Function over Form: Using Nature's Rules to Fulfill Customers' Functional Needs and Achieve Sustainable Competitive Advantage

By: Gregory C. Unruh

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Synopsis: If you have already developed a sustainable product platform based on an economically viable value cycle, your traditional business model may no longer serve the full needs of your business. When you are selling a product that you want to recover in the future in order to provide the raw materials necessary for the next production cycle, what exactly is happening in the sales transaction? You need to adopt a business model that takes this recovery phase into account--to shift your thinking away from traditional concern with the physical form through which a company delivers value, and toward a comprehensive understanding of the functional value it creates. This chapter will provide a holistic plan for reevaluting the function of your products, including models for interface value cycle, how your products' market can change from customers to "custopliers" (customers who ultimately provide the raw materials you will reuse in product production), and solutions to possible management challenges, and demonstrates your new model's potential for higher margins, more stable streams of revenue, and long-term relationships with customers. This chapter was originally published as Chapter 5 of "Earth, Inc.: Using Nature's Rules to Build Sustainable Profits."