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September 6, 2014

Amidst Widespread Disruption, Innovation Keeps Businesses Alive

This is a common refrain: businesses today that employ strategies of staticity fall behind. Those that innovate leap forward. But if the refrain is as common as we suppose, why do so many companies allow themselves to ignore innovation?

Robert Montenegro

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BBC News business reporter Matthew Wall recently penned an article that began with a list:

“Woolworths, Polaroid, Alta Vista, Kodak, Blockbuster, Borders…”

What do those companies all have in common? First, they’re all more or less dead (though Blockbusters in Alaska are still going strong). Second, the reason they’re all more or less dead is because they failed to take necessary risks and invest in innovation to keep them relevant in the age of digital disruption. This is a time, more than perhaps any other, where big businesses are more at risk (not to mention have more to lose) than the uppity startups nipping at their heels.

This is a common refrain: businesses today that employ strategies of staticity fall behind. Those that innovate leap forward.

While stability was once what companies aimed for, success in today’s climate is only made possible by adapting to or, better, controlling the shifting trends of markets and technology.

Take a look at Wall’s article at BBC News for more on the subject.

For more on innovation as a whole, check out this clip from futurist Lisa Bodell’s Big Think interview:

Photo credit: My Life Graphic / Shutterstock

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