Inventive companies are threatening today's leading brands. New opportunities, stemming from changes in consumer behaviour, are often being met by fast-growing insurgent brands, or conversely local businesses with a closer connection to their consumers.
However, what leading brands lack in agility, they make up for with their talent pool, large resources and existing consumer base. Although not new, disruption has become a bigger challenge. Today it is a standard in every market. All businesses, no matter how new or established, how big or small, have the power to disrupt.
Multi-nationals are taking note of the success of insurgent and local brands and are beginning to mimic their strategies. Tactics include acquiring insurgent or local brands, emulating their business models, speeding up innovation, embracing failure, establishing greenhouses and incubators and improving flexibility and efficiency.
Open innovation, which leverages ideas from outside parties such as start-ups, business incubators, joint ventures, spin-offs and even consumer crowdsourcing, is a critical method for established brands to innovate smarter and faster. In addition to focusing on speed, they are homing in on their consumers by leveraging technology to watch behaviour shifts, identify new pain points and target underserved segments.
Success is not a one-off phenomenon and no company is staid for risk of being irrelevant tomorrow. Maintaining growth requires consistent focus and effort. The market is fast-evolving, and innovation is a process not a one-off event. This is true for incumbents and insurgents. Disrupting oneself is the ultimate goal and all companies should strive to reinvent as they evolve with consumers and the world.
Learn more by watching our on-demand webinar, Mapping a Path Through Disruption.