Muscat – Atheer
In an attempt to help its employees evaluate emerging technologies and their potential impact on the organisation, the Zubair Corporation (Z-Corp) has organised a two-day session titled ‘New Technologies and Technology Disruption and Business Model Innovation.’ The session was organised in the framework of Z-Corp’s vision to serve as a leader in driving Oman’s socio-economic progress.
In line with its vision to be a world class organisation and invest in high potential opportunities and entities for sustained value optimisation, Z-Corp organised the workshop so to give participants an understanding of new technologies that have the capacity to create competitive advantage, change markets, or change the business landscape. The intention was also to provide a perspective on business model innovation, which refers to the promotion of unique concepts supporting an organisation’s financial capability and the processes for bringing those ideas to realisation. The workshop also oversaw a session on combining business model innovation and technology for strategic positioning.
Rashad Mohammed Al Zubair, Chairman of the Zubair Corporation, said “we believe in investing in our people, with the session focussing on very relevant topics. In keeping with the global trend, Z-Corp realises the potential of new technology, disruptive technology and business model innovation. The aim of the two-day session was to find ways in which to incorporate these elements into our business processes. The session also helped us adopt the latest trend in building an appropriate business model to overcome situations such as the current
economic scenario.”
The sessions were conducted by Sameer Hasija, an Associate Professor of Technology and Operations Management at INSEAD, which is one of the world’s leading and largest graduate business schools. INSEAD has campuses in France, Singapore and Abu Dhabi.
Sameer’s sessions focused on using a process lens to understand new levers of innovation. Using a systematic analysis of processes within and across firm boundaries, he emphasised the role of process-based innovation in creating new business models and fresh competitive positioning for existing business models. Sameer also gave participating executives an understanding of the latest developments in technology and their role in radically disrupting and transforming businesses.
Z-Corp is dedicated to introducing tools based on technology, through which it will help its staff mitigate risks and be ready for unseen risks in future, either financially or operationally. This programme is mainly envisioned to help the group’s senior management and to support them in finding a space in which they can play a major role in introducing or inducting new technologies.
The session also introduced the latest business model and strategies. Such initiatives are a continuous process for Z-Corp and this is part of its strategic planning, which has been developed and designed through previous workshops conducted with strategic partners. The strategy map drawn during such sessions focuses on areas like innovation excellence, operational excellence, customer excellence and building the business.
Attaining innovation excellence, Z-Corp has created a culture of innovation by improving its teams’ capabilities, creating a framework that drives the innovation pipeline with creative, customer-oriented solutions that can be piloted, assessed and implemented, driving operational excellence.
Achieving operational excellence, Z-Corp has employed high performance personnel who exhibit the right behaviours and cultures that use good management systems, tools, technology and continuously improve though learning and adaptation. Having accomplished customer excellence, Zubair is considered a customers’ provider of choice for the products and new services it offers.
Similarly, Z-Corp has made a serious commitment to innovation, with this dedication having enabled its management team to recognise the importance of innovation across the group and make significant investments in the development of its innovation capabilities. As part of the ongoing Executive Leadership Development Program (ELDP), Z-Corp also partnered with Global Innovation Management Institute (GIMI) to conduct a leadership programme for all major leaders of the Z-Corp group, in which it focused on innovation leadership.
