The company that I found while researching that is no longer competitive primarily because it lacks some kind of knowledge that is important to the customers is Blackberry. Blackberry pioneered the smartphone industry by being the first company to bring email and web surfing to phones. Their initial product offerings included a QWERTY keyboard and became very popular with business users. They used this same platform to release models geared toward regular consumers but failed to innovate. Apple and other companies that were making Android based phones that were touchscreen and app driven quickly dominated the market. Blackberry did respond to the competition by releasing touchscreen phones but their first (the Blackberry Storm) which was released in November 2008 (about 6 month after the 3g iPhone) was plagued with software and hardware issues and did not have Wi-Fi. Blackberry has limped along and actually released a decent phone called the Z10 recently but it has been poorly received. At the end of Q4 2013, Blackberry had less than 1% of the U.S. smartphone market. Blackberry’s earlier success may be an example of the network effect. When you think about it in the context of the technology lifecycle.
An "old" product or service or business that is still competitive because it accommodates the new market demand that I found was Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola is a worldwide-recognized brand that has consistently grown since its inception in 1886. The key to their success is that their core product is simply a good product and while its popularity has steadily grown around the world they have also diversified into other areas of the market. Diversification and acquisitions have been a significant factor in Coca-Colas success. They currently have 48 billion in revenue and 146,200 employees. The key to Coca-Colas success has been with keeping the pulse of the drink market. Coca-Cola’s website lists 112 brands that include energy drinks, water, vitamin water, regional and national soda brands and juices.
References
http://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/2013/12/02/blackberry-us-market-share-falls-below-1-hits-zero-in-china/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-cola_company
I totally agree with you that Blackberry is no longer competitive in USA, but it does still competitive in other part of the world, as an example Middle East. This is the reason why Blackberry still existing today.
ReplyDeleteThat s a good point. When I was reading up on them I noticed that they still had a decent presence in the United Kingdom and some other markets.
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