Problem:
The signs are obvious. Cheap solutions from small upstarts pick off your low-end and marginal customers. Customers start telling you that inferior solutions are 'good enough' and that they can't afford to work with you anymore.
Your cost structure is too high to compete in the long-term. Market share is slowly declining. Revenues are falling. The writing is on the wall.
Your management team even recognizes it, and believes something needs to be done, but then there's the overriding requirement to protect margins, not annoy your channels, protect what you have by moving up the value chain where the competition can't compete, and that consumes all your time and resources.
Disruption is scary on the other side. It also seals your fate: you will eventually be disrupted. It's only a matter of time, unless you take action now.
Fact:
Right up to the time when it's too late, it always feels like you can defer the decision to act and fight back against being disrupted. You're the bigger, successful company after all.
But the reality is, progress marches on. We don't have a horse-drawn-carriage and buggy whip industry anymore because we don't need it.
In more recent history, the music industry and record stores tried to fend off digital music instead of embracing it, and ended up completely losing control of distribution, pricing and marketing. Ultimately, they relegated themselves to a tiny specialist niche, and it took only a few years for everything to change.
But disruptive innovation doesn't mean that your business needs to die. There are things you can do now to ensure your future, but action is imperative. You must decide what to do while you are still the mainstream solution, while you are still the preferred and dominant product or service in your market space. Or, you will be the next Blockbuster.
Solution:
There are many strategies you can take to deal with disruption. The one thing you can't do is stand by and watch.
Innovative Disruption Inc. offers a variety of strategic services to provide you with the necessary guidance to survive and thrive through disruptive innovations. These include:
- market analysis
- identification of the factors driving disruption in your industry
- development of a strategic plan to deal with disruption
- acquisition and divestment strategies and targets
- marketing, product development and investment strategies to compete against disruptors
Contact us to discuss the disruption you face and the approach we recommend for your business.