White Papers

MVP is pleased to offer our clients and friends access to our white papers and other presentations of interest, among them those of the Masters Forum^®: The latter of which has since 1987 been bringing the Twin Cities the best business know-how available anywhere to help organizations prosper.  MVP thanks the Masters Forum for their permission to share the following presentations with you.

• The Functional Foods Revolution: Market Trends and Industry Outlook

• Dan Ariely: Consumers don’t know what they want

• Daniel Pink: “Left-brain” vs. “right-brain” thinking

• Daniel Gilbert: Calculated decisions for better decision making

• Reiner Evers: The excitement of trends

• Roch Parayre: Peripheral Vision

• Michael Raynor: Overshooting customers’ requirements

• Jeffrey L. Sampler: 10 commandments for competing in turbulent times
  

MVP White Papers

The Functional Foods Revolution: Market Trends and Industry Outlook

Written in cooperation with Dr. Jonathan Shaver, an expert on Functional Foods research, formulation and processing, our goals were to provide our clients and friends with an assessment of the ingredients required for success in the Functional Foods marketplace.

The increased awareness of food functionality parallels the consumer trend of whole life care, wherein the consumer recognizes that food can provide health benefits that co-exist with traditional medical approaches to disease. Foods play a primary role in disease prevention by reducing risk through a healthier lifestyle. As the link between food and health is strengthened through research, the link between specific food components and certain health risks are also strengthened.

This study defines functional foods, explains functionality for the consumer, describes benefits for the food processor and manufacturer, reveals current market trends and outlook, and outlines the scope of things to come.

MVP Functional Foods White Paper

Masters Forum Presentations

Dan Ariely: Consumers don’t know what they want
In his presentation to the Masters Forum, Dan Ariely of the MIT Media Lab demonstrated the many ways in which preferences can be “irrationally” influenced.

MVP believes that astute marketers should consider the implications of Ariely’s research when formulating their brand and marketing strategies: When consumers or customers do not know their actual preferences, they often fall back on their “default” choices. However, when faced with complicated assessments, defaults can often be manipulated.  Under such circumstances, subjects attempt to create the appearance of rationality in their decisions by trying to be consistent with earlier choices.  This phenomenon is known as “self-herding.”

Self-herding relies on two principles: First, we don’t really know our preferences; second, we remember our actions and try to be consistent with our memory because we infer preferences from our past behavior.

Dan Ariely holds joint appointments at MIT’s business school and Media Lab.  He has a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology and in marketing.

MVP invites you to view Professor Ariely’s presentation to the Masters Forum by clicking on the link below.

Dan Ariely Presentation

Daniel Pink: “Left-brain” vs. “right-brain” thinking
In his presentation to the Masters Forum, Dan Pink, influential business author, explained how the mental abilities that were once necessary for business and professional success in America could be shifting.

“Left-brain” skills such as logical, linear and sequential thinking are necessary, but they are not sufficient.  “Right-brain” skills, such as simultaneous processing, contextual awareness and synthesizing are assuming a new and far greater importance.

There are three broad forces that are tilting the scales in favor of right-brain thinking: Abundance, Asia and Automation. Summarizing the impacts of these three forces, Pink urges us to keep three “key questions” in mind:  Can someone overseas do it cheaper?  Can a computer do it faster?  Is what you’re selling in demand in an age of abundance– are you delivering significance as well as utility? With this in mind companies will learn how their business can and will be improved.

Dan Pink is the author of the best-selling book, A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future.  Learn more about him at http://www.danpink.com/.

MVP invites you to view Pink’s presentation to The Masters Forum by clicking the link below.

Daniel Pink Presentation

Daniel Gilbert: Calculated decisions for better decision making
The calculus for doing precisely the right thing at all possible times is, according to Daniel Gilbert, Professor of Psychology at Harvard, “...made up of the odds that your decision will lead you to a gain: All you have to do to make precisely the right decision at all times is to know the odds that you’ll win—and to estimate how happy you’ll be when you get it.”  Unfortunately, he said, we are generally very bad at making both of those calculations.

Gilbert notes that we make significant errors when we are assessing odds, because we rely on what we have heard most about.  In assessing our own odds of succeeding or failing at given project or task, we tend to be “wildly overoptimistic,” because we “rehearse success,” but spend less time thinking about failure.  Since taking the right “calculated decision” can positively affect your personal and business life in many ways, MVP believes our clients and friends will find this presentation to be especially interesting.

Daniel Gilbert is Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and Director of Harvard's Hedonic Psychology Laboratory.  He authored the best-selling book, Stumbling on Happiness.

MVP invites you to view Gilbert’s presentation to The Masters Forum by clicking the link below.

Daniel Gilbert Presentation

Reiner Evers: The excitement of trends
“We look for where you find excitement, because excitement often points towards trends – or at least applying trends in such a fashion that consumers actually enjoy it,” said Reinier Evers, founder of trendwatching.com.

MVP stays abreast of new and evolving trends because effective trend watching spurs innovation and leads to a clearer vision. Following trends can be used to spearhead successful new products and services, and affect advertising and marketing initiatives.

Reiner Evers is the founder of trendwatching.com, which is visited by over 100,000 people each month.  Based in Amsterdam, the site obtains real-time trend-spotting information by over 9,000 sources in over 80 countries. Evers shared his observations with the Masters Forum.

MVP invites you to view Ever’s presentation to The Masters Forum by clicking the link below.

Reiner Evers Presentation

Roch Parayre: Peripheral Vision
Roch Parayre of the Wharton School and Decision Strategies International spoke to the Masters Forum about the importance of “scanning the periphery,” which he defines as “seeing around the corner” or anticipating and adapting to change.

Peripheral vision is important in business, because if your organization can anticipate and adapt to change it will be more likely to be successful.

Companies must evolve their tools and their focus maintains Parayre, and we at MVP employ our expertise to help you do the same.

MVP invites you to view Parayre’s presentation to The Masters Forum by clicking the link below.

Roch Parayre Presentation

Michael Raynor: Overshooting customers’ requirements
Michael Raynor, co-author of The Innovator’s Solution: Creating and Sustaining Successful Growth, holds that companies tend to develop products that overshoot customers’ requirements, i.e. the product exceeds the customer‘s expectation.  In turn, competitors offer disruptive innovations, with less performance for lower cost, which capture market segments from the incumbents.  This self-defeating process is one way that hinders companies from sustaining growth.

Raynor claims that it is extremely difficult to sustain profitable growth over long periods of time.  Far fewer than five percent of American companies have been able to accomplish that phenomenon.  The principal problem in sustaining growth is that executives of incumbent companies see themselves as having virtually no incentive to compete in the “less for less” sectors of their markets.  Competitors on the other hand use this “less for less” tactic as an “up-market march,” building their own sustaining innovations and taking away larger chunks of the incumbents’ customer base.

MVP believes that this article will offer insight into how you and your company might take a more proactive approach to countering such disruptive innovation with resulting implications for adjusting your marketing strategy.

MVP invites you to view Raynor’s presentation to The Masters Forum by clicking the link below.

Michael Raynor Presentation

Jeffrey L. Sampler: 10 commandments for competing in turbulent times
Jeffrey L. Sampler of Templeton College, Oxford University presented his 10 Commandments for Competing in Turbulent Times to The Masters Forum.

MVP found these operating principles helpful in assessing business and marketing strategy, and applicable to businesses of all sizes. Given the downturn in recent economic trends, you will find his presentation all the more relevant.

MVP invites you to view Sampler’s presentation to The Masters Forum by clicking on the link below.