In Brief
The Question
Why do so few companies achieve successful second acts? Too often they grow incredibly quickly and then cool off almost as fast. The average life span on the S&P 500 has fallen from 67 years in the 1920s to 15 years today.
The Answer
New products quickly saturate markets; sales spike early and then plummet. Digital components rapidly make products obsolete. Following management mantras about strategic focus, executives limit their organization’s assets to those necessary to complete a single mission— and then struggle to find a second successful revenue source.
The Solution
The authors identify common attributes of companies that risk an existential crisis and argue that several tactics can avert one: abandoning hot products before they run out of steam, evolving to build platform or service offerings rather than products, and acquiring disruptive companies before the original business is upended.
In July 2016 a pandemic broke out. Tiny monsters known as Pokémon suddenly appeared all over the world, threatening to use their fantastic powers to do battle in parks, on city blocks, and in homes. Fortunately, a dedicated volunteer force quickly arose to subdue them, using little-known technology embedded in smartphones to capture and domesticate the creatures.
