Space Thinking … How do you define your market, and business? … forget sectors, think spaces … instead of products, define yourself around people, and their lives … to drive more innovation and growth

September 15, 2025

Do customers care about banks, or about their wealth? Do they care about insurance, or their protection and peace of mind? Do they care about cars, or travel?

Michelin got it right. The French tyre brand always said it was about the journey, not the rubber. And as a result, it was able to add value in more human, more relevant and inspiring ways – from better maps to the best restaurants.

In a world of rapid change, defining your business by traditional sectors – like banking, retail, telecommunications, or automotive – is increasingly limiting. Conventional categories frame the conversation around products or services, not the outcomes customers truly care about. Businesses that cling to these outdated labels risk irrelevance and missed opportunities for growth and innovation.

A more powerful approach is to reframe markets in customer-centric market “spaces”.

These “spaces” are defined not by what you sell, but by the human outcomes you enable: the experiences, goals, and aspirations your customers seek. By thinking in terms of spaces rather than sectors, companies can create far more relevance, unlock new value, and identify opportunities that conventional market definitions obscure.

When somebody asks you, what kind of business are you, think about your space, not your sector.

What are spaces?

For most of the 20th century, companies defined themselves by the industries they operated in and the products they sold. Banks belonged to “financial services,” carmakers to “automotive,” hospitals to “healthcare,” retailers to “grocery” or “apparel.” Strategy was industry-centric: benchmark competitors, gain market share, defend (increasingly limited) margins.

But that world no longer fits the way consumers live or the way markets evolve. Technologies converge, industries blur, and consumers no longer live their lives in neat silos. What matters to people are not categories but outcomes — mobility, well-being, security, belonging, joy.

This is the essence of the shift from product-centric sectors to human-centric spaces.

A space is defined by the human aspiration at its core, not the product that delivers it.

• Instead of “financial services” your space could be wealth, or enablement, or security, or more.

• Instead of “automotive” your space could be mobility, or freedom, or status, or more.

• Instead of “healthcare” your space could be wellbeing, or fitness, or longevity, or more.

• Instead of “media” your space could be entertainment, or learning, or connection, or more.

This redefinition matters because consumers do not buy sectors; they pursue goals. They do not want a mortgage — they want a home. They do not want a car — they want convenience, safety, or status. They do not want a hospital — they want health and vitality.

Why spaces matter more than sectors

1. Consumers live in spaces, not sectors … Consumers never wake up wanting “financial products.” They want peace of mind, opportunity, and prosperity. By aligning with life aspirations, companies become more relevant, trusted, and emotionally resonant.

2. Boundaries are blurring … Tesla competes in automotive, energy, and software. Apple competes in computing, music, health, finance, and entertainment. Amazon is simultaneously a retailer, cloud provider, film studio, and healthcare entrant. Defining competitors by industry makes leaders blind. Defining by spaces clarifies who and what you’re really up against.

3. Spaces spark innovation … By focusing on customer aspirations, companies open new fields of play. Nike innovates in digital fitness communities, not just sneakers. Disney creates immersive parks and streaming, not just films. Innovation becomes systemic, not incremental.

4. Spaces unlock growth … Sectors eventually saturate. By reframing around spaces, companies discover natural adjacencies. IKEA shifts from furniture to housing, energy, and sustainable living. DBS Bank moves from accounts to “invisible finance.” Growth flows from human needs, not industry constraints.

Competing in spaces

Apple: From Devices to Human Experiences … Apple plays in multiple spaces: creativity (Mac, iPad, Final Cut), connection (iPhone, iMessage, FaceTime), health (Apple Watch, Fitness+, medical records), finance (Apple Pay, Apple Card, BNPL). Apple never defines itself by sector. It defines itself by empowering human lives, seamlessly bridging domains through design and ecosystem thinking.

Tesla: From Automaker to Energy and Mobility Ecosystem … Tesla reframed from an EV company to a sustainable mobility and energy player. That makes sense of its cars, solar panels, Powerwall batteries, charging networks, and autonomous driving AI. Tesla competes not in automotive but in the space of clean, connected, intelligent mobility.

Disney: From Studio to Imagination and Immersion … Disney competes for imagination and family experiences. That’s why it operates films, streaming platforms, theme parks, cruises, merchandising, and soon the metaverse. Its competitive set is not Warner Bros. but anyone capturing human attention and wonder.

IKEA: From Furniture to Better Living … IKEA reframed its mission as “better everyday living.” That supports moves into affordable housing, renewable energy, circular economy solutions, and even urban farming. IKEA competes for the sustainable living space, not just home furnishing.

Nike: From Shoes to Human Performance … Nike no longer sees itself as an apparel company but as a catalyst for athletic performance and lifestyle. Its mission — “to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete” — frees it to operate in apps (Nike Training Club), wearables (Apple Watch integration), digital communities (SNKRS), and sustainability (circular design). Nike sells identity, not sneakers.

DBS Bank: From Products to Joyful Finance … Singapore’s DBS shifted from bureaucratic banking to the “world’s best digital bank” by embracing invisible banking. By integrating services into ride-hailing, shopping, and food delivery ecosystems, DBS aims to “make banking joyful.” The reframe allowed it to play in life convenience and empowerment, not just financial services.

Patagonia: From Apparel to Environmental Action … Patagonia competes in the space of environmental stewardship through lifestyle. Its activism, materials innovation, and customer community all flow from this reframe. It sells belonging to a cause, not just jackets.

How to move to space thinking

Where do you start? Space thinking is customer-centric thinking. Reframing your business, and your chosen market spaces, around your customers and their lives, their needs and aspirations:

• Reframe around human experiences … Ask: What job are we really doing for people? Lemonade Insurance redefined its purpose from “claims processing” to “peace of mind, powered by fairness and AI.”

• Adopt human language … “Mobility,” “wealth,” “well-being” are more meaningful than “automotive,” “financial services,” “healthcare.” Language signals empathy and relevance.

• Build ecosystems … paces are broad, requiring partnerships. Ant Group built an ecosystem connecting payments, credit, wealth, and insurance — all serving financial well-being.

• Design experiences not transactions … Nike delivers the experience of achievement; DBS the experience of joyful convenience. Experiences anchor loyalty better than transactions.

• Continuously redefining the spaces … Netflix moved from DVDs to streaming to original content to interactive storytelling. Its space — “entertainment anywhere, anytime” — evolves with technology and consumer behavior.

The intellectual roots of this shift run deep:

• CK Prahalad and Gary Hamel, in Competing for the Future (1994), argued that companies must look beyond products and industries to the underlying competencies and customer benefits that shape the future. They asked leaders to define their business by what customers are trying to accomplish, not by what they currently sell.

• Joe Pine and James Gilmore, in The Experience Economy (1999), showed how economic value is migrating from goods and services to staged experiences that resonate emotionally. Experiences, not products, become the competitive frontier.

• AG Lafley and Roger Martin, in Playing to Win (2013), reframed strategy around choices: where to play and how to win. Crucially, “where to play” increasingly means life domains such as beauty, mobility, or connection — not rigid industries.

• Rita McGrath, in Seeing Around Corners (2019), embraced this into her concept of arenas: fluid, customer-defined domains where needs are met across industry boundaries. The “mobility arena,” for example, encompasses automakers, ride-hailing, public transport, and energy storage.

Together, these thinkers point to the same trajectory: away from industries and toward human-centric arenas, domains, or spaces where companies compete to solve meaningful life challenges.

Leading with space thinking

This can seem easy, obvious, but it’s not. It can be profound. Not just in being able to engage customers with more relevance, innovate with more vision, grow in new ways. But also, in what drives your vision, culture and people. Also, how do investors see you – in a declining sector, or in an area of future growth?

Leaders must think differently to win in spaces:

• Empathy over expertise. Understand human lives, not just product performance.

• Systems over silos. Think across ecosystems, not within categories.

• Collaboration over control. Partner to serve whole aspirations.

• Purpose over product. Anchor in meaning, not merchandise.

As Lafley and Martin stress, the hardest choice is not “how to win” but “where to play.” In a world of blurred industries, “where to play” must be defined by human life domains.

The shift from product-centric sectors to human-centric spaces is not just semantic; it is existential. Consumers live in spaces. Technologies dissolve boundaries. Growth lies in serving aspirations, not defending categories.

Prahalad and Hamel told us to look beyond industries. Pine and Gilmore told us to compete in experiences. Lafley and Martin told us to choose where to play. McGrath told us to see arenas. Today, companies like Nike, Apple, Tesla, Disney, IKEA, DBS, and Patagonia show us what this looks like in practice.

The lesson is simple: In the future, winners will not be the best in their industry. They will be the companies that best understand and serve the spaces where human life happens.

Here’s a practical cheat sheet of conventional sectors reframed as customer-centric spaces:

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