Most
companies wait until a crisis point to launch a transformational initiative.
However, in today’s environment, companies need to embrace pre-emptive
transformation.
Four types of companies succeed at pre-emptive transformation:
Continuous
adapters
These
companies continuously evolve their business models by making small changes.
McDonald’s, which rode the 1960s baby boom by drawing teenagers into the
workforce and harnessed globalisation in the 1970s and 1980s to expand
globally, is an example.
Ambidextrous
players
A company of
this type maintains a balance between exploitation of existing strengths and
exploration, even after finding a successful model. For example,
digital-technology and chip company Qualcomm uses returns from past successes
(e.g. WCDMA) to fuel future ones (e.g. LTE).
Industry
shakers
These
companies seek to drive industry-level change rather than become victims of it.
Amazon, for example, generates razor-thin profits because it continually
reinvests in its future, and even in self-disruption (as with the Kindle in
2007).
Portfolio
shifters
These
companies run a portfolio of businesses and actively adjust their emphasis over
time. 3M, for example, has more than 35 business units divided among 6
reporting segments, and its strategic acquisitions and divestments reflect the
evolving demand landscape.
Successful
pre-emptive transformers share several key traits:
External
orientation
Long-term
perspective
Ambidexterity
Adaptiveness
A
disruptive mentality
Healthy
paranoia
Resource
fluidity
Constant
focus on simplicity
Leaders
today need to engage in continuous pre-emptive renewal. They need to look
beyond short-term financial performance, watch for potential disruptions and
shifts and then pre-emptively address them.
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