序二　中國化妝品產(chǎn)業(yè)從業(yè)者手中的指南針

我是在通過蔚藍之美（Wei）品牌的創(chuàng)始人楊蔚女士介紹，于2019年“雙十一”那天認識王茁先生的。那天，我們進行了很有建設(shè)性的對話。半年以后，我們決定一起做事，由他來擔任BeautyStreams在中國的全球合伙人，開拓中國美妝市場。

我們?yōu)槭裁茨苓@么快達成一致意見呢？ 有三個原因。首先，他和我都有美妝行業(yè)的經(jīng)驗，都對這個行業(yè)充滿激情。其次，他曾經(jīng)為Gartner公司工作過，而Gartner為IT行業(yè)所提供的產(chǎn)品和服務(wù)與BeautyStreams為美妝行業(yè)所提供的產(chǎn)品和服務(wù)非常接近。他深知基于洞察力的服務(wù)對于客戶的價值和潛力。最后但不是最不重要的一點是，我和王茁有著相同的亞洲文化背景，有著相同的夢想，那就是，為亞洲特別是中國化妝品企業(yè)實現(xiàn)原創(chuàng)性創(chuàng)新和成功打進國際市場貢獻綿薄之力。

王茁在疫情防控期間完成了一本專門為化妝品產(chǎn)業(yè)從業(yè)者而寫的關(guān)于洞察力的書。當他告訴我這一消息時，我感到十分驚喜。在這本富有啟發(fā)性的書中，他找出了美妝行業(yè)以及其他消費品行業(yè)的兩大通病——產(chǎn)品創(chuàng)新失敗率居高不下和營銷推廣浪費現(xiàn)象嚴重的根本原因。根本原因何在呢？在于對顧客（消費者）需求缺乏洞察。王茁嫻熟而成功地把克雷頓?克里斯坦森的“顧客待辦任務(wù)”理論和安東尼?伍維克的“成果驅(qū)動創(chuàng)新（ODI）”方法論引入化妝品產(chǎn)業(yè)實踐。他的書最有價值的部分是基于洞察力的戰(zhàn)略制定、基于洞察力的產(chǎn)品創(chuàng)新、基于洞察力的營銷溝通和品牌建設(shè)，為中國化妝品企業(yè)在快速變化的商業(yè)環(huán)境中特別是疫情危機下參與競爭，提供了非常具有可操作性的真知灼見。

同時，我也非常高興地看到，王茁充分擁抱了人工智能、大數(shù)據(jù)、商業(yè)分析和營銷技術(shù)等技術(shù)趨勢。這跟BeautyStreams是同頻、同步的。我們注重考察影響廣泛的長期的社會大趨勢，并把這些發(fā)展成化妝品行業(yè)各個細分市場的具體創(chuàng)新創(chuàng)意。我也很高興地看到王茁對小數(shù)據(jù)也予以重視，在大數(shù)據(jù)時代小數(shù)據(jù)仍然具有相關(guān)性和價值，因為小數(shù)據(jù)試圖接近因果關(guān)系（用克里斯坦森的話說，是“什么導(dǎo)致什么發(fā)生”），而大數(shù)據(jù)則滿足于相關(guān)關(guān)系。因此，在BeautyStreams, 我們與200多個專家一起工作，他們來自各個領(lǐng)域，包括但不限于美妝、生物技術(shù)、藝術(shù)、人類學(xué)、設(shè)計、地緣政治學(xué)、技術(shù)、零售、時尚和紡織等。我們密切合作，為全世界的客戶提供無人可比的洞察、靈感和智力支持。

王茁這本書的另一個價值是對領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力、價值觀和公司文化的強調(diào)，主張圍繞顧客（消費者）的體驗來建立業(yè)務(wù)流程，幫助顧客更好或更便宜或又好又便宜地完成任務(wù)。我深信，化妝品行業(yè)的每一個從業(yè)人員來讀這本書都會開卷有益，當然首先獲益且獲益最大的將是企業(yè)的高級管理者。這本書將改變他們的所感、所思和所為。我們有許多客戶覺得BeautyStreams像是全球美妝行業(yè)的指南針和燈塔。我覺得王茁的這本書對于中國的化妝品產(chǎn)業(yè)來說也能起到相同的作用。

跟其他行業(yè)一樣，全球化妝品行業(yè)正處于一個被改造的過程中，“從由一個指令加控制型的管理系統(tǒng)來運作、垂直整合的公司類型，改造成一個高度專業(yè)化、非大一統(tǒng)的、相互協(xié)作地創(chuàng)造全球價值鏈的公司類型”（杰弗里?摩爾語）。在這樣一個轉(zhuǎn)型期，協(xié)作變得前所未有地重要。這就是BeautyStreams之所以通過建立基金會——一個致力于推進全球美妝行業(yè)的教育和全球協(xié)作的非盈利組織來慶祝公司成立十周年的原因。我希望通過公開地分享新創(chuàng)意、新視角和新任務(wù)，企業(yè)和從業(yè)者能夠創(chuàng)造一個持續(xù)的運動來推進積極的變革和協(xié)作。今天的危機昭示了我們整個世界相互關(guān)聯(lián)的程度有多深。這里的洞察是，我們正在進入這樣一個新的時代，其中無邊界協(xié)作和產(chǎn)業(yè)大局觀比以往任何時候都更加重要。

據(jù)我所知，世界上很少有人對中國化妝品產(chǎn)業(yè)的挑戰(zhàn)和機會的理解比王茁更深刻。在競爭十分激烈的中國化妝品市場上，閱讀王茁關(guān)于顧客需求洞察的書，即便不能讓你的產(chǎn)品“活”得更好，至少可以讓你“活”下來。

重申一下，助力中國化妝品企業(yè)實現(xiàn)原創(chuàng)性創(chuàng)新并成功打入國際市場，建立中國美麗品牌，是我和王茁共同的夢想。希望在不久的將來這一夢想就能成真！

美國BeautyStreams美妝智庫創(chuàng)始人兼CEO　吳蘭

附：英文原文

A Compass for Professionals in the Chinese Beauty Industry

I met Joe at the lunch meeting hosted by Wei (founder of Wei Beauty) on November 11, 2019. We had a very constructive conversation. Half a year later, Joe and I decided to work together, with BeautyStreams having him as Global Partner dedicating to China’s beauty market.

Why did we reach the agreement so quickly? There are three reasons. First of all, both of us have experience in and enthusiasm for the beauty industry. Secondly, Joe used to work for Gartner and what Gartner offers to IT industry is very close to what BeautyStreams does to beauty industry. Joe deeply knows the value and potential of our insights-based services to clients. Last but not least, Joe and I share an Asian cultural background as well as a dream that is to help Asian especially Chinese beauty companies achieve original innovation and go global successfully.

I was amazed when Joe told me that during the pandemic he had finished a book on insights for professionals in beauty industry. In this thought-provoking book Joe has identified the root cause of high failure rates of product innovation and huge waste of marketing campaigns – the deadly sins commonly found in the beauty industry as well as other consumer packaged goods industries. What is the root cause? It is lack of insights into the needs and wants of customers (consumers). Joe has skillfully and successfully incorporated Clayton Christensen’s theory of “Job to be Done (JTBD)” and Anthony Ulwick’s methodology of “Outcome-Driven Innovation (ODI)” into the practices of the beauty industry. Joe’s elaborations on insights-based strategy formulation, insights-based product development, insights-based marketing communications and brand building are the most valuable parts of the book, providing highly-actionable advices to beauty companies competing a rapidly changing business environment, especially after the crisis of Covid-19.

I am pleased to see that Joe has embraced technology trends such as artificial intelligence, big data, business analytics and Martech. So has BeautyStreams. We take wide-reaching, long-term societal macrotrends and develop them into concrete innovation ideas for specific beauty sectors. I am equally pleased to see that Joe also emphasizes the importance of small data, which is still relevant and valuable in the era of big data because the former tries to be closer to causations (in Christensen’s words, “what caused what to happen”) and the latter is satisfied with correlations. Therefore, at BeautyStreams, we work with more than 200 experts in the areas of beauty, biotech, arts, anthropology, design, geo-politics, technology, retail, fashion and textile, etc., providing unmatchable insights, inspiration and intelligence for our clients worldwide.

Another beauty of Joe’s book is the emphasis on leadership, values, and corporate culture that make business processes centered around the experiences of customers (consumers), helping them get their jobs done better or cheaper or better and cheaper at the same time. I strongly believe that all professionals in the beauty industry can benefit from reading Joe’s book, but it will certainly benefit high-level executives the most. It will change the way they feel, think and act. Many executives on our clients’ side feel that BeautyStreams is like a compass and a beacon for the global beauty industry. And I would like to characterize Joe’s book as the same thing for the Chinese beauty industry.

As any other industries, the global beauty industry is being re-engineered “from a universe of vertically integrated corporations run by command-and-control management systems to one of highly-specialized and disaggregated enterprises interoperating collaboratively to create global value chain (Geoffrey Moore)”. In a transition period like this, collaboration has never been more important. That’s why I decided to celebrate BeautyStreams’ 10th anniversary by creating the OpenStreams Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to education and global collaboration in the global beauty sector. I hope that by openly sharing ideas, perspectives, and priorities, companies and people can create an ongoing movement towards positive change and collaboration. Today’s crisis underlines just how interconnected we are throughout the world. The insight here is that we are entering a new era where borderless collaboration and a holistic industry approach are more vital than ever.

To my knowledge, there are few people that understand Chinese beauty industry’s challenges and opportunities more profoundly than Joe. Reading Joe’s book on insights into customers’ needs gives you clear advantage to survive, if not thrive, in the fiercely competitive Chinese beauty market.

Again, helping Chinese beauty companies achieve original innovation and successfully go global as C-Beauty is a dream shared by Joe and me. May it come true in the near future!

Lan Vu, Founder & CEO of BeautyStreams