Blue Ocean Strategy - The hands of time are not standing still

The hands of time are not standing still - Blue Ocean Strategy

All industries are subject to external trends that affect their business over time. They tend to pace their own thinking to keep up with the development of the trends they are tracking.

With the plethora of digital devices, Blackberries and mobile phones these days, we’ve found ourselves wondering about the future of the traditional timepiece: the wristwatch. So we were intrigued to read a recent article about Seiko, Timex and “other non-luxury watch manufacturers who are scrambling to rethink the timepiece for the cell-phone era.”

Without taking immediate action to address looming and inevitable market trends, these industry heavyweights could very well become Lava Casualties:

In the first century AD, the city of Pompeii in Italy was covered by lava from the massive eruption of nearby Mount Vesuvius. The resulting solidified lava contains hollow casts of residents caught in various poses by the advancing flow. It’s easy to understand poses of attempted escape or helpless terror.

But there are also casts of people in the middle of eating a meal. What were those people thinking? They must have heard and seen the great eruption, so did they not think it would pose enough of a threat to interrupt their meal? Or did they just gravely misjudge the speed of the lava’s advance and the impact in would have on their dinner?

Point of the story? Just make sure that your business does not become a lava casualty…