article thumbnail

The New Agents of Market Penetrations

Harvard Business Review

Technology companies signed up and supported them. Kenyan groups understand frugal engineering suitable for the local market and are carefully adapting mobile technologies with African flavors. Today, most mobile payment firms operating in Africa have Kenyan origins. Using students to create new markets is not new.

article thumbnail

Megastores Want to Be Like Mom-and-Pop Shops… Sort Of

Harvard Business Review

The infiltration of technology into every part of our lives has made many people seek out personal, low-tech/high-touch experiences and relationships with the companies they patronize. To protect their advantage, forward-thinking national chains are combining their brand recognition and market penetration with a local approach.

Retail 8
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

How Likely Is Your Industry to Be Disrupted? This 2×2 Matrix Will Tell You

Harvard Business Review

For the former, we examined the presence and market penetration of disruptor companies; we also considered incumbents’ financial performance. For the latter, we measured incumbents’ operational efficiency, commitment to innovation, and defenses against attack.

article thumbnail

Jack Welch’s Approach to Breaking Down Silos Still Works

Harvard Business Review

Welch was convinced that the speed of globalization and technological innovation in the 21 st century would require companies to work very differently – with shorter decision cycles, more employee engagement, and stronger collaboration than had previously been required to compete.

Welch 8
article thumbnail

Why Comcast Would Rather Be Feared Than Loved

Harvard Business Review

Maybe the passage of time has dulled my memory of what it was really like, or maybe the wonderfulness of the phone rep led me to believe that this was a different sort of operation. If that''s right, the cable operators will only get more aggressive about this as the years go by. Customers Strategy Technology'

article thumbnail

6 Reasons Platforms Fail

Harvard Business Review

Studying these successes and failures, we’ve identified half a dozen key reasons platforms fail, all of which boil down to managers’ misunderstanding of how platforms operate and compete. For years Apple’s market penetration hung in the single digits. What became of Sony’s players?

article thumbnail

Blockchain Could Make the Insurance Industry Much More Transparent

Harvard Business Review

Thus a trust and efficiency engine like blockchain technology has the potential to drive radical change in the insurance industry while improving transparency and outcomes across the entire value chain. Rather, they can become early adopters of the technology. Sponsored by DXC Technology. Crossing the Digital Divide.