Creating New Value in the Decarbonization Era — Business Model Transformation and Hypothesis-Driven Innovation at an Oil Company

< back to case study

CLIENT

Automotive

The Challenge:

In the context of global decarbonization, continuing to rely on legacy business models became increasingly untenable. Yet despite the urgency, the organization faced a major constraint: only one staff member was assigned to new business development. With limited time and bandwidth, it was nearly impossible to handle ideation, hypothesis testing, and validation systematically. What was needed was a clear framework and external support to move efficiently from idea to insight.

The Outcome:

By gathering firsthand insights in the field and adopting a structured hypothesis-driven approach, the team created 15 actionable new business concepts—roughly 15 times the usual output. This became a model process for innovation within resource-limited settings and is now viewed as a successful case to be scaled across the group.

The Energy Transition: When the Old Model Stops Working

Across the globe, countries are pushing to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels. From EV adoption to renewables and regulatory changes around carbon emissions, these shifts are putting pressure on companies involved in oil supply and gas station operations. For our client—a major oil supplier and its subsidiaries—the writing was on the wall: the traditional business model was losing relevance fast.

To remain competitive and responsible in a changing energy landscape, they needed to build something new.

One Person, Zero Time, High Stakes

Corporate transformation was the mandate, and new business creation was seen as a core pillar of that transformation. But on the ground, the picture was stark: one person was assigned to this mission—juggling their day job while trying to explore entirely new business domains.

“There’s no time to think.”

“We don’t even know what to prioritize.”

Those were the realities on day one.

Learning What You Can’t See from a Desk

That’s when Peetslist was brought in, with a clear objective: structure the exploration process and accelerate the ideation phase.

Our approach didn’t rely on desktop research or internet surveys. Instead, we prioritized raw, unfiltered customer input—gathered through direct conversations at gas stations, rental car shops, and other urban locations in Tokyo. From operations staff to end-users, we unearthed pain points, subtle needs, and systemic inefficiencies that would otherwise go unnoticed.

Domain Expertise × Field Insights = 15 Hypotheses

By combining firsthand observations with the client’s deep knowledge of the industry—regulatory frameworks, operational practices, and upcoming policy shifts—we co-developed 15 viable new business concepts. Normally, the team might expect to generate one or two ideas per quarter. This time, they had 15, all within weeks.

More than just quantity, the quality and feasibility of these hypotheses marked a clear shift from conventional approaches.