By Mary Arnold
In "Fringe Players or Market Disruptors?" I wrote about how easily an established firm can be unseated by a new entrant to the marketplace. The new entrant chooses a niche and, without the legacy systems, history and broad clientele of the established firm to contend with, is able to quickly make inroads.
The example I used in the post was pianos--that of Yamaha usurping Steinway when Yamaha learned to mass-produce pianos at a lower cost. In other cases, market leaders miss societal trends, allowing other firms to slip in under the radar with products to fulfill those emerging consumer needs.
For example, the big two soft drink companies initially missed the rising demand for sport and energy drinks, giving Gatorade and Snapple an entree to the market, explains Paul Shoemaker of Decision Strategies International, a CUES partner. Similarly, he says, established light bulb manufacturers failed to see the opportunity in white LED lighting and the music industry took years to realize the digital revolution was here to stay.
Of course, seeing all this in hind sight is deceivingly simple! Tracking threats (weak signals) and discerning which are genuine--in time to take action--is another matter. To do so requires what Shoemaker calls peripheral vision and it doesn't come naturally. In fact, it's much more natural to dismiss such threats.
You can benchmark your peripheral vision against others in the credit union industry by taking a 20-minute survey developed by DSI (it will be on line until Sept 10). Then tune in for a free CUES Webinar on Sept. 19 to learn your results and how to best position your credit union to improve its strategic vision.
Mary Arnold is VP/publications for CUES and editor of Credit Union Management magazine.
