One emerging trend that is not new but well worth looking at is when companies with big names and hit products or services attempt to leverage their way into new markets. Often they look around to see what’s hot and what new niches they can get into using their clout and market dominance.
Some companies make these transitions effortlessly and others attempt to “force fit” their way into emerging markets.Their need to do any of this often comes from a pressing need to remain competitive or to maintain a strong leadership position in a rapidly changing and evolving marketplace.
These efforts can draw the company’s attention and focus away from their main business and what got them there. This has been the swan song of many once great companies that crashed and burned by bogging themselves down and crippling their primary businesses and ultimately negatively affecting their reputation doing great harm from which most cannot recover. Agile creative companies on the other hand often manage to successfully broaden their business focus without damage and land in markets that extend their brand for decades.
Examples: Apple Computer now seems to be as much a consumer electronics company as a computer company. IBM and Microsoft on the other hand have had rough going in their diversification efforts.
Companies to watch: HP; Dell; AT&T; Google. Meanwhile the trend continues…
