Own the Future: 50 Ways to Win from The Boston Consulting Group

Chapter 18

Breaking Compromises

George Stalk, Jr., David K. Pecaut, and Benjamin Burnett

Abridged and reprinted with permission. Copyright © 1996 by Harvard Business Publishing; all rights reserved.

Many companies today are searching for growth. How and where should they look? One powerful way to grow is through innovations that break the fundamental “compromises” of a business. When a company successfully breaks a compromise, it releases enormous trapped value. Breakaway growth can be the result.

Compromises are concessions demanded of consumers by most of the companies in an industry. They occur when the industry imposes its own operating constraints on customers. Usually, customers accept these compromises as just the way the business works—inevitable trade-offs that have to be endured.

But a compromise is different from a trade-off. In choosing a hotel room, for instance, a customer can trade off luxury for economy by choosing between a Ritz-Carlton and a Best Western. Until recently, however, most hotels forced all customers to compromise by not permitting check-in before 4:00 pm. No law of nature or economics decrees that hotel rooms can't be ready before late afternoon.

Uncompromising Opportunity

The idea of compromises can be a useful organizing principle to focus an entire company on growth. It provides a systematic way to search for growth opportunities that are logical ...