The NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence is pleased to announce its newest, groundbreaking research study, "Innovate to Dominate: The 12th Edition in the Facing the Forces of Change Series." Since its inception in 1982, this respected series continues to provide insights about the overall future of wholesale distribution and the role of wholesaler-distributors.

The latest edition is authored by Mark Dancer, CEO of Network for Business Innovation, and NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence fellow. "Innovate to Dominate: The 12th Edition in the Facing the Forces of Change Series" is a distributor’s roadmap for innovation. The primary purpose of this research is to help distributors connect the dots between the forces of change and innovating the distributor business model.

According to Dancer, “Distributors can dominate through innovation. And, domination should be distribution’s goal, because for disruptors, the future is up for grabs in a winner-take-all war. Disruption seeks to replace markets with solutions built by disruptors to execute the disruptor’s vision. Left unchallenged, disruptors will co-opt, replace or defeat distribution. However, distributors can harness the same forces of change to help achieve their customers’ vision, thereby, creating value for their customers.”

Distributors will benefit most from Dancer’s efforts to reframe the practice of innovation for distributors. His research delves within and outside distribution and it shows clearly that the current disruptive, digital transformation phase, which distributors find themselves in today, requires a new way of thinking about how to survive and thrive. He guides distributors to look outside distribution for insights while also leveraging their traditional business strengths—such as unlocking the value of their business knowledge and relationships with innovative services and solutions.

Dancer advises distributors that they must offer a bold vision for the future of doing business, one that matches the power and consequences of disruptive ideas. To win, distributors must innovate to dominate. They can lead the way in this new era of B2B innovation.

Patricia A. Lilly, executive director of the NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence, said, “The findings and recommendations in Innovate to Dominate are derived from detailed research with executives of leading wholesaler-distributors and informed stakeholders. This is the unique perspective that only NAW’s Facing the Forces of Change Series, now in its 37th year, can provide and what distributors across the industry continue to count on for insights, recommendations, and action ideas.”

George Pattee, chairman of the board for Parksite Inc. said the following after reading Innovate to Dominate: "Extremely well done! Innovation is a scary concept. We all agree with it, but it’s hard to pull the trigger. Mark does a great job of explaining why we need to eliminate our fear that our ideas are not game changing enough. There’s so much to take from this study and apply to our business. I hope CEOs and their senior leaders create leadership teams composed of functional managers and emerging leaders, including millennials, and dive deep into the research, concepts and recommendations!"

Every chapter provides an all-important methodology with real-world examples from leading distributors and other thought leaders and innovators, plus innovative tools. The following is a breakdown of what is covered in each chapter:

• Chapter 1: Enable the Future of Business: This chapter describes how to become the essential partner for helping customers embrace the future of business in the digital age.
• Chapter 2: Embrace Virtual Markets
• Chapter 3: Revitalize the Value Chain and C
• Chapter 4: Reboot the Real World: These three chapters are in-depth explorations of future market scenarios and drive to potentially game-changing business model innovations created through brainstorming with distributor leaders.
• Chapter 5: Connect. Collaborate. Create: This chapter fills a considerable gap by pressing distributors to build an innovation ecosystem of in-depth knowledge and disruptive services.
• Chapter 6: Innovate to Dominate: This chapter is a call to action for every distributor to develop a distribution-focused innovation discipline, one that turbocharges distributor business models and leads to sustainable competitive advantage.

"Innovate to Dominate: The 12th Edition in the Facing the Forces of Change Series" is sponsored for the first time by PROS. Richard Blatcher, director of industry marketing and business intelligence at PROS, said, “PROS is proud to continue working closely with NAW by sponsoring this important initiative. Through a series of webinars, podcasts and the study itself, we look forward to outlining the roadmap for distributors to create innovation and get ahead of the increasingly disruptive and transformational forces. PROS continues to help distributors digitally transform through a focus on the end-to-end sales process across all channels. As the study discusses, technology such as artificial intelligence and machine learning are playing a key role to help distributors drive profitable growth and dominate in the digital age.”

Quantity discounts apply when ordering two or more copies. Pricing and order information are available at www.naw.org/ffc19.

At the NAW Executive Summit: INNOVATE TO DOMINATE, Jan. 28–30, 2020, in Washington, D.C., Dancer will share key findings from "Innovate to Dominate" in a session called, “Rethinking Distribution: How Distributors Can Innovate.” During that session, he will also lead an open and enlightening discussion with leading industry insiders Ian Heller of Real Results Marketing, Alex Moazed of Applico and John Caplan of Alibaba.com. To learn more and to register, distributors should visit www.naw.org/es20.