All too often, companies take the scope of their offerings as a given, delaying changes that make the organization ripe for disruption. Kodak stuck with “film” as its core business while competitor FugiFilm Holdings, Inc. accepted the inevitability of digital replacing film. Fugi transformed its business by leveraging its chemical and processing capabilities into liquid crystal displays and beauty products. The change was traumatic -– thousands lost their jobs -– but, unlike Kodak, Fugi company exists and is growing. The WSJ is full of change-in-scope decisions. HP is splitting into two parts, enterprise solutions on one side, printers and PCs on the other. Unless HP can make a go of 3-D printing, I expect Lenovo or Dell will acquire the printing/PC unit as computing shifts to mobile devices. IBM is harvesting its more commodity-like businesses to double down on mobile, software and the…
Healthcare Industry Disruption
If you are in the healthcare industry, or are curious about where it is headed, be sure not to miss WTN’s June 24-25 upcoming conference focused on the industry’s disruption. Mike Klein was one of the early voices predicting dramatic change; once again he brings a stellar set of speakers to help participants anticipate the future. As a nation we pay more for healthcare than other nations yet achieve worse health outcomes. The three to six extra GDP percentage points we pay in healthcare costs are needed for infrastructure, education, federal R&D investments and our pocketbooks. We pay more because payers exert too little pressure on providers relative to other nations; and we’ve historically paid providers to do procedures versus improve health. In addition, many consumers are sheltered from cost and do not know the relative cost or quality of providers. Capitalism’s competitive…
Medtronic avoids BlackBerry’s business model mistakes
Once a mobile phone leader, BlackBerry will pass from irrelevancy to bankruptcy absent an outside purchaser. Medtronic will wisely avoid this fate if it transforms its culture and business models following its recent acquisition of disease management and patient monitoring company CardioCom. Whereas BlackBerry missed the technology shift that required phones to provide mobile photography, music, and computing —not just calls and emails — Medtronic appears to understand it’s engine needs rebuilding. By further exploiting all the data collected by its chronic care devices (such as pacemakers and insulin pumps) and serving the chronically ill before they need devices, Medtronic can do more to improve health and lower its costs. Indeed, the medical device leader’s recent creation of a business model innovation center in Singapore demonstrates that the company knows that devices alone can no longer fuel its growth. Much as Caterpillar earth…