Biostics – A Testing Ground for Commercial Innovation

Commercial contracting faces exciting times!  With the growth and definition of the biostics sector, new approaches and models are being used with remarkable success.  Collaborative contracting, relational contracting, outcomes-based contracting, strategic sourcing, business process outsourcing and a myriad of other models are being deployed and integrated as the biostics sector continues to take root and grow.

What is Biostics?  As plastics continue to prove problematic to the environment, especially as eco-friendly regulations are being promulgated across the warming globe, industry is seeking a substitute material.  Plant-based options, especially those with strong fiber content, including bamboo, industrial hemp, flax and organic cotton, have emerged as cost-effective solutions.  These bio-plastics and eco-plastics offerings, increasingly referred to as Biostics, are experiencing a number of innovations.

  • Seeds and genetics are rapidly evolving
  • Planting practices and crop management are experiencing standardization
  • Harvesting and transportation are relying on leading-edge technology
  • Raw materials and products are being improved upon across the sector
  • Underlying finance and technology are integrating block-chain and artificial intelligence with great effect

The most remarkable commercial aspect around this growth is that commercial models are helping enable the development across this nascent market.  While the underlying crops, the farmers’ fields and the transportation infrastructure have all existed for decades and centuries, the configuration of these elements is new.  These elements are increasingly being bound together through progressive and innovative commercial models which have proven themselves in other sectors – ranging from petrochemical, construction, software, banking, defense and pharmaceuticals.

It will be interesting to see in the coming years how the successful integration and deployment of innovative commercial models in the biostics sector will force commercial practitioners in older and more established sectors to reassess whether their commercial models need to be revised.

 

 

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