> From: Carol Anne Ogdin <Carol_Anne_Ogdin@deepwoods.com>
> Date: 25 Jun 95 21:51:45 EDT
>
> In short, the better atuned that a vendor is to their existing customer
> base, the more ill-adapted they are to the decay of that market and
> the emergence of competing markets. Sometimes, you have to
> ignore what your customers are telling you and take another path
> in self-preservation.
I think that I would be careful with the advice of ignoring what
the customer is telling you. I see the IBM situation as one where they
were blinded by the success of their big machines and the fact that they
were the king of the road. They failed to investigate new routs, new
possibilities, even though the market was screaming those possibilities
out!
I would say that we must pay close attention to what customers
tell you today, and make money out of that, but we also must look beyond
that and investigate "what else I can do for mine and other customers
tomorrow." And try to that today! That's competitiveness. In his video
about pardigms, Joel Barker recommends that we ask the question "what in
your business is impossible to do today, but if it was possible it would
revolutionize your business" (or something like that). This serves the
purpose of keeping us "thinking on oour feet" (this expression has been
discussed here laready).
Ivan
--
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"Las naciones marchan hacia el termino de su grandeza, con
el mismo paso que camina su educacion." "The nations march
toward their greatness at the same pace as their educational
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