Leigh over at the inappropriately-titled Leigh’s Blitherings (her prose is several levels above blather) posted yesterday on the notion of reinvention – a more-pleasant wrapper on the not-so-long-ago-vogue notion of creative destruction. Her premise – and I think it to be a good one – is that an increasing number of corporations are coming to terms with the fact that the products they make are, simply put, losing their relevance, and need to re-examine their space in the marketplace. Further, she posits, companies are inherently bad at this reinvention (hence the low success rate as all too many wait until this window is closed to face up to stark realities).
New to me, although perhaps not to you, is the story of Hermes:
At one time Hermes made saddles. You can imagine, this was a big of a problem when the automobile was introduced. Sure Hermes could have focused on better saddles or trying to stop technology in its tracks (ala today’s music industry) but instead what they did was shift their entire company. Take their brand which was known for meticulous hand made quality and start making exclusive leather bags. From potential bankruptcy to brilliance.
Kudos to Hermes. One suspects the renowned fashion brand may face reinvention again.
Naturally, the notion of reinvention is bandied about these days with great frequency as applied to the automotive industry, as it should be. Leveraging existing supply chains, a skilled workforce and substantial manufacturing infrastructure, there’s little doubt that GM, Ford and Chrysler could morph into newly-relevant enterprises.
Leigh suggests Research in Motion as a company that could reinvent itself. I’ll agree, and suggest another:
John Deere has been in the news lately, as the company has been forced to layoff thousands of employees. While the operations of a company like Deere are fabulously complex and interconnected with world markets, I wonder whether John Deere might not look to IBM as a model for reinvention – moving away from the manufacture and sales of farm equipment, and leveraging expertise in the field into a leadership position in the global agribusiness space, on a consulting model.
Worth thinking about. There are, doubtless, thousands of other examples. If you have a few in mind, take a few minutes to share them with Leigh.
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