Archives: Analysis

An interesting dynamic characterizes the design world: while the client may foot the bill, a long list of stakeholders—from users to community representatives to neighborhood opponents—shape the project. Ultimately, these stakeholders can significantly alter a project’s final outcome. For this reason, stakeholder groups comprise an important piece of your competitive landscape puzzle. In recent news, [...]

Technological advances, in the design industry as well as those in seemingly unrelated industries, have a major impact on your competitive landscape. Let’s begin with an example directly related to the design and building world—the development of mass-producible structural steel, a material advance that forever changed how we design and what we design. Before the [...]

Social and cultural trends present an amazing opportunity for you to excel in your competitive landscape. In this sixth installment of 12 Factors That Can Make or Break Your Design Business, I’ll show you how one guy turned a trend into an empire. Thirty years ago, the environmental initiative was little more than a social/cultural [...]

With this one post we’ll cover two factors that can make or break your design business: politics and the economy. Politics and the economy affect everything we do in our businesses, often in ways we don’t even consider. But before we look to a specific example, I’ll clarify what I mean by “politics” and “the [...]

How do you play the A/E/C Game? Do you follow the rules and hope for a win? Or do you recognize that success isn’t only about the rules but rather about how the participants play the game—their strategy, their skill, their positioning, the amount of risk they take? In all cases, winning comes down to [...]

Can Barenaked Ladies help your business? Yes, but not how you may think! Aside from the name, the Canadian alternative rock band Barenaked Ladies (BNL) is not in the least bit risqué. I love this group—they are witty, amazingly entertaining, and wonderfully talented. And the history of their band offers a great lesson about collaboration [...]

Market Research forms a valuable piece of the competitive landscape puzzle. The problem with market research is that all too often companies rely on it without taking the big picture into consideration. This post, part 3 of 12 Factors That Can Make or Break Your Design Business, addresses how market research, when viewed out of [...]

In an earlier post I discussed the idea of indirect competitors, and how these unknown entities can sneak up and eventually replace an architect’s services. An article recently published by Fast Co. Design, “How G3Box Turns Shipping Containers into Clinics,” provides a perfect example of how knowing about an indirect competitor could create a major [...]

Here we are, Part 2 of 12 Factors that Can Make or Break Your Design Business. In this series I highlight elements that shape your company’s operating environment. Last week we talked about why you must know your clients’ industries (hint – it has direct bearing on what services they need from you!). Now on [...]

Welcome to the first post of 12 Factors that Can Make or Break Your Design Business. Over the next ten weeks, I’ll address aspects that shape the world in which your company operates. These factors—the pieces that make up the puzzle of your competitive landscape—affect your business, some in ways you probably never considered (well, [...]