Change is the only constant.
From technology trends to changing business models to evolving consumer behaviors, there’s a lot to consider in order for today’s businesses to really have a handle in a world of constant change.
If your business hasn’t been rocked by change in the past couple of years, it’s a rare exception. Let’s take a look at the below recent cases, and you will learn that even those BIG companies have to face some BIG changes ahead.
- Apple published its financial results for the third calendar quarter and fourth fiscal quarter of 2015, setting a number of company records. iPhone represents a dominant 63% of total sales. Can we now call Apple a smartphone company?
- More tech companies are improving their competitive advantages through acquisitions – Dell’s $67 billion purchase of EMC is the biggest pure tech acquisition ever.
- Google abandoned its retail store location in NYC – it’s not clear if Google is giving up on retail stores altogether, or if it’s just considering another location.
- Amazon surpassed Walmart as the world’s biggest retailer by market value after a surprise 2nd quarter profit sent the e-commerce company’s stock into record territory.
Beyond the ravages of the recession, which has served as an equal opportunity offender, companies have weathered unanticipated factors ranging from environmental disasters to aggressive competition, soaring overhead, technology shifts, and come-from-nowhere events that have altered how people think and buy.
Never has the phrase “change is the only constant” felt more apt, and never has it been more important for businesses to be agile and ready to adapt.
Resisting change isn’t an option.
When circumstances throw sales into a tailspin, business owners face two choices: spend unrecoverable time resisting — waiting and hoping for the altered reality to “get back to normal” — or face facts and change with the times.
Here’s how business owners can use the acronym ADAPT as a guide to navigate around the disorienting realities of marketplace disruptions.
A: Assess the situation.
Work to gain a sense of how long the disruption is likely to last and whether it will have a temporary or permanent impact on your market or business. This will help you decide whether to plan short- or long-term business changes. Also, determine whether certain aspects of your business are affected more than others and whether, as a result of the crisis, there are opportunities that you can build upon during the time of turmoil.
D: Determine where opportunity hides.
Businesses have to find ways to turn threats into opportunity by revamping their organizations, taking advantage of newly available talent pools, revising product strategies to capture emerging market interests, and expanding into markets abandoned by failed competitors.
I have been studying the consumer drone market since 2013, and it’s no surprise to me when GoPro CEO, Nicholas Woodman, announced the company is making a quadcopter–or more generally, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), at the Code Conference in Ranchos Palos Verdes, California. For most in the industry, it’s a logical move. GoPro invented the action camera category, but there’s not many more features that they can offer. With consumer drones, however, GoPro may be innovating as well as playing catch up. The company is behind drone manufacturers like 3D Robotics and Shenzhen, China-based DJI, which sold its first mass market drone in 2013 and is on course to reach $1 billion in sales this year.
GoPro’s shares traded at below its IPO price of $24 the first time on Nov. 12. With its drone, GoPro is hoping to reignite interest in its stock.
A: Aim efforts in order to play to your strongest capabilities.
When adapting to tough times, avoid across-the-board cuts that trim fat and muscle without distinction. Instead, determine which business capabilities give your company its edge and protect those strengths as you cut costs and move forward.
P: Plan your turnaround.
Once you have a sense of what you’re up against, where opportunity resides, and what capabilities you bring to the turnaround task, commit to taking your business in a new direction by creating a tactical plan that defines goals, tasks, deadlines, and who in your organization is responsible for each step.
T: Take action.
Finally, and most important, take action. Talking and planning can’t turn plummeting sales back to profitability, but action can.
The turnaround success stories of tomorrow will be written not by businesses that watch, wait and wish change away, but by those that ADAPT, responding to marketplace crises by implementing operational, product and marketing changes not only to survive, but also to change and thrive.
What do you think the most significant changes and important trends will be in 2016? And how will you ADAPT to make some changes?
Areteon Consulting Services 