Focal algorithm

Innovateur T
Incubating Business Transformers
THE “FOCAL” ALGORITHM
NEW VERSION (V2)
Created by Dominique Vian and Christophe Sempels
www.innovateur-t.com

Dominique Vian - Christophe Sempels (V2)
• Companies and organizations often face apparently insoluble
problems. Most of the time, they fail to see solutions because the
problem is being considered from a context level that blocks any
potential for action
• FOCAL is a method that identifies appropriate context levels; these
point to previously unconsidered means for solving the problem(s) in
question.
• FOCAL helps you to tackle the complexity of a given situation and
find a way forward.
FOCAL

• FOCAL is based on :
o Effectuation (Sarasvathy, 2001)
o The near decomposibility of complex systems (Simon, 1996)
o The combination of these frameworks (effectuation and
near decomposability - Sarasvathy and Simon, 2000)
o Sensemaking (Weick, 1995)
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS

DISCERNING NON-INTUITIVE RESOURCES FOR ACTION
Who am I? ?
What do I know ?
Who do I know ?
What can I do ?
Interaction
with
stakeholders
Effectual
stakeholder
engagement (or
lack of
engagement)
Resources
available here
and now
Effects / possible
fields of action
Simplified effectual process (adapted from Sarasvaty, 2008)
An initial
problem in a
given
context
FOCAL

DISCOVERING FOCAL – SOME EXAMPLES

THE FOCAL COGNITIVE ALGORITHM
STEP ONE: SPECIFYING THE INITIAL CONTEXT
Who am I ?
XEROX,photocopier
division
What do I do ?
Manufacture
and sell
photocopiers
= CONTEXT LEVEL1

EXAMPLE : XEROX
Context level 1 : Manufacture and sales of photocopiers
Who are the key stakeholders (S) ?
• B2B clients B2B, distributors, competitors
What are the problems?
• Patents expire  no more differentiation based on products
• Market saturation  fierce competition squeezes prices + need
to develop the replacement market (generates lack of
pertinence for clients, e.g. because it incites programmed
obsolescence)
• Increasing costs of parts
• Clients want to reduce costs
Direct consequences of problems and subsequent information
• Nothing to add at this stage
What can I do to solve the problems at this context level?
• Only traditional, unsatisfactory responses such as marketing or
squeezing suppliers
• Unsustainable and unsatisfactory
Context 1 raison d’être: Copying documents

DIAGRAM OF CHANGE IN CONTEXT LEVEL
Context level 1
Manufacture and sales of
photocopiers
Context level2 :
Photocopies of documents

EXAMPLE : XEROX
Context level 2 : Photocopies of documents
Who are the key stakeholders (S)?
• B2B clients, distributors, competitors
• Clients want to minimise both investment costs and operating
costs (maintenance, consumables etc.)
Direct consequences of problems and subsequent information.
Clients always prefer operating costs to investment costs
New type of contract that transforms investment costs into operating costs
(e.g. leasing)
Leasing means the company retains ownership of the machines
Retaining ownership makes it possible to implement a circular economy (in
itself based on eco-design) to minimise production costs that in turn reduces
the cost of leasing
What can I do to solve the problem at this context level ?
Offer a leasing contract retaining ownership and set up a circular economy
system. This results in lower production costs for Xerox and reduced
operating costs for clients BUT : there is still an incitement to sell as many
leasing contracts as possible (in tension with wish to minimise operating costs
for clients)//consumables beyond the scope of action
Context 2 raison d’être: Managing documents

Context level 1:
photocopiers
Context level 2:
Photocopies of
documents
Context level 3: Document management

EXAMPLE : XEROX
Context level 3 : Document managment
• B2B clients, digitization specialists, business re-
engineering specialists
• Minimising the operating costs of a document management
solution
Minimising operating costs presupposes that these costs have been
correctly identified and evaluated
• Such an audit shows that 1) document management is related to
individual behaviour and company processes 2) above a certain volume,
managing physical documents is more expensive than managing digitized
documents
Offer an integrated document management solution starting with an audit of
overall costs of this line of expenditure based on a contract that guarantees
savings for the client (easy to sell)
Satisfactory solution to the initial problems; end of process

PRESENTING THE FOCAL COGNITIVE ALGORITHM

Who am I?
What do I do?
Who satisfies
recipients’
needs?
What do they
do?
CONTEXT LEVEL 1
=

Context level 1 : problem scope
• List of stakeholders at this context level
• Formulate the problems related to this context level. Express
these as established facts
• A key step because the problems and what is known about them point
the way to higher level contexts.
• You must focus on the main problems in this context level: avoid making
a laundry list
• List the direct consequence of one or several of the problems above
• From these consequences, extrapolate additional information that may be
relevant to the problems to be solved
• What can I do to solve the problem at this context level ?
• Do we have any means within the scope of the above problem to solve all
or part of the problem(s)?
• If so, do these provide a satisfactory solution? If they do, we have found
our way. If not we need to continue by modifying the scope of the problem.
We do this by investigating one of the raisons d’être of the current context
• If there are several raisons’d’être, choose the one that correlates most
directly with the initial problems (see below).
Raison d’être of context 1 = context level 2

IDENTIFYING A RAISON D’ÊTRE
• There are many raisons d’être. These range from very concrete (e.g. the raison d’être
of a coffee machine is producing a hot drink) to highly conceptual (procuring pleasure,
giving energy, taking an imaginary voyage to a coffee producing country etc.)
• Depending on the type of specification, each raison d’être extends to a broader or
narrower range of possibilities (“producing a hot drink” extends to producing tea, hot
chocolate, soup etc. // ” procuring pleasure” extends to an infinite variety of
possibilities other than coffee that may lead far away from the initial idea)
• If two raisons d’être seem possible, choose the one most directly related to the initial
problem(s) at level 1. It is always more advisable to choose a strong (rather than a
weak) link between raison d’être and initial problems.

Context level 2 : extended problem scope
• List of new stakeholders in this new context level
• Formulate the problems related to this context level. Express
these as established facts
• List direct consequences of one or several of the problems at
hand. From these consequences, extrapolate additional information that
may be relevant to the problems to be solved
• If YES : stop, end of process
• If NO : on the basis of additonal information :
o Either go up to the next context level investigating one of
the raisons d’être (cf.above )
o Or specify a new sub-context
Either : Raison d’être of context 2 = context level 3
Or : Sub-context of context 2 = context level 1.2

Context level1.2.1.
Context level 2
Context level 1.2
Initial context
level 1 (becomes
context 1.1)
Go up 1
(raison d’être)
Go down 1
(a sub-context of
context 2
Go down 2 (a sub-context of context 1.2

A CASE IN POINT
• In some cases, specifying a sub-context leads to its repositioning as part of the initial
context. This means that the choice of raison d’être in the initial context was too
general
• Example
• Context level 1 : coffee machine
• A raison d’être : procuring pleasure
• Context level 2 : the procurement of pleasure
• Analysis shows that “a pleasant experience over coffee” is included within “ the
procurement of pleasure”. It is thus indeed a sub-context of context 2
Let’s look at the diagram…

Context 1.1
Coffee
machine
Context 2 :procurement of pleasure
Context 1.2
A pleasant
experience
over coffee
WRONG
Context 1
Coffee
machine
Context 3 : procurement of pleasure
Context 2
A pleasant experience over coffee
RIGHT
Because the coffee machine is an occurrence of the context “a pleasant
experience over a coffee”

WHAT DID WE LEARN FROM THIS CASE?
• That the problems were probably too wide ranging and not focused enough on the
main problems that need solving
• When listing the main problems, it should be evident that the context “procurement
of pleasure” is too broad to correlate directly enough with this specific and
restricted list.

CAVEAT
• FOCAL requires a good level of knowledge about the situation
under analysis (Who am I? What do I know? Who do I know?)
• FOCAL must be used by at least two people who can share their
representations. In fact, each cognitive map* is a
representation of reality that should be discussed with others,
notably to refine the terminology. It is not easy (nor effective)
to use FOCAL in isolation.
* Here cognitive map are map of categories

ADDITIONAL EXAMPLE – ACCESSIBLE ENERGY FOR
PEOPLE IN INSECURE CIRCUMSTANCES

STEP ONE : SPECIFYING THE INITIAL CONTEXT
Who am I ?
A citizen wishing to
find an innovative
solution to provide
low cost energy for
those in need
Who satisfies the
recipients’ need(s)?
Energy distributors
What do they do?
Distribute energy
CONTEXT LEVEL1
=

CONTEXT LEVEL1
Context level 1 : Energy distribution
• Energy distributors, network operators, B2B and B2C
clients
• The price of energy is increasing (+30% forecast by CRE over the
next 3 years)
• The number of energy insecure people is increasing
• Break with fossile fuels (whose costs result in price volatility)
• Renewables depend little or not at all on the cost and
availability of fuel
• Producing ones own renewables could help to reduce energy
costs in the long term
• Organise a collective to negotiate lower prices  limited and
unpredictable range of action
Raison d’être of context 1 : supplying energy equipment

Context 1
Energy distribution
Context level 2 : Energy equipment supply
Direct consequences of problems and
subsequent information.
• Break with fossil fuels (whose cost
results in price volatility)
• Renewables depend little or not at all
on the cost and availability of fuel
• Producing ones own renewables
could help reduce energy costs in
the long term
Additional information shows that a key component of the context “supplying energy
equipment” is producing energy. This component (or sub-context) may be acheived through
fossil fuels or renewables. Since we wish to escape from fossil fuels, we can easily see that
relevant sub-context is that of producing renewable energy.

1.2.1. Renewable energy
production
Context level 2 : Energy equipment supply
1.2. Energy production
1.1. Energy
distribution

CONTEXT LEVEL 1.2.1
Context level 1.2.1 : Renewable energy production
• Renewable energy equipment producers, energy
producers, financers, installers, public information
bureaus for energy efficiency
• The price of equipment for producing renewable energy is
inaccessible for people with energy insecurity (e.g. they could
not afford to fund a solar panel grid)
• The price of equipment must be reduced
• « Do it yourself » (DIY) has published plans, instructions and
videos for producing solar panels or wind turbines very cheaply
compared to professional equipment l (e.g. under 50 euros for a
solar panel)
• Find innovative means of funding (highly complex given the low
level of resources of people with energy insecurity)
Unsatisfactory solution
Occurrence of context 1.2.1. : DIY renewable energy production

1.2.1. Renewable energy production
Context level 2 :
Energy equipment supply
1.2. Energy production
1.1. Energy
distribution 1.2.1.1. DIY renewable energy
production

CONTEXT LEVEL 1.2.1.1
Context level 1.2.1.1 : DIY renewable energy production
• DIY communities , retired practitioners seeking to
help young people develop skills, young unemployed
seeking to acquire skills, municipal waste centres
• What are the problems?
• Need to find raw materials, workforce, skills and machines to
manufacture equipment for producing renewable energy
Municipal waste centres are full of waste that can be converted into
productive raw materials
• Unemployed young people could be motivated by taking part in
a project that gives them skills and a role to play.
• Retired professionals could be motivated to coach these young
people
• FabLabs could (at least initially) provide the machines needed to
manufacture the equipment
• Set up a community of those wishing to transform the resources
in municiple waste centres into DIY renewable energy
production equipment and install this for energy insecure
houeholds
• Start the project via crowdfunding
• Be paid from the savings of energy insecure houeholds once the
equipment is installed (third party investment )
Satisfactory solution to the initial problems: end of process

ADDITIONAL EXAMPLE – PESTICIDE SALES

Who am I?
A company that
produces and sells
pesticides
What do I do?
Manufacture and
sales of
phytosanitary
products
= CONTEXT LEVEL 1

CONTEXT LEVEL 1
Context level 1 : Manufacture and sales of phytosanitary products
• Farmers, competitors, regulators (represent civil
society expectations), NGOs and environmental
groups, press, research centres, manufacturers and
sellers of pesticide deployment equipment
Pesticides generate huge negative externalities for human health and nature. 
regulations are becoming stricter, practitioners and the public are aware of the
problems
Pesticide manufacturers’ income is directly related to the volume of pesticide sprayed
 in tension with regulations aiming to reduce the amount of phytosanitary products
and promote more sustainable agriculture
The equipment is costly for farmers, huge increases in fixed costs further weaken
their position  need to curb costs
Need to escape from manufacturers’ economic model based on
volume
• It is impossible to encourage low impact or organic farming
because of the nature of the economic model that depends
directly on the volume of pesticides deployed.
Raison d’être context 1 : protecting crops

Context level 1
phytosanitary products
Context level 2 :
Crop protection

CONTEXT LEVEL 2
Context level 2 : Crop protection
• Farmers, direct competitors, indirect competitors
(insect predators etc. protective clothing etc.),
regulators (representing civil society’s expectations),
NGOs and environmental groups, press, research
centres, manufacturers and sellers of pesticide
deployment equipment
• Farmers want to minimise the costs of protection and avoid being
undermined (any destruction of crops means a decrease in
revenue)
• Pesticides are not the only way to protect crops (sexual
trapping, parasite predators, physical protection etc.)
• Being stuck in an economic model based on volume is not an
incentive to change technology
• Innovative contracts could help pesticide manufacturers to
escape from constraints of volume
Offer an integrated solution of crop protection paid per acre
protected, or based on an “acceptable rate of loss” (with a bonus-
malus system)
 Pesticide use becomes a cost that has to be minimised
 Any less costly alternative is worth pursuing (e.g. free ecological
advisory service) and is supported by a new R&D strategy
Satisfactory solution to initial problems: end of process

ADDITIONAL EXAMPLE –AUDIOVISUAL EQUIPMENT
FOR SCHOOLS

Who am I ?
A company that sells
installs and maintains
audiovisual
equipment for
schools
What do I do?
Sell, install and
maintain audiovisual
equipment used for
teaching
= CONTEXT LEVEL 1

CONTEXT LEVEL1
Context level 1 : Sales, installation and maintenance of audiovisual equipment for teaching
• Schools (essentially purchasing departments),
equipment manufacturers, related professions (e.g.
electricians)
• Equipment prices are decreasing (down by 2/3 in 3 years) 
drop in turnover and margins
• Increasingly strong competition from professions offering
equipement new on the market
• No differention - products all made in Asia
• Impossible to transform service into monetary value (directions
for use and technical advice etc. )
• No incitation to maximise product life
• Maintaining a feasible and sustainable economic model is
compromised
• Nothing
Raison d’être of context 1 : Encouraging good teaching practices

Context level 1
Sales installation and
maintenance of audivisual
equipment for teaching
Context level 2 :
Encouragement of good teaching practices

CONTEXT LEVEL 2
Context level 2 : encouragement of good teaching practices
• Schools (purchasing departments, teachers, students),
equipment manufacturers, specialists in education and
pedagogical techniques
• However excellent the equipment, there is no guarantee that
teachers will really take it on board. If teachers do not take full
ownership, there will be no impact on teaching quality and in
turn the establishment will consider the investment to be of no
measurable added value
• Teachers must be guided so that they take ownership of the material
and the impact of this guidance on teaching quality must be
measurable.
• It is not enough to master the equipment. Teachers must develop
fundamentally new pedagogical approaches.
• New partnerships in the interests of pedagogical excellence and COPs
among teachers will benefit all concerned.
Propose an integrated offer including guidance, promotion and
evaluation of pedagogical excellence through technological and
pedagogical innovation
 The equipment is no longer the centre of the value proposition
 Strong cooperation with schools and external partners could be
beneficial
Satisfactory solution to the initial problems: end of process

ADDITIONAL EXAMPLE– SEEKING TOURIST
ATTTACTIONS IN THE FAR NORTH

Who am I ?
An entrepreneur who
has combined her
two passions: art
and the Far North –
by developing
outdoor exhibitons of
ice scultpures
What do I do ?
Outdoor exhibitions
of ice sculptures = CONTEXT LEVEL 1

CONTEXT LEVEL 1
Context level 1 : Outdoor exhibitions of ice sculptures
• Artists, media, art lovers
• Given climate change, it could rain in the Far North even in
winter. This is precisely what happened to this entrepreneur
during an exhibition and all the works were destroyed.
• Putting on more outdoor exhibitons is not a sustainable solution
because all the art works were totally destroyed by the rain
before the exhibition opened.
• We could envisage an indoor exhibition of ice sculptures
• Nothing
Raison d’être of context 1 : Exhibiting ice sculptures in the Far North

Context level 1
Outdoor exhibition of ice
sculptures
Context level 2 :
Ice sculpture exhibitions in the Far North.

CONTEXT LEVEL 2
Context level 2 : Ice sculpture exhibitions in the Far North
Who are the key stakeholders (S) ?
• Artists, media, art lovers, those who rent out
exhibition space or marquees, suppliers of cold
production equipment
• Renting suitable air conditioned covered space will increase
costs and could even compromise the event itself
• Renting suitable air conditoned space does not seem to be a
viable solution
• Solutions exist using “natural” cold (e.g. igloo)
• Build a giant igloo to house the artworks
• BUT the cost of construction willl be hard to recover through the
exhibition alone
Raison d’être of context 2 : offer an experience in an “extreme cold” environment

Context level 1
Outdoor exhibition of ice
sculptures
Context level 2 :
Ice sculpture exhibitions in the Far North
Context level 3: An experience in “extreme cold” environment

CONTEXT LEVEL 3
Context level 3 : An experience in an “extreme cold” environment
• Who are the key stakeholders (S)?
• Artists, media, art lovers, igloo makers, event
organisers, hotel and catering etc.
• An experience based only on exhibiting ice sculptures cannot be
profitable in a large sized igloo (niche to narrow)
• Diversification could enrich the offer of the experience
• It has to go beyond the niche to access a far wider public
• Build an ice hotel firstly to house the ice sculptures but also to
offer a wider range of hotel and catering/gastronomic services (ice
bar, ice restaurant, …)
Satisfactory solution to initial problems: end of process

BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Sarasvathy S.D. (2001), “Causation and Effectuation: Toward a theoretical
shift from economic inevitability to entrepreneurial contingency”, Academy
of Management Review, Vol. 26, N° 2, P. 243-288.
• Sarasvathy, S.D., Simon, H. A. (2000), “Effectuation, near-decomposability,
and the creation and growth of entrepreneurial firms”, First Annual
Research Policy Technology Entrepreneurship Conference, University of
Maryland.
• Simon, H. A. 1996. The architecture of complexity. Sciences of the Artificial,
3rd Edition, Cambridge, MIT Press.
• Weick, K.E. (1995), Sensemaking in organizations, Thousands Oaks,
London: Sage Publications.

RECOMMENDED READING
• Silberzahn P. (2014), Effectuation : Les principes de l’entrepreneuriat pour
tous, Pearson Edition.
• Vian D. (2013), ISMA360, la boussole de l’entrepreneur innovateur, de
boeck Edition
• Julien F. (2005), Conférence sur l’efficacité, Presses Universitaires de
France

CREATED BY INNOVATEUR T
INNOVATEUR T guides organisations through the transition
towards nimble, sustainable, innovative and creative models. It
offers training to those who wish to carry out change, enabling
them to transform their environment in a complex and uncertain
world.
For further information : www.innovateur-t.com

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