The Challenges Of Dominant Incumbency - When Being The Biggest Isn’t Necessarily Good News

• The business can struggle to establish a mandate for change, creating significant negative change inertia.
• Changing before it gets broke is to late. Things need breaking when you have control and options.
• Profits are high (but often flat) but with growing debate over their sustainability. There is a reluctance to dilute often historically high margins. High margins in these organisations are often a symptom of treating customers complacently.
• Vested interests, historical reasons and powerful personalities responsible for the previous success act as  obstacles to change.
• Too much emotional baggage attached to the past.
• New/different competitors are taking increasingly bigger bites out of your market share, but none are attacking you head on.
• The value chain you are part of is beginning to change shape, you are in danger of being disintermediated, your best people might leave and set up in competition against you, seeing an inefficiency in the value chain they can exploit.
• The business is very effective in rationalising and explaining, less good at acting and transforming.
• Innovation is not a distinctive competence, cash cows making the money, a few problem children are fighting for life, and it’s the stars that are missing from the short term horizon.
• The people in the business front-line are crying out for leadership, from both operational management and the senior team. Instead they get over-managed through detail and analysis.

What is fascinating about these organisations is watching them wake from their slumbers. Will they act quickly enough? Will they wake up in time? Will the senior team break-out from the paralysis they are suffering from and do what is necessary?

SalesPathways can help in one of three ways:

1. Help identity your competitive position and whether you are suffering the problems of dominant incumbency.
2. Create the energy for change in your management population (especially the senior team)
3. Help create a new break-out strategy that re-positions your business.

Call us to find out how :

Claudine McClean
T:  01789 734400
E: claudinem@salespathways.com

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