Transforming Legacy Organizations

CHAPTER 3WHICH INDUSTRY AM I IN?

Once upon a time, the question ‘Which industry am I really in?’ was easy to answer. You were in the business of law and sold legal assistance, or in the banking world and provided financing, or in the shipping industry and moved goods from point A to point B. But in a world where not only technologies, but whole industries, converge, the answer is no longer so obvious. This industry convergence means that competitors can come from many different places today, but it also means that the potential for developing one's organization has changed significantly. Let's look at a company like Amazon that understands this better than most, and has the trait of constant development deeply rooted in its DNA.

As is well known, Amazon was initially a bookseller that sold physical books online. However, in 2007, they launched Kindle, the e-reader for digital books. Kindle was designed to disrupt the physical book. But it did not happen. The reason was, in my opinion, that the product simply was not good enough. This applies not only to Kindle, but to all e-readers. E-readers did not, and still do not, create such a good customer experience that they can replace the feeling many get from reading a physical book. What often happens when new media are introduced is that they more or less directly copy the old media. The first movie in the world was simply theatre caught on film. You set up a camera, filmed the play and then showed it to an audience on a canvas. ...