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    Case Study

    McLaren Applied Technologies: Building a disruptive business

    By Michael R. Wade, Siddhartha Kunti and Christopher Bjerkan Wade
    3 pages
    September 2018
    Order this case study
    Reference: IMD-7-2029

    In 2016, Geoff McGrath, Managing Director of McLaren Applied Technologies (MAT) accepted that the company he was hired to build was at an inflection point. MAT was the smallest of three divisions within McLaren Technology Group (MTG), the others being McLaren Racing, operator of the McLaren Formula One racing team, and McLaren Automotive, builder of high performance road cars. MAT had been formed in 2004 as a spinoff organization to apply McLaren’s competences in automobile racing to other fields. Twelve years of operations had led to modest success, but the company had yet to build a sustainable business model. McGrath had been given full freedom to explore different options, with two conditions: first, MAT needed to fund its growth through operations, and second, it could not damage the McLaren brand.

    Learning Objective
    • To understand the resources and capabilities that McLaren Applied Technologies (MAT) has access to, that it could use to enter into and disrupt a new industry. When any company is considering becoming a disruptor, it must understand the unique and valuable resources and capabilities it has at its disposal, that it can employ to disrupt another sector. In the case of MAT, these resources and capabilities were not immediately obvious.
    • To define which industries MAT could enter with these resources and capabilities and determine why it could compete and win in those sectors. In the case of MAT, it was successful in some sectors, like manufacturing optimization, advanced simulation of air traffic, and professional sports, and less successful in others, like management consulting and pharmaceuticals. It turned out that its main strengths lied in collecting, modelling, and simulating large quantities of complex data in real time.
    • To better understand the capabilities that underpin organizational agility. MAT embodies the three agility sub-capabilities of hyperawareness, informed decision-making, and fast execution.
    Keywords
    Strategy, Digital Transformation, New Business Model, Digital Disruption, Analytics, Simulation
    Settings
    Europe, United Kingdom
    McLaren Applied Technologies, Manufacturing, Technology
    2016
    Type
    Published Sources
    Copyright
    © 2018
    Available Languages
    English
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    Copyright ©2024
    Copyright owner IMD Copyright
    Organization Daikin Industries
    Industry Consumer Goods, Home Appliances
    Available Languages English
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    in I by IMD
    Summary
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    Read more
    Contact

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    By Joep de Caluwé
    in I by IMD 9 December 2024
    Summary
    Learn why flashy innovation often fails and how a strategic, fact-based approach can drive real innovation success in corporate environments. Insights from industry experts. In this final article in a series of three articles, Joep De Caluwé (EMB...
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    By Patrick Reinmoeller
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    Read more
    Contact

    Research Information & Knowledge Hub for additional information on IMD publications

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