Iron Man as a business model

 Hello everyone,

I am Merin George, second year MBA student from Amrita School of Business. In this blog I would like to share some insights on supply chain learnings from the movie Iron Man

Iron man is a movie that fascinated me from my child hood. This is one of the English movie that I watched multiple times. Iron man suit and its functions  were marvelous.so I thought of analyzing it through the supply chain aspects and business aspects

Whenever Iron Man gets into trouble he requests data-backed options from Jarvis, which are projected onto his helmet visor. Jarvis is not a superhero. He is an advanced analytics engine, a futuristic example of real-world technology retailers can use to win their battles in the marketplace. Iron Man wins battles over super villains because Jarvis supplies him with next-best action recommendations based on data-backed options.. Retailers are beginning to embed predictive and prescriptive analytic engines like the ones demonstrated by Jarvis in such areas as merchandise management, price management, inventory management and store operations. What you should pay attention to is Jarvis’s ability to surf multiple relevant taxonomies and deliver data-backed decision and next-best actions faster and more comprehensively than the human wearing the Iron Man suit. Working with Jarvis makes Tony smarter and Iron Man unbeatable.

Iron Man is an expert in branding

Iron Man built multiple brands: Stark Industries, the Iron Man brand, The Avengers, the list goes on. I think what we miss is the cohesion of all of the brands he has built. When we think of Tony Stark (Iron Man’s actual name), we see the sharp edges of his facial hair, these same elements are sprinkled throughout the other brands he is a part of, the sharpness of the “A” Avengers logo, the flat line and sharp corner of the Stark industries logo. There is cohesion.

In business, it is integral to have this brand cohesion. Each and every business needs to have a unifying message that your employees know by heart and can regurgitate to customers. This message can be conveyed through a logo, like Iron Man has done so well, or it can be through clear concise copy. Ideally, you want both a logo and some copy to work hand in hand to clearly and effectively reach out to your customer base.

Iron Man knows how to Hire

Iron Man knows how to hire, and hire well. Each person he brings on to his Avengers Team fulfills a role that Iron Man cannot, they all have abilities Iron Man doesn’t possess. In your business, we need to be able to hire well. We need to be able to see the roles that need to be filled and fill them.

While we may not be saving the planet, we are protecting our businesses. We are protecting the jobs of your employees, and, in a sense, we are saving their families. If we could all hire like Iron Man, I think we would all sleep a little easier at night knowing we have the right people in the right places, ensuring that our companies are running smoothly.

Iron Man is staying up-to-date with technology

We all can’t be super geniuses like Iron Man is. We don’t all have billions of dollars like Iron Man does. But we can take Iron Man’s desire and drive to stay up-to-date with the latest and greatest tech for our businesses.

Is your company on social media? Have you updated your website in the last 3 years? Do you use email automation? If you answered no to any/all of these questions, you may not be utilizing technology that can have a massive impact on your company. The technology age isn’t the future, it’s right now, and you need to be taking advantage of it.

It’s OK Not To Get It Right The First Time

Learning the ropes of business is an ongoing process, not a one-shot deal. In the film, Tony Stark didn’t just develop one version of his armor, but three. Although the Mark I (which he built during captivity) helped him get out of the cave, it was slow, clunky and only lasted 15 minutes. As soon as he got home, Tony immediately worked on the Mark II which was the silver version he took for an impromptu test flight. With this version, he also ran into problems, namely his suit freezing at extremely high altitudes.Towards the end of the film, he came up with the Mark III which built upon the strengths of his first two suits while doing away with their respective weaknesses. So, the point is that Tony didn’t get things right the first time, nor did he expect himself to. He knew that he had to learn from his past mistakes before he could finally come up with something that truly worked. In the same way, what every entrepreneur can learn from the movie “Iron Man” is that it’s ok to make mistakes because they can teach you what not to do the next time around.

 Sometimes You Gotta Run Before You Can Walk

Speaking of the Mark II, Tony’s A.I. butler JARVIS warned him that there were still terabytes of calculations that needed to be done before he could take his suit to the skies. Tony responded by blasting off anyway in spite of this and learned how to fly his baby by learning first-hand. As an entrepreneur, you can test the waters and speculate all you want, but you’ll never really learn the business by never taking a risk and trying stuff yourself. Studying business in school and reading books about it is helpful in the sense that you need to know the theories before stepping out into the real world. However, the other half of the equation is about getting out there and actually doing it. If fear is holding you back in any way, here’s a motivational tip: going out there and doing it will teach you a whole lot of other things you won’t find in a book. 

Be Willing To Evolve

When Tony realized that his business endeavors put people in harms way, he decided that he needed to shut down Stark Industries & weapons division and re-think the direction of his company. In the real world, you also need to change what you’re doing if your previous approaches or methods are no longer working for your business. Change is not only an inevitable part of being an entrepreneur, but also when it comes to life in general. The better you can adapt to and work around your ever-changing circumstances, the greater success you’ll enjoy.