is shaped today by people, technology, digital services, organisation and the ability to develop new solutions.


Therefore, this bibliography currently contains books that highlight several of these perspectives.


Here you will find literature on digitalization, innovation, user experience, usability and the development of digital services, among other things. Steve Krug's Don't Make Me Think is a natural example: The book is about usability on the web, but at the same time touches on a fundamental question in the entire Customer series – how easy or difficult the business makes it for people to succeed in what they are trying to do.


Similarly, literature on innovation can help us understand how observations, needs and problems of customers and users can be developed into better products, services and work processes.


The literature list will eventually be expanded with more books that specifically address customer focus, customer insight, customer relations, customer loyalty, e-commerce, service and customer experience.


The goal is not to collect as many books as possible, but to build a literature base that makes it possible to understand the customer from multiple professional perspectives.


From San Francisco and Oxford to the customer

Experiences from professional seminars and study trips in San Francisco and Oxford are also part of the background for this professional universe. Topics such as innovation, digitalization, e-commerce, user experience and new business models have over time contributed to a broader understanding of how technology and organizations must take as their starting point the people the solutions will actually work for.


The Customer Series continues this perspective: Technology is a tool. Innovation is a tool. Value arises when solutions actually work for the people they are designed for.



The book cover of The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson, an internationally recognized classic in e-commerce, digitalization, and modern business strategy. The cover represents the book that introduced the Long Tail theory, a model that explains how digital markets create value through a wide variety of niche products rather than just a small number of bestsellers. The book is central to e-commerce, digital marketing, customer experience, search engine optimization (SEO), information architecture, content strategy, and artificial intelligence. Chris Anderson shows how the internet, search engines, digital marketplaces, and recommendation systems have changed the way people find products, information, and knowledge. The Long Tail is considered mandatory reading for leaders, marketers, web editors, UX designers, digital strategists, and anyone who wants to understand how digital platforms, AI, and data-driven personalization create competitive advantage and long-term value in the digital economy.

The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More


Author(s): Chris Anderson


Short review

The Long Tail is one of the most influential books on how the internet has transformed commerce, marketing, and consumer behavior. Chris Anderson introduces the theory of the “Long Tail,” which explains how digital markets enable significant value creation through a large number of niche products, rather than relying on a few bestsellers.


The book shows how digital distribution, low inventory costs, search engines, and intelligent recommendation systems have made it profitable to offer an almost unlimited product range. Where traditional stores were limited by physical shelf space, online stores can offer millions of products and let customers find exactly what they are looking for.


Chris Anderson illustrates the theory with examples from Amazon, Netflix, Google, and the digital music industry, showing how the internet has changed the rules of competition for businesses around the world. Many of the insights have since become even more relevant through artificial intelligence, personalization, and modern search technology.

The authors take the reader through the entire process – from planning and organizing to publishing, managing and continuously improving content on websites and digital services. Although technology has evolved since the book was published, the principles of quality, relevance, management and long-term content work are at least as relevant in an era where search engines and artificial intelligence assess the credibility and usefulness of content.


Why we recommend the book

At The Invisible Capital, we consider The Long Tail to be one of the most important books in e-commerce, digitalization, and modern value creation.


The book explains why customers no longer just buy the most popular products, but increasingly find value in specialized products and services that meet individual needs. This insight has had enormous impact on the development of online stores, digital marketplaces, search engine optimization (SEO), information architecture, and content strategy.


Today we see that the theory also fits very well into the development of artificial intelligence. AI helps people discover relevant content, products and knowledge that were previously difficult to find. This has given the Long Tail principle a new dimension, where well-structured content and high professional quality are increasingly important for visibility, trust and value creation.


This is a book we believe everyone who works with e-commerce, digital marketing, customer experience, innovation, digital strategy or artificial intelligence should read.





Book cover for Don't Make Me Think Revisited by Steve Krug – an international classic on usability, web design, UX design, information architecture, navigation and digital user experiences. The book is recommended for anyone who develops websites, digital services and customer-oriented solutions.

Content Strategy for the Web (2nd Edition)


Author/authors: Kristina Halvorson and Melissa Rach


Short review

How do you create content that actually helps people – and at the same time supports your business goals? Content Strategy for the Web is considered one of the most influential books in the field of content strategy and digital communications. The book shows how good content does not arise by chance, but through a deliberate strategy where user needs, the organization's goals, structure, work processes and management are closely linked.


The authors take the reader through the entire process – from planning and organizing to publishing, managing and continuously improving content on websites and digital services. Although technology has evolved since the book was published, the principles of quality, relevance, management and long-term content work are at least as relevant in an era where search engines and artificial intelligence assess the credibility and usefulness of content.


Why we recommend the book

At The Invisible Capital, we believe that good content is one of the most important forms of invisible value creation. A website is far more than design and technology – it is the content that builds trust, creates great customer experiences and helps people find the answers they are looking for.


This book is perfect for leaders, communications consultants, content producers, web editors, UX designers, and anyone working with digital services. It shows why a clear content strategy leads to better user experiences, more effective interactions, and stronger digital results over time.


In an era where artificial intelligence is increasingly important in how information is discovered, understood, and communicated, this book is more relevant than ever. It reminds us that technology alone never creates value – it is good, structured, and relevant content that makes the difference.




Book cover for Don't Make Me Think Revisited by Steve Krug – an international classic on usability, web design, UX design, information architecture, navigation and digital user experiences. The book is recommended for anyone who develops websites, digital services and customer-oriented solutions.

Don't Make Me Think

Author: Steve Krug


Short review

Don't Make Me Think is one of the world's most influential books on usability and web design. Since its first edition in 2000, the book has helped designers, developers, content producers, and managers understand a simple but powerful principle: Good digital services should be intuitive. The user should be able to complete their task without having to stop and think about how the website works.


Why we recommend the book

This is one of the books that has had the greatest impact on my own work with digital services. Over the years – from SAS and the Norwegian Opera & Ballet to working on Bærum Municipality’s website – the principles in this book have been an important reminder that technology is never an end in itself. The goal is to make everyday life easier for the people who use the services. Despite the fact that the book was published many years ago, the message is just as relevant today.






Book cover for Internet Marketing & eCommerce by Ward Hanson and Kirthi Kalyanam – a professional book on digital marketing, e-commerce, customer experiences, digital business models, innovation, internet strategy and value creation in the digital economy.

Internet Marketing & eCommerce


Authors: Ward Hanson and Kirthi Kalyanam


Short review

Internet Marketing & eCommerce provides a thorough introduction to how the internet has changed marketing, commerce, and business development. The book combines theory and practical examples in digital marketing, e-commerce, customer behavior, value creation, and digital business models. Although written at a time when the internet was still in its infancy, many of the fundamental principles are still highly relevant.


Why we recommend the book

This book was an important part of my own learning journey in digital marketing and e-commerce. It helped build my understanding of how technology, customer experiences and business strategy are interconnected – an insight that later became very important in my work with SAS, the Norwegian Opera & Ballet, Bærum Municipality and eventually the project The Invisible Capital. Many of the ideas about customer value, digitalization and innovation presented on the website have their roots in the knowledge this book conveys.




Book cover for The Innovator's Solution by Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. Raynor – a practical extension of the theory of disruptive innovation with a focus on growth, innovation strategy and the development of the businesses of the future. Recommended literature for leaders and innovation environments.

The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth


Authors: Clayton M. Christensen and Michael E. Raynor


Short review

In this sequel to The Innovator's Dilemma, Clayton Christensen shows how businesses can translate innovation theory into practical strategy. The book explains how companies can identify new growth opportunities, develop disruptive innovations, and build organizations that thrive in rapidly changing markets.


Why we recommend the book

While The Innovator's Dilemma explains why established businesses are often challenged, The Innovator's Solution provides concrete advice on how to meet the challenges. The book is therefore a natural next step for anyone who wants to understand innovation, strategy and long-term value creation.





Book cover for The Innovator's DNA by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen and Clayton M. Christensen – an inspiring book about creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship and the five skills that characterize the world's most innovative people. Recommended reading for leaders, entrepreneurs and anyone who wants to develop their innovation skills.

The Innovator's DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators


Authors: Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen and Clayton M. Christensen


Short review

What characterizes people who create groundbreaking innovations? The authors identify five key skills – observation, questioning, experimentation, networking and association – that are common to the world's most innovative leaders and entrepreneurs.


Why we recommend the book

This book shifts the focus from organizations to the people behind innovation. It shows that creativity and innovation can be developed through deliberate training and experience. The perspectives align well with the philosophy behind Invisible Capital, where human competence and curiosity are the most important drivers of development.




Book cover for Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice by Clayton M. Christensen, Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon, and David S. Duncan – a renowned textbook on innovation, customer insights, Jobs to Be Done, service development, customer experiences, and strategic value creation. Recommended reading on The Invisible Capital for leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, and anyone who wants to develop products and services with human needs at the center.

Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice


Authors: Clayton M. Christensen, Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon and David S. Duncan


Short review

In this book, Clayton Christensen further develops the theory of Jobs to Be Done – the idea that customers do not primarily buy products, but "hire" them to solve specific needs. Through practical examples, the authors show how businesses can develop products and services that address customers' real-world challenges.


Why we recommend the book

For anyone working in customer experience, service design, and innovation, this is one of the most insightful books ever written. It reminds us that value creation always starts with understanding the people we are developing solutions for – a fundamental principle of Invisible Capital.





Book cover for The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen – a classic textbook on disruptive innovation, digital transformation, technological change, innovation management, business development and how businesses can face new markets and competition through innovation and strategic restructuring.

The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail


Author: Clayton M. Christensen


Short review

The Innovator's Dilemma is considered one of the most influential books on innovation and technological change. Clayton M. Christensen introduces the theory of disruptive innovation and explains why even the most successful businesses can fail when new technologies and business models challenge established markets. Through a series of examples, he shows how companies often focus on today's customers and incremental improvements, while overlooking innovations that later change entire industries.


Why we recommend the book

This is one of the books that has had the greatest impact on modern innovation thinking. When I first read it, it gave me a whole new perspective on why some businesses succeed in transformation, while others lag behind – even when they are well led. The insight has been an important part of my own understanding of digitalization, innovation and change management, and many of the reflections in The Invisible Capital build on the ideas Clayton Christensen presents in this classic. The book is as relevant today, in the face of artificial intelligence and digital transformation, as it was when it was published.




Book cover for Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology by Henry Chesbrough – the groundbreaking book that introduced the concept of open innovation. A key textbook on innovation management, knowledge sharing, collaboration, technology development, digital ecosystems, business development and value creation. Recommended reading on The Invisible Capital for leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs and anyone who wants to understand how collaboration creates the innovation of the future.

Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology


Author: Henry Chesbrough


Short review

Henry Chesbrough introduced the concept of Open Innovation and changed the way many businesses think about research and development. He shows how companies can create more innovation through collaboration with customers, universities, start-ups, suppliers and other external partners.


Why we recommend the book

Open Innovation has had a major influence on modern innovation thinking and was also an important topic during the seminars in Oxford and San Francisco. The book shows why future value creation occurs in the interaction between people, businesses and knowledge environments – not within closed organizations alone.






Book cover for Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne – an international bestseller on innovation strategy, business development, value creation, competitive advantage, market strategy and how businesses can create new markets through creativity and differentiation. Recommended reading on The Invisible Capital for leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs and anyone who wants to develop the businesses of the future.

Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant


Authors: W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne


Short review

Blue Ocean Strategy challenges businesses to shift their focus away from fierce competition and instead create new markets with little or no competition. The authors present strategies and models that help organizations develop innovative products, services, and business models.


Why we recommend the book

This book has inspired leaders around the world to rethink strategy and innovation. Instead of competing for the same customers, it shows how businesses can create new value through creativity and differentiation. The perspectives align very well with the themes of innovation, digitalization, and long-term value creation in Invisible Capital.





Book cover for Outside Innovation: How Your Customers Will Co-Design Your Company's Future by Patricia B. Seybold – a renowned textbook on customer engagement, co-creation, innovation, user-centered development, customer experiences, service design, and digital transformation. Recommended reading on The Invisible Capital for leaders, innovators, product developers, and anyone who wants to create better solutions through collaboration with customers.

Outside Innovation: How Your Customers Will Co-Design Your Company's Future


Authors: Patricia B. Seybold


Short review

Patricia Seybold shows how businesses can create better products and services by actively involving customers in the innovation process. The book describes how dialogue, co-creation and close collaboration with users can provide better solutions and stronger competitiveness.


Why we recommend the book

Customers often hold the most important insights into how products and services can be improved. This book emphasizes the importance of listening, involving, and learning from users – a perspective that is echoed in many of the articles on The Invisible Capital. Innovation rarely happens alone; it is created in the interaction between people.




Book cover for Blown to Bits: How the New Economics of Information Transforms Strategy by Philip Evans and Thomas S. Wurster – a groundbreaking textbook on digitization, information economics, digital transformation, business strategy, platform economics, innovation, and how technology changes markets and value creation. Recommended reading on The Invisible Capital for leaders, innovators, marketers, and anyone who wants to understand the development of the digital economy.

Blown to Bits: How the New Economics of Information Transforms Strategy


Authors: Philip Evans and Thomas S. Wurster


Short review

This book analyzes how digital information is changing competitive conditions, markets, and business strategies. The authors explain how the internet is disrupting established structures and creating new opportunities for businesses that are able to think differently.


Why we recommend the book

Although written early in the internet revolution, the book describes many of the developments that still characterize business today. It provides valuable perspective on how digitalization affects value chains, competition, and innovation – themes that are central to Invisible Capital.







Book cover for Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams – a groundbreaking textbook on digital collaboration, open innovation, knowledge sharing, networking, crowdsourcing, digital transformation, and value creation. Recommended reading on The Invisible Capital for leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, and anyone who wants to understand how collaboration and technology are shaping the future of society and business.

Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything


Authors: Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams


Short review


Wikinomics shows how openness, sharing and collaboration across organizations create new forms of innovation and value creation. Through a number of international examples, the authors describe how digital networks make it possible to develop products, services and knowledge together.


Why we recommend the book


This book was groundbreaking when it was first published, and many of the ideas have since become a natural part of everyday digital life. The perspectives on collaboration, knowledge sharing, and open innovation processes align very well with the philosophy behind Invisible Capital, where people and networks are at the center of value creation.







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