Looking Ahead: Accepting Industry Changes

Posted on 5/22/2008 by Jim Pickerell | Printable Version | Comments (0)

In a recent speech to business leaders in Atlanta, Carly Fiorina, former Hewlett Packard CEO, said today's leaders need to look beyond quarterly financial reports and other backward-looking indicators and focus on the pace of innovation in their industries and the diversity of their customer base.

She emphasized that decisions to move in new directions will often need to be made sooner rather than later. As an example, she cited HP's decision to buy Compaq in 2001. This was done amid a slowing economy that ground to a halt on Sept. 11, a week after the announcement. She compared that decision with Kodak's delays in accepting that the photo industry was going digital.

"We made the hard moves in time, so by the time the economy started to pick up again, we were a different company, and that was clearly reflected in Hewlett-Packard's long-term success," she said. "Kodak made the move too late."

Stock-photo industry leaders need to take her advice to heart.

Not only is the industry faced with "going digital," but as a result, it is experiencing dramatic changes in its customer and supplier bases. The early adopters and adapters to these changes are likely to be the eventual winners in a changing media landscape. The procrastinators may well end up like Kodak.



"If businesses only look in the rearview mirror, they will miss the season of change," Fiorina said.


Copyright © 2008 Jim Pickerell. The above article may not be copied, reproduced, excerpted or distributed in any manner without written permission from the author. All requests should be submitted to Selling Stock at 10319 Westlake Drive, Suite 162, Bethesda, MD 20817, phone 301-461-7627, e-mail: wvz@fpcubgbf.pbz

Jim Pickerell is founder of www.selling-stock.com, an online newsletter that publishes daily. He is also available for personal telephone consultations on pricing and other matters related to stock photography. He occasionally acts as an expert witness on matters related to stock photography. For his current curriculum vitae go to: http://www.jimpickerell.com/Curriculum-Vitae.aspx.  

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