Industry and Market Structure 産業の構造変化
Market and industry structures are quite brittle.
One small scratch and they disintegrate, often fast.
Industry and market structures appear so solid that the people in an industry are likely to consider them foreordained, part of the order of nature, and certain to endure forever. A change in market or industry structure is a major opportunity for innovation. In industry structure, a change requires entrepreneurship from every member of the industry. It requires that each one ask anew: “What is our business?” And each of the members will have to give a different, but above all a new, answer to that question. Large, dominant producers and suppliers, having been successful and unchallenged for many years, tend to be arrogant. At first, they dismiss the newcomer as insignificant and, indeed, amateurish. But even when the newcomer takes a larger and larger share of their business, they find it hard to mobilize themselves for counteraction.
For example, the U.S. Post Office did not react when UPS and FedEx took away larger and larger shares of its business. What had made the Post Office so vulnerable was rapid growth in the demand for urgent delivery of time-sensitive documents and packages.
ACTION POINT: Never stop asking yourself, “What is our business?”
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Driving Change (Corpedia Online Program)
産業と市場の構造は変化が急である。
小さな打撃で崩壊する。
産業と市場の構造は、予定されたもの、自然の法則、永遠のものと思わせるほどに堅固に見える。だからこそ、その変化はイノベーションの機会となる。そのとき、誰もが起業家精神を求められる。産業内の誰もが、われわれの事業は何かを問わなければならなくなる。それぞれの答えを出さなければならなくなる。
長い間成功を収め、挑戦を受けたことのない生産者や供給者は傲慢になりがちである。新規参入者が現れても、取るに足らぬ素人と見る。そのくせ、その新規参入者のシェアが増大を続けても対策をとれない。
アメリカの郵便も、ユナイテッド・パーセル・サービス（ＵＰＳ）やフェデラル・エキスプレス（ＦＥＤＥＸ）に抵抗できなかった。郵便の地位を危うくしたものは、急を要する書類や小荷物の市場の急成長だった。
（『イノベーションと起業家精神』、eラーニング教材『変化の駆動力』）
