Welcome to the segment on transing. In this segment I will explain what transing means. We will see that it happens in many different domains and to give you a very practical sense of how to transe. We will apply it to Starbucks and to yours truly. Okay, what is transing? It sounds like something from a science fiction movie or novel. It's a word that my brother and I coined in our various papers to discuss how we can cope with change. Because change has become such an occurrence in all walks of life. And we borrow the word from the Latin prefix -trans, which means, among other things, across, carry, beyond. And we see it in words like transfer and transcend. And we know that the domains, whether it's technology and even culture, now are colliding. And so the lines are becoming increasingly blurred. Again, transing occurs in many different domains and we discuss a lot of these in our papers. But here I'll keep it to maybe two domains where we can see examples of how, again it's becoming very blurred. An area like, music. Where you have artists like Lady Gaga, Susan Boyle and Psy, who defy age, who defy background. Who defy even cultural appeal. In short, they transcend conventional boundaries. And we see it in media. So in marketing, media really matters a lot and it's becoming very difficult to know what media to use when. And a lot of companies end up using, sort of this trans media strategy. A company like Uniqlo, who is increasingly using online media to market their products. Periodically, they hold something called a lucky line. Which is a virtual queue. And in some cases, millions of people queue in line to get this prize. That's something that you wouldn't do in the offline world, but can in the online one. Also, YG Entertainment, a company that we will visit. They hold hologram concerts, which is enabling them to expand their global reach. Okay, so what to do in the age of transing. Simply put, you have to have an open mind, even in terms of strategy. So this is what we call Flexible Fit. So the Fit part, I think that's pretty consistent to existing thoughts about strategy. But the Flexible part speaks of the kind of the adaptive risks that we have to take to address the potential threat, the potential tsunamis taking place in our environment. So let's apply that to a Starbucks. Let me preface my remarks that saying that this is my analysis of Starbucks. And even though I have visited Starbucks, I talked with executives. Their position on how they cope with change might be slightly different. But in my perspective, Starbucks is transing very, very well. At all V, S and A levels, of course which stands for Vision, Strategy and Action. That is a sign of good transing. So from their vision standpoint, this is just from their website. It looks pretty sort of consistent to what they've been doing, but I think the key difference, the key evolution, is that no longer is this emphasis on just coffee. So their vision I think embraces other drinks, maybe even other businesses. And we get a clearer sense of that at the strategy level. Where of course they have the Fit part, where they will continue to grow their coffee business. But more and more, they will also address the sort of the newer markets where they might have higher growth. And that is the Flexible part. And of course that's reflected in their actions. So I won't go into the details, you can read the fine print later. But their Vision, Strategy and Action are, I think, twofold. So even though, maybe, for the most part, and again the percentage could be 90% or more is still on coffee, it's I think, that other 10% where they address changes taking place in their environment. And, you'll note that V, S and A are aligned. So, I have this numeric system, here, where for strategy one, which address their Fit part, you have aligned action, various actions. But likewise, for their V-S2, which addresses the Flexible part. And there are many components of that. But one key change that we've all noticed is that there no longer is that sort of coffee sign on their logo. In way, they're paving the way for consumers to know that Starbucks is into more than just coffee. They're transing. They're going beyond coffee. And so we see this vertical alignment between their V, their S and their A. But we also see a horizontal alignment in terms of, even though we may be thinking about product, there has to be sort of this consistency with their other marketing mix component. Whether it's price, whether it's a place and promotion. And likewise for the other components between their other brethren. Okay, lastly, how am I transing? Well, I have always endeavored to reach people with a message but I think until now, my audience has been very specialized. A very academic, very business related audience. But I aspire to reach more people, so the Flexible part is where I'm trying to trans to a non-business audience. Through a non-business medium, such as through filmmaking. Such as through maybe writing short stories. Such as through maybe, because I have some artistic talent, drawing webtoons. And so I have already made two short films, fictional narratives. And this enables me to talk about some social issue that I wanted to address. So this is very different from sort of the usual academic model that I think most academics follow. But again, it's me trying to transcend so that I can attain my vision of reaching a broader audience. And I've noted that my experience in this new vocation helps me in my existing day job. It's enabled me to become a better professor, because I think I see more in terms of as a filmmaker, needing to understand the of my different characters. And that's the beauty of transing, you realize that even though you think starting out that it's something very different, if you transcend at a higher level, you begin to see these linkages. So as a personal transing process, I encourage you to likewise have this more transcendent vision. To apply this to a strategy, of course, the concentration might be more on the Fit part. But depending on how much sort of growth you want, maybe sort of the Flexible part has to be increasingly expanded. I'm a firm believer that you have to act upon your strategies. It can't be just all talk, at some point it has to be some walk as well. There's a great deal of learning that takes place when you actually execute your strategies. As we saw with me, there might be these unintended cross-pollination. Where your new endeavor helps you in your existing ones. So, summing up, we're exposed to a lot of change. And how we cope with that change is through what I have called transing in this segment. And you can apply transing through VSA. Whether it's a brand like Starbucks or it's you. And the key to transing is to have this open mind where you not only keep on doing what's brought you success, but you also have to adopt sort of newer, riskier, kind of strategies to address the, again, the changes occurring in your environment.
