Understanding and breaking the rules of business: Toward a systematic four-step process

Knowing the rules of a business is a prerequisite of being successful. On the other hand, carefully and selectively breaking the rules of management is often the way to exceed the low margins of intensively competitive arenas, especially at a time when technological innovation is limited and industries are tending to consolidate. Drawing on their own practical know-how and intensive research into future business models, the authors of this article call for more dialectic in management thinking. Their “rule-breaking strategy creator” process is a combination of tested consulting and venture capital tools, and provides an entirely new approach to systematic rule-breaking and, thus, competitive advantages.