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We see businesses closing their doors all the time and this unfortunate circumstance even clashes even with the businesses that appear to be healthy. How does this happen and how can business leaders stop the inertia that’s driving their business into the ground?
Extinction doesn’t discriminate and has no boundaries. But it does end up attacking a high percentage of old school companies that failed to adapt with today’s times.
Businesses should not take new ideas and products and merge them with an old business model from yesteryear. Although many companies try to do this, their model must change along with new ideas, the customer’s needs, new technology and the market. Nor can businesses launch new products and services and continue to position the company based on where it is positioned today or years ago. The company position and value proposition it offers must be where the company needs to be in order to succeed – not where it has been in the past.
“If failure is defined as declaring a projection and then falling short of meeting it, then the failure rate is a whopping 90 to 95 percent.” – Harvard Business School
Believe it or not, brands are not positioning themselves and their products correctly. This happens more often than you might think and is common among some companies and even industries that can’t seem to innovate and fail to see that an agile business is a healthy business. Of course, with an agile business also comes the need for staff that has skills your current staff may not have. Hmm… Houston we may have a problem here right?
“When companies begin their agile transformation, one of the first challenges is understanding the new roles necessary to support the initiative.” – Universalmind.com
New Products Thrown On Top of an Old Business Model
It is much easier to bolt on a new product onto an existing business model than to rebuild the business and products from scratch. This bolt on process does happen more frequently than not. Businesses that do this will end up seeing that the process of launching new products, the people who have to participate in new product launches and the technology and customer experience channels needed to succeed just aren’t up to speed. Thus, a vision for a sustainable business model crumbles right in front of their eyes.
A lot of money is invested on a failed new product launch that is a brand new idea attached to an old business model. The concept and new product may have been spot on and even innovative, but the systemic infrastructure buckled under the pressure of the new product launch requirements. It’s not just a systemic challenge; it’s also difficult for employees who are not used to change. The old way of doing business just doesn’t work any more. If you’re in a business and industry that’s sticking to their old ways, you may want to reconsider your options for future employment.
Companies need to re-position the brand and value proposition so that it is based on where the new products are launched… not where the business is today. This requires innovative thinking and a vision for future growth.
Innovation Touches All of Your Business
As innovation touches nearly every aspect of how businesses operate, it won’t be long before the companies that resist change just won’t be in business any longer. This is not only a survival of the fittest mentality but also a survival of adaptability. With new technology and IoT driving new ideas, new products, company mergers, partnerships, new commerce systems and so much more, all of this which is interfacing with the customer experience is absolutely critical. Customer experience you say? What it that? Hmm… let me guess, that’s not coming from a savvy, millennial entrepreneur.
As Millennials become the economic powerhouse and corporate leaders (which is already upon us), new business models that are built on never been done before concepts will rule the business world. This paradigm is already the norm, not the exception. Watch out aging business leaders, if you don’t learn to adapt your personal and professional skills, your job and maybe even your company just could be on the road to extinction.
YourBrandExposed is designed to look at digital using a creative, analytical, innovative marketing perspective. We’re a team of digital gurus working with companies who want to leverage the power of digital, web, social, mobile and content marketing strategies. Contact us if you’re feeling the digital squeeze on how to best market and expose your company.
Scott MacFarland – Chief Content Marketer | Digital Strategist
HuffingtonPost | Relevance | Natcom Global
LinkedIn | Twitter: @scmacfarland
Email: yourbrandexposed@yahoo.com
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https://www.pexels.com/photo/conference-meeting-room-chairs-table-28756/
Sources:
http://www.universalmind.com/blog/agile-transformation-product-owner-vs-agile-business-analyst/
http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/why-companies-failand-how-their-founders-can-bounce-back