The Business Book

9494

T

he business people we

remember are those who

do things differently—

people such as Facebook CEO

Sheryl Sandberg, US investor

Warren Buffett, Hong Kong business

magnate Stanley Ho, British

entrepreneur Richard Branson,

and US media giant Oprah Winfrey.

Similarly, the companies we

remember are those whose products

and services stand out. Companies

that shuffle along with the crowd,

doing the same thing in the same

old way, are soon forgotten; those

that disrupt industries and change

the game are celebrated, sometimes

even idolized.

In today’s global market,

competition is fierce and every

percentage point of market share is

hard fought and precious. Operating

in these markets is often a zero-sum

game: competition drives prices

down and costs up. Gaining a

significant competitive advantage

requires more than gradual

improvement, it demands radical

and disruptive shifts—if you cannot

win the game, move the goalposts.

Redefining the rules and boundaries

of an industry is the essence of

game-changing business strategy.

Thinking one step ahead of

customers and competitors disrupts

the status quo in a business’s favor.

Disruptive innovation

Harvard Business School scholar

Clayton Christensen identified

two types of technology that can

influence businesses: ”sustaining

technologies,” or advances in

technology that help companies

make gradual improvements to

product performance; and

“disruptive technologies,” radical

advances in technology that disrupt

the industry and force companies to

rethink their entire mode of being.

Christensen later changed the term

“disruptive technology” to

Steve Jobs Entrepreneur and inventor

Steven Paul Jobs was born on

February 24, 1955 in San

Francisco, California, US. In 1976,

at the age of 21, he and Steve

Wozniak started Apple Computers

(from the garage in Jobs’s home).

The business went public in 1980,

with a market value of $1.2 billion.

In 1985, after disagreements

with the board, Jobs was fired

by recently appointed CEO John

Sculley. Jobs nevertheless went

on to found NeXT Computer and

invest in Pixar Animation Studios,

which was to become hugely

successful. In a twist of corporate

fate, Apple bought NeXT in 1996

and Jobs returned to Apple later

that year, becoming CEO in

1997. In 1998 Jobs launched the
      iconic iMac computer and went
      on to preside over one of the
      most famous corporate
      renaissances in history. Under
      his guidance, Apple led the way
      with innovative product design
      and technology to become one
      of the most valuable technology
      businesses in the world.
      In 2010, Steve Jobs was 61st
      in Time Magazine’s “100 People
      who Changed the World.”
      He died on October 5, 2011.

CHANGING THE GAME

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Innovation

KEY DATES

1997 US professor Clayton M.

Christensen introduces the

concept of “disruptive

technologies”—major and

unforeseen technological

advances that cause companies

to redefine how they operate.

2000s Global Positioning

System (GPS) navigational

technology emerges as a

disruptive innovation in a

range of industries, from travel

and fitness to recreation and

smartphone applications.

2014 US professor of business

administration David

McAdams writes Game-

Changer: Game Theory and the

Art of Transforming Strategic

Situations. McAdams uggests

that game-changers are those

who are “determined enough

to change the game to their

own advantage.”

I want to put a dent

in the universe.

Steve Jobs