More than 60 years ago, Harvard Business School professor Theodore Levitt famously argued that companies often fail because they focus so narrowly on products and services that they forget to keep in mind the bigger picture: what consumers actually want. Levitt called this problem “marketing myopia,” and it remains a problem to this day. Increasingly, however, companies are struggling with a new affliction, which I call digital myopia.
Is Your Company Squandering Digital Opportunities?
Five traps to watch out for.
August 08, 2022
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Summary.
Many companies today fail to see the threats and opportunities that new digital technologies represent. They fail to recognize that customers are increasingly being drawn to data-driven services and experiences, and they fail to appreciate the growing value of data and digital ecosystems for their business. Five traps in particular create this digital myopia: the product trap, the value-chain trap, the operational-efficiency trap, the customer trap, and the competitor trap. The author discusses each, along with ways to avoid them.