Eugene Peng

Research and design of resilient strategies in the face of complexity and uncertainty.

Date: 2021

Summary: This was a consulting project done as part of the courses Business Design and Leading Innovation in the master’s program Strategic Foresight and Innovation at OCAD University. My team provided business strategic consulting for Kaapittiaq, an Inuit social enterprise that wishes to develop viable and sustainable sources of funding to further its mission to preserve Inuit language and culture.

What Happened:

  • Series of client meetings, interviews, and consultations
  • Building a relationship to get to know the client and the elders
  • Getting to deep understand the Inuit culture and worldview, which informs how the business is done.
  • a systems mapping of the business external ecosystem
  • Evaluation of internal capabilities and resources, and a recommendation how to balance western business thinking and indigenous worldview (i.e. two-eyed seeing)
  • An evaluation of internal structures and processes using Viable Systems Modeling
  • Design of multiple strategic options to expand revenue

Outcome:

  • A final report and recommendation (cannot be shared to protect client confidentiality)

Challenges Encountered:

  • How to engage the clients, bringing our expertise, but also respect indigenous culture and way of doing things
  • How to mix in different skills and backgrounds of our team

Lessons Learned:

  • I just feel humbled from getting to learn from the Inuit culture. I also feel humbled about not be too quick to impose our models and tools because it may not fit their worldview. Their business is a unique challenge, how to navigate a competitive marketplace with traditional Inuit culture and values. They value relationships and the overall ecosystem more than a conventional business. And they are mindful to be respectful of the elders every step of the way. It is not optimizing for maximum revenue and profit, so business-wise it is in a precarious place. But it is carried by a deep reserve of cultural foundation that makes it enduring.
  • And they use the business as a way to highlight the value of other indigenous business and designers. For example, they use indigenous designer, they source beans from indigenous farmers in south america. They are eco-conscious in their choice of the roaster.
  • We also wrote about two-eyed seeing, but I am not sure if we ever found the right way to balance conventional business thinking with indigenous worldviews.
  • Tools used: VSM (Viable Systems Modeling), Business Value Diagram?, Flourishing Business Canvas, Internal Capability Evaluation, Two-Eyed Seeing model

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