The list of once-prominent companies that are failing now is growing from the ice-boxes and typewriters: Borders, Blockbuster, Tribune…..
- Eastman Kodak, founded in 1888, which filed for bankruptcy in January 2012, was slow to move toward digital photography. Fujifilm has thrived due to its imagination for reinvention.
- 2011 advertising revenue for all US newspapers was $23.9 Billion. Google advertising revenue was $36.4 Billion.
- In 2010, Netflix had less than 1% marketshare of the US online movie business. It has now overtaken Apple as the top earner and has 44% marketshare.
- Research in Motion’s Blackberry had 44% of the smart phone market in 2009…it now has 10%.
Companies must transform as the technology, competition and society changes.
The lack of transformation is due to:
- Near sighted management (as opposed to far sighted)
- Absence of reinvestment
- Lack of adaptation of technology
- Minimal reaction to external market forces
Henry Kissinger said that the true test for a statesman was to find the place between stagnation and overextension. This could be the same for businesses.
For sustainable success…do not be content, but change the company, the products you offer, and the people (hearts, hands and minds) who work there. This requires a “flight plan” or “blueprint” on how to get from today’s “As Is” to tomorrow’s “To Be.” The executives’ job is then to manage, execute and track to that roadmap.
Do you have a transformation blueprint?
