Sears actually did see Internet Marketing coming, and did attempt to
integrate it into their well-established system of stores. Kinda what
Walmart is attempting to do (and flailing at) today. The problem is
that when you have such a massive embedded investment in retail spaces
and the support systems behind them, you have to "protect" that
investment as much as possible. They were (and are) implementing an
incremental approach whereas Amazon has implemented a wholesale change
in the entire business model.
Sears, Kodak, etc., have a history of "eating their young". While
there are other companies that have an established mentality of
serving grampa for dinner--as in "Isn't he tasty? Pass the gravy,
please."
I've pretty well come to the conclusion that the proper lifespan for
most companies is about 15 years. Or maybe even a product line. What
happens is that a particular product line defines a company and that
company cannot grow beyond that product. At some point, you have to
cook grampa and let the young ones build the future generation.
OK, to bring this back on-topic...
In a way, this is what Olympus did. They killed grampa (OM System).
The young tikes took over (Four-Thirds), but failed. They learned a
few lessons and realized that grampa actually was right about a thing
or two, and Micro Four-Thirds was the result.
Amazon will eventually fall away as Sears has. Amazon is the modern
day Sears before Sears decided to get into retail stores. As long as
Amazon stays away from that temptation of bricks and mortar stores,
they should be able to continue to scale and adapt to changing market
forces rather quickly. However, it all depends on whether the culture
within Amazon continues to be "eat grampa", not "eat your young". At
some point, Jeff Bezos will be grampa and will have to be eaten.
Apple? Right now, Apple is eating their young AND old. Apple is
following the footsteps of Kodak, almost perfectly. It isn't a matter
if they will implode, but just a matter of when. But it will be a few
years.
Boy, did this turn dark. Sorry.
AG Schnozz
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|