Richard Normann's seminal work, "Reframing Business: When the Map Changes the Landscape," published in 2001, offered a prescient vision for strategic thinking. In a world increasingly defined by rapid change, technological disruption, and shifting customer expectations, Normann’s call to "reframe" how organisations understand their very purpose and operate holds even greater relevance today.

At its core, reframing business means moving beyond rigid, traditional industry definitions and embracing a more fluid, adaptive understanding of value creation. Normann argued that the "map" – our conceptual frameworks, mental models, and strategic paradigms – often becomes outdated, failing to accurately reflect the "landscape" of an evolving business environment. To succeed, organisations must consciously challenge their ingrained assumptions and adopt new lenses to perceive opportunities and threats.

One of the central tenets of reframing involves the concepts of "unbundling and rebundling." In the digital age, this idea has manifested dramatically. Services and products once delivered as a single, integrated offering are now often disaggregated into their constituent parts (unbundled), allowing for greater specialisation and choice. Subsequently, these unbundled components can be creatively reassembled (rebundled) to create entirely new value propositions, often across traditional industry boundaries. Think of streaming services unbundling television channels, or how platform businesses rebundle diverse service providers to offer a comprehensive solution. This continuous process of deconstruction and reconstruction demands a highly flexible and imaginative strategic approach.

Furthermore, Normann emphasised the shift towards "value constellations" – dynamic networks of interconnected organisations and individuals collaborating to create value. This concept is particularly pertinent in today's ecosystem-driven economy, where partnerships, alliances, and even co-opetition define competitive advantage. Successful reframing today involves understanding one's position within these constellations and actively shaping them to deliver enhanced customer outcomes. It moves beyond internal efficiencies to orchestrating value across an extended network.

Ultimately, reframing business requires a profound shift in mindset. It calls for leaders to cultivate a heightened awareness of change, to question orthodoxies, and to embrace ambiguity as a source of innovation. It means recognising that the most significant competitive advantage often comes not from doing the same things better, but from doing fundamentally different things. In an era where the landscape is constantly redrawing itself, Normann's guidance on how to redraw our maps remains an indispensable tool for strategic foresight and enduring success.