TOPIC PROFILES
For each topic, the “Topic profiles” sheet identifies assertions denoted “core” and assertions denoted “elaborating”. Core assertions are those that had a loading equal to or greater than 0.50 at every run with K = 30, K =40, K =45, and K = 50. The core assertions were used to define what the topic is about. The “elaborating assertions” had a loading in some but not in all of the runs examined.
USE CASES
There are a number of use cases for which the corpus and topic profiles may apply. These include:
i) Apply topic model to address the needs of an industry segment
ii) Apply topic model to produce course content
iii) Apply topic model to develop an index that can be used to track performance of new companies that wish to scale
iv) Apply topic model to make explicit a particular domain (e.g. AI and ML powered remote devices for health diagnostics)
v) Apply topic model to define a part of the domain and relate the part to the other parts of the domain (see Bailetti-Tanev and Bailetti-Craigen articles in the February 2020 issue of TIM Review for examples)
vi) Apply topic model to produce course outlines
vii) Apply topic model to provide experiential learning experiences to students or practitioners
viii) Apply topic model to sharpen our understanding of a domain (e.g., Environment and Innovation noted in Category C above)
ix) Apply topic model to do research (e.g., stability of topics, user understanding of topics, keywords and assertions
x) Apply topic model to better understand the external environment (e.g., who is interested in applying AI to scale companies)
xi) Apply topic model to match buyers and sellers
xii) Apply topic model to examine takeaways
xiii) Apply topic model to examine competitive offers
xiv) Apply topic model to organize notes extracted from reading article or books
xv) use the topic model to visualize data and information
W-TOOL
Professor Micheal Weiss (Micheal.weiss@carleton.ca) has developed the tool we used to perform the analysis. We are very grateful for his contribution to this project.
To perform the analysis, the researchers used the W-tool, which can be found at W-tool.
To use the tool, one must submit a corpus (in this case the SERS corpus assertions); stop words (see the stop words spreadsheet) – these are words that are not meaningful to topic identification; and concepts (see the sheet denoted Concepts), where we identify phrases that capture a specific concept that we wish to highlight.
A.1 | CROSS BORDER | CORE ASSERTIONS | ELABORATING ASSERTIONS | |||||
> 0.50 | A150 | Adopt scalable and agile organizational structures and processes to contract local and cross border freelance workers | ||||||
A015 | Attain positions in cross border networks which provide access to privileged information | |||||||
A206 | Build a financial infrastructure that supports cross border money transactions | |||||||
A023 | Build operational cross border capabilities early | |||||||
A084 | Coordinate, evaluate and share knowledge between headquarters, cross border units and among the units themselves | |||||||
A179 | Set up internal processes to manage and arbitrage local and cross border workforces | |||||||
A300 | To migrate the local, develop a replicable formula to repeat what worked in one local in many others identify dimensions describing a local and what locals can be easily migrated attract customers to invest in the development of localized offers and engage the right local people | |||||||
A290 | Promote the company s achievements to date e.g., awards, high profile endorsements from established companies, sales, alliances, interactions with potential customers around prototypes strength of company s scaling mater plan and the company s potential to create local jobs, contribute to social goals and objectives, advance existing knowledge, and provide technological breakthroughs and patents | |||||||
A052 | Enable locals to succeed because of new company | |||||||
A065 | Improve links, interactions and shared purpose with locals in each region the company operates | |||||||
A099 | Simultaneously develop global learning capabilities, cross border flexibility, and global competitiveness | |||||||
A204 | Develop, validate and implement a model to cost effectively support cross border business | |||||||
A056 | Enter a different geographical market by partnering with or purchasing local companies | |||||||
A.2 | CYBERATTACK | CORE ASSERTIONS | ELABORATING ASSERTIONS | |||||
> 0. 45 | A044 | Develop and implement a governance model to scale, raise capital, protect against cyberattacks, and leverages business communities | A191 | Make a member of the top management team responsible for the execution of a plan to respond to large scale threats such as pandemics, economic crises and broad cyberattacks | ||||
A283 | Embed in networks with high concentrations of venture capital | |||||||
A316 | To defend against automated cyberattack campaigns, apply automated detection, response and remediation | |||||||
A137 | Provide investors with long term liquidity to enable distribution of funds to their capital providers | |||||||
A.3 | DATA | CORE ASSERTIONS | ELABORATING ASSERTIONS | |||||
> 0.50 | A183 | Integrate, assemble, interpret and analyze data sources so as to scale and diversify company data | ||||||
A186 | Centralize data for the use of all company functions | |||||||
A188 | Sell in new domains where the company assets, capabilities and data can be easily moved to create value | |||||||
A182 | Use data as the foundation for how the company operates and makes decisions | |||||||
A093 | Scale out, i.e., i Spread workload across more, smaller organizations ii Use less expensive resources to accommodate variable workloads iii Host data across several organizations iv Increase input output alignment v Learn faster vi Take advantage of cheaper, smaller systems and vi Improve resilience | |||||||
A.4 | ECOMMERCE | CORE ASSERTIONS | ELABORATING ASSERTIONS | |||||
> 0. 45 | A236 | Apply ecommerce to provide customers with buying options that are quick, convenient, and user friendly | ||||||
A209 | Deploy efficient ecommerce technologies and automation to reduce company costs and lower prices of offers | |||||||
A046 | Develop and sell offers that are hard to replicate, original, fit successful commercialization patterns, and ride an external trend | |||||||
A241 | Provide vendors and suppliers with the real time analytics on views and sales required to boost their sales and profits | |||||||
A239 | Attract traffic and new customers by targeting and retargeting users from search engines, referrals, adds and social media | |||||||
A.5 | GOVERNANCE | CORE ASSERTIONS | ELABORATING ASSERTIONS | |||||
> 0. 45 | A168 | As the new company grows, increase the number of external individuals that serve on its board of directors and board of advisors | A104 | The top management team must commit to a scaling master plan strategy , a hierarchy and a flow of communications external and internal to the company structure , and a set of behaviors culture to achieve scaling objectives | ||||
A155 | Diversify company top management team, as well as the members of your board of directors and your board of advisors, in terms of their networks, experience raising funds and access to potential partners | A172 | Before seeking funding to scale value, ensure that the company founders are prepared to relinquish control of the CEO position and or the company board of directors to new talent that will accelerate value creation | |||||
A194 | Appoint independent directors to the board of directors | |||||||
A201 | Define the duration of each director to serve on the board of directors and ensure the directors hold staggered terms of office | |||||||
A197 | Evaluate the performance of the board of directors periodically | |||||||
A202 | Prevent conflicts between the interests of the company and the members of the board of directors | |||||||
A195 | To attract and retain talented directors, focus the board of directors on company strategy | |||||||
A.6 | INVESTOR | CORE ASSERTIONS | ELABORATING ASSERTIONS | |||||
> 0.50 | A135 | Align communication with investors on company risks, opportunities, and economics for successful fundraising rounds | A153 | Assess desired company valuation relative to investor valuations of similar companies | ||||
A026 | Champion the opportunity with confidence | A167 | Turn to accelerators, crowdfunding, and friends and family for early stage investors | |||||
A081 | Offer investors higher returns, shorter time to payoffs and lower risks relative to other opportunities | |||||||
A166 | Develop investor value propositions describing the path to value creation in return for investors funds and confidence | |||||||
A074 | Maintain connections with large and varied investor networks | |||||||
A136 | Increase investor participation by effectively managing regulatory uncertainty | |||||||
A164 | Translate your message into values and priorities that the targeted investors can readily relate and understand | |||||||
A132 | Conduct detailed due diligence when selecting investors | |||||||
A192 | Act on the opportunities that exist in the midst of every crisis | |||||||
A162 | Understand who your potential investors are, what they want to know, and what investment opportunities they look for before pursuing a binding agreement | |||||||
A214 | Adapt company opportunities based on feedback from customers and investors | |||||||
A173 | Select venture capital investors based on the fit between investor networks and experience and company need for specialization and industry knowledge | |||||||
A.7 | RESOURCES | CORE ASSERTIONS | ELABORATING ASSERTIONS | |||||
> 0.50 | A002 | Access resources required to scale at relatively low cost or for free by creating benefits for the resource owners that they cannot create alone | A005 | Align interests of investors, the company top management team, and its owners | ||||
A075 | Make decisions on how to best deploy a combination of external and internal resources to create high value, not just decisions about the use of the resources the company owns, while complying with cultural, legal, regulatory, and other relevant norms | A022 | Build and deploy unique and difficult to imitate skills and capabilities to select, combine, and use the resource combinations that create and capture high company value | |||||
A305 | Build resource interfaces compliant with standards to enhance compatibility with complementary resources | A055 | Enforce policies and procedures for resource combination, production and coordination, information search and gathering, bargaining, and accountability | |||||
A029 | Combine company resources with those of other resource owners to create value that cannot be created by your company alone | |||||||
A027 | Combine resources that make your company distinct to resource owners and pay for themselves | |||||||
A091 | Provide returns that leave the most important resource owners better off than they would have if they had not contributed to the company | |||||||
A073 | Maintain close relationships with resource owners that advance the core technology underpinning the most important assets of the company | |||||||
A308 | Ensure that company resources and external resources are compatible and scale synergistically | |||||||
A028 | Combine two or more resources to create value that exceeds the sum of the value created from each resource separately | |||||||
A144 | Incorporate how high value created from selection, combination and deployment resource decisions will be distributed to resource owners into the scaling master plan | |||||||
A297 | Contribute to the creation of public goods such as open source code, standards and test beds | |||||||
A110 | Validate selection, combination and deployment resource decisions for scaling are complementary | |||||||
A024 | Build company wide capability to combine diverse resources and deploy them in a profitable way | |||||||
A013 | Arrange and apply resources from different regions early, rapidly and securely | |||||||
A012 | Arrange and deploy differently existing company resources | |||||||
A086 | Orchestrate a community comprised of the owners of the resources required to scale | |||||||
A.8 | SALES | CORE ASSERTIONS | ELABORATING ASSERTIONS | |||||
> 0.50 | A278 | To avoid sources of salespeople dissatisfaction with their jobs, clarify salesperson role and expectations eliminate conflicting role tasks incentivize salespeople sufficiently ensure strong leadership is in place train and support ensure role on team is a good fit to personality type and cultural imprint of person filling it | A087 | Pay more attention to online sales than to physical brick and mortar store sales relative to competitors | ||||
A261 | To motivate your salespeople to perform at a high level, clarify roles and expectations for each team member make sure role and incentives don t conflict assign each salesperson objectives to grow and manage existing customer base set salesperson performance objectives based on measurable metrics under salesperson s control and compensate each salesperson with money and prizes for meeting agreed targets and objectives | |||||||
A275 | Hire experienced salespeople who have personality characteristics that will win sales emotional intelligence, optimism, resilience, self drive, creativity, and humour | |||||||
A263 | Observe and provide feedback on actions of salespeople to encourage improved performance | |||||||
A276 | Train salespeople to increase capabilities in tactical skills, creativity, absorptive capacity, emotional intelligence, and application of applied theory | |||||||
A259 | To lead the company s salespeople, embody the behaviours you wish others to adopt, motivate salespeople to perform at a high level, encourage the development of cultural norms which will enhance company performance | |||||||
A.9 | SECURE OFFER | CORE ASSERTIONS | ELABORATING ASSERTIONS | |||||
> 0.50 | A216 | Seek partners to accelerate scaling, expand company offers, and provide access to new revenue sources | A003 | Adapt offers to each market | ||||
A038 | Continuously train individuals in cybersecurity to i Improve cybersecurity operations and ii Positively contribute to the company cybersecurity culture | A060 | Evolve channels from platforms, to directly sell and then use agents | |||||
A101 | To start a business, create an offer to solve a specific problem in a specific market segment, ensure that the offer fits the market, and validate that your business model is scalable and profitable | A080 | Provide a variety of complementary offers to each market | |||||
A010 | Apply processes that make offers easier to understand, produce and deliver | A096 | Sell online using a variety of online and offline promotional channels | |||||
A145 | Expand information about the company, its offers, its achievements, and its affiliations | A097 | Sell offers that the target market perceives better than available alternatives | |||||
A271 | Instill a sense of purpose by pursuing a compelling vision for the company in the future | A108 | Use scientific and technological advances to develop innovative offers | |||||
A314 | To heighten cybersecurity, apply zero trust frameworks | A147 | Broaden company offers | |||||
A032 | Concurrently sell existing company offers, a compelling image of the company that will exist in the future, and the benefits of the unique information you collect | A218 | Introduce new offers often, monitor changes in sales closely, and remove offers that do not sell quickly | |||||
A009 | Apply processes that continuously improve the cybersecurity of the company as well as its offers, channels, and resources | A219 | Configure online and offline channels as complementing assets | |||||
A102 | Strengthen cybersecurity attributes of offers compared to competitors | A296 | Use cultural tools and identity claims such as images, symbols, and language to strengthen company s image | |||||
A301 | To disseminate the global, increase communications with global agents, and learn from global agents how to improve the global offer | |||||||
A310 | Ensure offers are scalable and meet rigorous reliability metrics | |||||||
A034 | Continuously improve individuals, operations and infrastructures to advance and deliver a portfolio of innovative offers | |||||||
A112 | Work with partners that are well connected and respected in the networks of importance to the success of the company | |||||||
A244 | Constantly increase average order value through discounted bundles, enable upsell on check out, set a free delivery threshold, offer cash backs, enhance personalized recommendations, and create loyalty programs based on spending tiers | |||||||
A311 | Provide platforms that are client centric and highly customizable | |||||||
A317 | Operate a platform that is simple to use, attracts a very large market, and enables the company to control the quality of the offers traded on the platform | |||||||
A319 | Use platforms and software that can cost effectively enable your company to scale early and rapidly without losing control of your operations, marketing, and development programs | |||||||
A321 | Enable partners to leverage your company s platform to make money | |||||||
A016 | Attain stakeholder trust by improving cybersecurity of the company and its partners | |||||||
A320 | Use data obtained from third party platforms to adjust your company s offers | |||||||
A.10 | SCALING MASTER PLAN | CORE ASSERTIONS | ELABORATING ASSERTIONS | |||||
> 0.50 | A011 | Appoint a talented person as chief scale officer to champion the scaling master plan | ||||||
A268 | Adopt technology that allows you to identify, assimilate, transform, and manage external knowledge that directly aligns with scaling master plan outcomes | |||||||
A148 | Hire scale experienced talented people to build capabilities to design and implement the scaling master plan | |||||||
A063 | Hire scale experienced talented people to implement the scaling master plan | |||||||
A092 | Relentlessly advance the scaling master plan even if employees and processes get in the way | |||||||
A077 | Prioritize the preparation and implementation of the scaling master plan | |||||||
A089 | Prepare a scaling master plan in the initial stages of the company lifecycle | |||||||
A047 | Develop capabilities to cost effectively attain scaling master plan objectives | |||||||
A062 | Hire talented people who have diverse thinking preferences | |||||||
A069 | Lead a team that is innovative, talented, diverse, focused, committed, and fully understands what their responsibilities are and where they fit in with scaling master plan | |||||||
A078 | Manage cross border units as operations that are interdependent in terms of information, investment and efficiencies and guided by the scaling master plan | |||||||
A072 | Leverage resources from scale experienced talented people and gain their commitment to the company s scaling master plan | |||||||
A067 | Incorporate investment in cybersecurity into the scaling master plan | |||||||
A.11 | STAKEHOLDER | CORE ASSERTIONS | ELABORATING ASSERTIONS | |||||
> 0.50 | A286 | Establish partnerships that increase the demand for products that complement the company s product | A045 | Develop and sell products and services that address a problem, job to be done or a need that is widespread, growing, important, urgent, and manifests itself in diverse ways | ||||
A138 | Implement a stakeholder centric approach to satisfy stakeholder expectations in all markets | A307 | Simplify the complementarity of the company products and services | |||||
A154 | Select stakeholders with many connections to potential partnerships, and experience across industries, technology, and scaling company value early | |||||||
A030 | Communicate and demonstrate the importance the company places on the security of information acquired from and transferred between stakeholders | |||||||
A124 | Continuously create new markets and serve broader stakeholder needs | |||||||
A306 | Focus on company differentiators and build upon complementary products that satisfy company needs and are not part of the company competencies | |||||||
A225 | Protect trade secrets by ensuring all company stakeholders are aware that it is forbidden to disclose or misuse company trade secrets | |||||||
A178 | Enable freelance workers to become world class service providers | |||||||
A238 | Provide customers an online catalog with detailed descriptions of offered products and services that helps them make purchasing decisions | |||||||
A245 | Increase order fulfillment and delivery capacity through partnering with third party service providers and acquiring drop shipping facilities | |||||||
A008 | Apply digital technology to brand, market, sell, and service customers more cost effectively than competitors | |||||||
A057 | Expand brand coverage and eliminate intermediaries | |||||||
A220 | Build a community around company brand, products and services, assemble community feedback and adapt | |||||||
A281 | Brand the company and build the brand into one that has a strong market presence | |||||||
A.12 | VALUE PROPOSITION | CORE ASSERTIONS | ELABORATING ASSERTIONS | |||||
> 0.50 | A122 | Develop value propositions for key members of the value chain that align with key members value propositions as well as improve the competence of the value chain | A085 | Optimize the value chain to reduce inventory costs to zero | ||||
A240 | Engage customers to produce testimonials, reviews and ratings that help new customers to make purchasing decisions with knowledge of other customers experiences | A103 | Strengthen your company bargaining position among the members of the value chain upon which the company depends to scale | |||||
A213 | Adapt value propositions to changes in customer segments | A176 | Unbundle the value chain and the jobs to be done within it to outsource lower value tasks to freelance workers and perform higher value tasks internally | |||||
A106 | Use an end to end solution that links procurement directly with end customers to eliminate or reduce inventory and the number of intermediaries between the company and customers | |||||||
A141 | Collaborate with the company value chain to determine optimal offers that achieve customer fulfillment and enhance customer value | |||||||
A277 | Train salespeople to absorb actionable market information, understand customers and competitors business models craft irresistible value propositions communicate customer value identify high value customers increase situational awareness use supportive technology learn from personal and team successes and failures and adapt to dynamic selling situations think on your feet | |||||||
A260 | To embody behaviours you wish others to adopt, dedicate a portion of each day to grow customer base and actively search for new opportunities, focus efforts and conversations on how the company is going to create and deliver value to new and existing customers, craft irresistible customer value propositions that you and your salespeople can use to attract new customers, and set specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely objectives SMART that align company, customer, investor and partner interests and skills | |||||||
A042 | Constantly monitor customers buying habits and deliver offers that are convenient, cater to customer demands, are secure and offer excellent customer experience | |||||||
A257 | Customize ideal next steps to coordinate activities between new company and customer | |||||||
A280 | Digitize as much of your company as you can to create value for customers, reduce costs, and increase security | |||||||
A118 | Develop value propositions for employees that enhance employee satisfaction, psychological attachment, and behavioral commitment toward your company | |||||||
A284 | Deliver better performance on the metrics that customers care about | |||||||
A041 | Define the ideal target customers profiles and engage them relentlessly | |||||||
A036 | Continuously improve value propositions based on results and feedback | |||||||
A246 | Establish trust and positive rapport with your customers that leads to long term, mutually beneficial business relationships | |||||||
A025 | Build internet based capabilities to acquire and retain customers during the initial stages of company lifecycle | |||||||
A127 | Learn from value propositions of companies that have scaled early, rapidly and securely and use them to differentiate your company | |||||||
A274 | Attract great people with high customer and high growth orientation | |||||||
A249 | Always think from your customers perspective organizationally and personally | |||||||
A256 | Listen to your customers, take their feedback seriously, and adjust operations as needed | |||||||
A253 | Adjust your mood to match your customers moods and work to find common ground to build familiarity | |||||||
A131 | Track changes in stakeholders value propositions and use the information to realign the value propositions | |||||||
Category B | ||||||||
B.1 | ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | CORE ASSERTIONS | ELABORATING ASSERTIONS | |||||
> 0.50 | A304 | Apply big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence to generate predictive analytics and enhance automation | A312 | Apply big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence to infer cyberattack campaigns from cyberattack components | ||||
A303 | Enhance cybersecurity automation by using big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence | A177 | Leverage automation artificial intelligence and large pool of freelance workers to increase productivity | |||||
A180 | Build company value using an artificial intelligence powered decision making factory | |||||||
B.2 | INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY | CORE ASSERTIONS | ELABORATING ASSERTIONS | |||||
A223 | Acquire, monitor and exploit intellectual property rights | |||||||
A230 | To claim ownership of unregistered intellectual property rights, prove the rights exist and belong to the company | |||||||
A231 | Trace ownership of company intellectual property | |||||||
A224 | Consider selling or licensing the companys intellectual property | |||||||
A227 | Internationalize your intellectual property | |||||||
A228 | Actively manage and review company intellectual property | |||||||
Category C | ||||||||
C.1 | Capital Market | CORE ASSERTIONS | ELABORATING ASSERTIONS | |||||
C.2 | Early funding | CORE ASSERTIONS | ELABORATING ASSERTIONS | |||||
C.3 | Environment | CORE ASSERTIONS | ELABORATING ASSERTIONS | |||||
C.4 | Innovation | CORE ASSERTIONS | ELABORATING ASSERTIONS | |||||
C.5 | Platform | CORE ASSERTIONS | ELABORATING ASSERTIONS | |||||
C.6 | Resource Combination | CORE ASSERTIONS | ELABORATING ASSERTIONS |