Respond to two of your colleagues’ submissions:

1st Discussion 

Hello Class,

Why were organizations like traditional taxicab operators or large hotel chains unable to see disruption coming in their respective industries from new companies like Uber, Lyft, and AirBnB?

Although new companies such as Uber, Lyft, and Airbnb’s have seemingly taken over their respective industries, traditional companies did not consider this disruption for many reasons. In my opinion, traditional companies believe they have been in business for so long due to their traditional ways, such as marketing strategy, product promotions, sales, and resistance to change. I believe they overlooked the disruptor because they believed that customers would be loyal to their brand as well. During difficult times, loyalty cannot suddenly be created if it didn’t exist to begin with (Palsule, 2020). Also, they did not consider the possibilities of new technologies emerging and how it would reshape their respective industries. Traditional companies only looked to invest in their products and services as well as forecast profits, not possible threats to the industry.

Discuss the impact of convergence (e.g. finance and technology, healthcare and technology) and data on the future of industries. Think about the tools used by organizations to develop business strategies. Are these tools still effective? Why or why not?

During the past 25 years technology has rapidly progressed, beginning with the creation of the internet and the World Wide Web (WWW). In our world today, all society knows is various types of data, which is basically the forefront of technology. The use of technology across various industries and the growing reliance on data have significantly changed how these industries have already and will continue to develop our future. Companies are able to transform their businesses and make data-driven decisions by gathering and analyzing these data. By doing this, businesses are able to cut cost, simplify their processes, and improve transparency.

Companies use tools like data analytics as well as AI to gather information on customer behaviors to identify patterns to make well informed decisions for their specific markets. They have also been using digital marketing to identify the right audience to evaluate campaigns for their success which is a real time strategy. According to Drai (2021), “Analyzing data in real time is critical in delivering insights at the pace of business. This reduces the time to remediate incidents and gain insight into opportunities, since the analysis is done constantly instead of daily, weekly or monthly, as with traditional analytics.” I believe these tools continue to remain extremely effective for the particular reason they help companies better understand their customers by continuous engagement, improve processes, and to take advantage of growth opportunities. 

2nd Discussion

Why were organizations like traditional taxicab operators or large hotel chains unable to see disruption coming in their respective industries from new companies like Uber, Lyft, and AirBnB?

It is largely a mischaracterization to assume large incumbent organizations fail to see disruption coming in their respective industries. Kodak is a famous example of a large, established company failing due to disruption (Anthony, 2016). After many decades of dominance in the film industry, Kodak filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012 (Anthony, 2016). Kodak’s failure was more nuanced than getting caught off-guard by the rapid transition to digital cameras. In fact, Kodak internally developed and invented the first digital camera in 1975 by Steve Sasson (Anthony, 2016). Kodak buried Stasson’s innovation, largely because it interfered with their current business model (Anthony, 2016). Kodak’s failure was not due to lack of investment, talent, innovation, nor was it due to an inability to see the digital disruption (Anthony, 2016). Instead, Kodak failed due to a reluctance to pursue new business models brough on by new innovations (Anthony, 2016). Incumbents that embrace disruptive technologies and construct their business models such that they are able to adapt to changing market dynamics create a competitive advantage for themselves (Medium, 2018).

Discuss the impact of convergence (e.g. finance and technology, healthcare and technology) and data on the future of industries. Think about the tools used by organizations to develop business strategies. Are these tools still effective? Why or why not?

Convergence describes the concept of multiple industries merging, which has many downstream impacts (MIT Technology Review Insights, 2023). One such impact is urgency; convergence is expected to continue to accelerate as technology such as artificial intelligence advance (MIT Technology Review Insights, 2023). Organizations must account for continued convergence strategically to ensure they are not left behind (MIT Technology Review Insights, 2023). Additionally, organizations are realigning their resource to obtain the necessary capabilities through activities such as mergers and acquisitions (MIT Technology Review Insights, 2023). Moreover, experts expect a trend towards shared tools capabilities as convergence accelerates (MIT Technology Review Insights, 2023)