How can a company in commodity markets like cement, sugar or fuels build a lasting competitive advantage when products look similar and technological features are easy to copy? The Dangote case makes one point very clear: the real strategic leverage does not sit in individual products, but in the ability to control key complementary goods – and to manage that capability like Intellectual Property.

From factories to systems: Capability IP instead of product IP

Dangote Industries has grown from a trading business into one of Africa’s largest industrial groups, active in cement, sugar, salt, fertilizers, energy, packaging and, more recently, one of the world’s largest refineries. In all of these sectors, classic product or process patents might appear to be the natural IP focus. In practice, the core of Dangote’s competitive advantage lies somewhere else.

In an environment with weak public infrastructure, unreliable logistics, frequent power shortages and fragile supply chains, the decisive factor is not the formula of the cement or the exact process in the refinery. It is the ability to ensure that goods actually reach the market, on time, at predictable cost and quality.

Over decades, Dangote has built an integrated system of truck fleets (including CNG trucks), depots, terminals, energy assets and organizational routines. From the perspective of the Resource-Based View (RBV), this system meets all the criteria of a strategic resource: it is valuable, rare, hard to imitate and difficult to substitute.

What emerges is a specific form of “Capability IP”: a combination of assets, processes and know-how that is not necessarily protected by patents, but is functionally exclusive because competitors cannot realistically copy or match it in the same environment.

Complementary goods as strategic bottlenecks

To understand the IP management relevance, it helps to recall the logic of complementary goods. A complementary good is something that increases the value of a primary product: cement needs logistics to reach building sites; fuel needs tank farms and distribution networks; fertilizers depend on storage and transport capacity. Whoever controls the complement can significantly influence value creation around the core product.

In the Dangote system, several layers of such complementary goods become visible:

  • Logistics as complement
    Without trucks, route know-how, maintenance structures and dispatching routines, no bag of cement reliably reaches the customer. Logistics is the crucial complement to the cement product.
  • Energy as complement
    In markets with unstable grid power, the capacity to generate and secure one’s own energy becomes the indispensable complement to any industrial operation.
  • Packaging and distribution as complements
    For sugar, salt and other consumer goods, packaging capacity, presence in retail channels and distribution networks are central complements that secure market access and brand visibility.
  • Digital and organizational systems as complements
    IT systems, planning algorithms and standardized operating procedures transform physical assets into a functioning system and ensure that they operate at scale.

The key point is this: Dangote does not treat these complements as incidental infrastructure. They are designed and expanded as strategic bottlenecks. In a context where external infrastructure is fragile, internal control over complementary goods becomes a form of systemic protection – a de facto “IP moat” that makes market entry and expansion for others significantly harder.

The One Oasis Strategy: Perfect one complement – then scale it

Prof. Ndubuisi Ekekwe’s idea of the One Oasis Strategy offers a helpful lens. The basic concept: a company invests heavily into one core capability until this “oasis” operates at a world-class level. Only then is this capability scaled and applied across multiple businesses.

In the Dangote case, this oasis is clearly the logistics and supply chain capability. Originally built around cement, it now supports sugar, salt, fertilizers and, increasingly, refined products. The group’s competitive edge rests not in having the best cement formula, but in having a highly reliable “logistics oasis” that can be reused across industries.

From an IP management perspective, this has several implications:

  • The One Oasis is not a single IP right, but a bundle of complementary goods that are orchestrated into a coherent capability.
  • This orchestrated capability acts as platform-like Capability IP, which overlays different product markets.
  • As long as competitors depend on weak or external complements, Dangote’s internal oasis acts as a defensive barrier and a lever for expansion.

Yet the One Oasis concept also contains a warning. Over time, technology, regulation and customer expectations change. A logistics oasis built on trucks and roads might, in the future, require strong integration with digital platforms, multimodal transport, renewable energy and data-based optimization. For IP managers, this means: the protected capability must be continuously renewed, not only preserved.

Building a Capability IP architecture around complementary goods

If complementary goods are to be managed as IP, they need a coherent IP architecture. In the Dangote system, we can identify several layers that make the complementary capabilities “IP-like”:

  • Know-how and trade secrets
    Route planning, maintenance strategies, risk management routines, fuel optimization, safety protocols and scheduling algorithms – all of this is knowledge that can be systematically protected through secrecy, access control, training concepts and technical security measures.
  • Contractual IP components
    Long-term agreements with suppliers, transport partners, port authorities and energy providers can secure exclusivity, minimum capacities, preferential access or pricing advantages. Contracts become a structural element that ties critical complements to the system.
  • Organizational IP
    Standard Operating Procedures, quality systems, internal academies and talent programmes institutionalize knowledge and keep it embedded in the organization. They prevent critical routines from being lost and allow the capability to scale across regions and business units.
  • Reputational IP (brand and trust)
    The “Dangote” name signals reliability and availability in markets where shortages are a daily risk. This reputational capital builds on the performance of complementary goods – and is then protected and extended through brand strategies and trademarks.

Together, these layers form a Capability IP architecture: not simply a portfolio of legal rights, but a designed system of knowledge, contracts, organization and reputation that protects the company’s control over complementary goods.

IP controlling for complementary goods: making capability visible and manageable

Once complementary goods become a central focus of the IP strategy, they must enter the IP controlling logic. Traditional IP dashboards that count patents and trademarks are not enough. A Capability IP perspective requires additional metrics.

Typical IP controlling dimensions for complementary goods would include:

  • Asset performance indicators
    Fleet uptime, average downtime per truck, tons per kilometre, energy efficiency of own power plants, capacity utilization of depots and terminals.
  • Knowledge and learning indicators
    Number of process improvements implemented per year, learning cycles in logistics and maintenance, training hours per relevant employee, retention of key experts.
  • Contractual and access indicators
    Share of critical complementary goods secured through exclusive or long-term contracts, dependency on single-source partners, geographic spread of secured capacities.
  • Market and reputation indicators
    On-time delivery rates, customer perceptions of reliability, market shares in infrastructure-challenged regions, resilience during crises.

By integrating these indicators into IP management systems (for example aligned with DIN 77006 or IP management frameworks at corporate level), complementary capabilities are treated as part of the IP landscape. Management can then take explicit decisions on investments, protection measures and renewal of these capabilities.

What IP managers can learn from Dangote

The Dangote case offers several transferable lessons for IP professionals far beyond Africa or the cement industry – especially in sectors where products themselves are commoditized or quickly imitated.

  1. Start with the question: which complements control value?
    Before asking “what can we patent?”, ask “which complementary goods are essential so that our products create value – and who controls them?”. Often, logistics, data, software platforms, standards, service networks or regulatory approvals are far more decisive than product features.
  2. Treat complementary goods as IP objects
    Logistics networks, energy supply, distribution contracts, platforms and ecosystems should be evaluated explicitly as potential IP objects. The question is not only “is there an invention?”, but “is there a capability that we can protect and scale across multiple products?”.
  3. Combine RBV and MBV logic
    Internal capabilities (RBV) must be deliberately aimed at external bottlenecks and market imperfections (Market-Based View). A capability becomes Capability IP when it systematically exploits these structural constraints in a lawful and sustainable way.
  4. Design an IP architecture for complements
    Trade secrets, contracts, organizational design and brands should be orchestrated so that they reinforce one another around the key complements. This is an architectural task, not a collection of isolated protection measures.
  5. Continuously renew the oasis
    The One Oasis must evolve. In many industries, the next generation of complements will include digital platforms, data access, interoperability, AI-based optimization and compliance with sustainability standards. Capability IP management must anticipate these shifts and adapt protection and investment accordingly.

Conclusion: Complementary goods as the hidden layer of IP

The Dangote story shows that in many markets the most powerful “IP” is not a single patent, trade mark or design, but the orchestrated control of complementary goods that enable products to create value in the first place. In environments with weak public infrastructure, this control becomes even more pronounced: internal logistics, energy and distribution systems function like a private infrastructure monopoly.

For modern IP management, this means expanding the map. Beyond inventions and brands, IP portfolios should consciously include capabilities, networks and infrastructures that act as strategic complements. Where these complements are mastered in a systematic, protected and scalable way, they form a deep moat around the business model – exactly what Capability IP at Dangote illustrates in practice.

About the author

Freddy Guemeni is Head of IP services at the University of Manchester Innovation Factory and helps academics, entrepreneurs and tech transfer experts to understand the value and role of IP.