As the lines between industries blur, only businesses that can accurately define what their product or service actually does to improve people’s lives will thrive sustainably. Amazingly, many companies are not quite sure where their businesses make a difference. If a business knows what its core offerings are, adapting to changing market demands and tastes won’t be a problem.
Competitive advantages keep shifting with the ever changing market/ consumer tastes. Innovation shelf life decreases along the same path. Sometimes, a competitive advantage woven around innovative services may not last beyond a few years.
Precisely, introducing something new to jazz up your competitiveness and stay ahead is an endless drive. You have to keep at it to stay consistently relevant. Knowing what you truly do and how it makes a difference can help you transform without aches at every juncture of market change.
A story is told about the Canadian Pacific Railway, which recognised early enough that its business isn’t about the railway. It recognised that its business is about transporting or moving people and goods. The company understood that whatever it takes to keep moving people and goods faster, seamlessly, more comfortably and satisfactorily as demanded by the market was its core business.
With this insight, the Canadian Pacific Railway expanded into airline as Canadian Pacific Airlines, trucking as Canadian Pacific Trucking, shipping as Canadian Pacific Shipping, etc. Whatever needs transportation, the Canadian Pacific had a solution for it. That way, the business stayed in operation as market demands shifted
The competition wasn’t that brilliant. Many businesses that competed with the firm at the onset maintained a strong sole focus on the railroad. They went bankrupt as moving goods was taken over by aeroplanes, trucks and ships. You don’t want to be in that position.
A myopic view of your business is dangerous. You must think about what you offer broadly. Google is an information company. It realised it doesn’t just do mail. Whatever needs to be done to share information and make information available conveniently and widely is what it does.
That is why it created Gmail. That is why it does Google Meet. That is why it provides the Google Search Engine. That is why it bought YouTube. That is why we have Gemini. That is why it developed the Google Map.
Google continues to find relevance despite consistent transformation and changes in the market. Currently, Google is the highest-visited site in the United States. ChatGPT and Yahoo! don’t even come anywhere close.
Every product or service has a core offering beside the actual and added value parts. Most firms define their businesses narrowly by the actual services. Google’s actual product may be Gmail, but the core offering is helping people share information. Tomorrow, if exchanging official information by mail isn’t trendy anymore, Google would certainly find a way to develop another useful product to meet the new trend because it knows that its business isn’t Gmail, basically.
Having an insight into your core service will help you in the long run as the industry transforms. Here are three ways to get it done:
- Describe your product or service in terms of what it does to help customers – For instance, a firm engaging in telecommunication should know that its core business isn’t about pitching mobile phones, apps or building towers. Its business is about connecting people. An oil company must think broadly. What it does is sell energy. Having an accurate description of what your business’s core offerings are will put you in a good place to do what it takes to transform and expand as the market shifts.
- Understand the current state of the market – Every business thrives because it offers a solution that meets the demand of today. It won’t do a business any good to offer a solution that the market isn’t ready for or has lost interest in. Ensure that your core offerings are designed into an actual form that suits the trend.
- Strategically plan for where the market is heading – Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and Meta AI are designed to help the various businesses compete in a transforming market. The businesses are already preparing for the future. Projecting accurately into what new trend will morph into will help you design a new product format or expand accurately to capture emerging
