The Seismic Impact Of Technology

Overview: The article focuses on a statement that “Size alone can't help a company stave off threats from disruptive market forces. Technological innovations can destabilize any industry.” No Company, regardless of its size, is immune to competitive market forces, and technological innovations can rapidly destabilize any industry, no matter how solid it appears. Industries can be disrupted for a variety of reasons: regulatory shifts, changing consumer tastes, new investment trends. It states that technological change is among the most common instigators. Like an earthquake, such change can bring major upheaval and shakeouts to an industry, altering the mix of competitors and the rules of competitive play. Understanding the effect of technological innovations in an industry's market evolution is critical to developing successful strategies. As technology transforms more markets, managers have to reassess their corporate positioning and strategic goals. For some, this will spell a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to seize the initiative and firmly establish their companies on a larger stage. For others, it will require hard thinking about strategic choices and finding the courage to make painful decisions about markets not served and products not offered.

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Format: HTML | Date: Feb 2002 | Pages: 4