When Growth Stalls: How It Happens, Why You're Stuck, and What to Do About It

3.3. Changing Industry Dynamics

Economic peaks and troughs are predictable; you may not know when they're going to hit, but you know they're coming and you can take preventive measures to deal with them. Competition is predictable as well. Again, it may not be clear when and from where it's coming, but companies can take steps to keep their organizations on solid competitive footing.

But the world never stops turning, and while some market tectonics are predictable (Pfizer's patents on its $13 billion cholesterol drug Lipitor will begin to expire in 2010), others come as a surprise.^[] We call these changing industry dynamics, and they are yet another significant reason why growth stalls. In fact, struggling companies we studied were more than ...