Why organizations cannot afford to stay the same in their quest for sustainable competitive advantage.
Every strategy can be copied or benchmarked in our digital era. It is quite obvious that we are living in a transparent, open-information based world. The internet is changing almost every industry available and it’s doing it fast. Uber, Amazon, Skype, Viber, Airbnb and others are just some examples. Everyone is bound to be disrupted one day and companies need to prepare for this disruption.
Ralph Rattler, a good friend and a true innovation expert actually uses the phrase “do you know the expiration date of your company?” on his business card trying to stress the importance for companies to be innovative and creative. Quite evidently, innovation and “change” is a necessity.
This is why it is imperative to train professionals in how to think creatively, come up with ideas (many of them) and explore. Again, training professionals for this skill is crucial and it is long term as it assumes a change in culture. And yes, as noted in some of my previous writings, you will be disrupted, so you need to come up with new ideas and doing so is a skill.
A company can only have a sustainable advantage through its ability to learn and change. Ask Nokia, Blockbuster, Kodak, Blackberry, Smith Corona and hundreds of other companies. They know….
Bite Size Thoughts by Dr. Constantine 'Dino' Kiritsis