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What Business Are You in?
May 13, 2013
The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn...and change.
-Carl Rogers
In his classic article, "Marketing Myopia," reproduced in HBR's 10 Must Reads: The Essentials (Harvard Business Review, pp. 153-180, 2011), Theodore Levitt talks about the importance of knowing exactly what business you are in.  He cites this example:

"Hollywood barely escaped being totally ravished by television.  Actually, all the established film companies went through drastic reorganizations.  Some simply disappeared.  All of them got into trouble not because of TV's inroads, but because of their own myopia....  Hollywood defined its business incorrectly.  It thought it was in the movie business when it was actually in the entertainment business.  'Movies' implied a specific, limited product.  This produced a fatuous contentment that from the beginning led producers to view TV as a threat.  Hollywood scorned and rejected TV when it should have welcomed it as an opportunity — an opportunity to expand the entertainment business."





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Comments (2)

Displaying All 2 Comments
Edna Ranck · May 13, 2013
OMEP-USA
Washington, DC, United States


You are implying, I think, that child care people are in more than the caring for and educating young children business! This made me think: are we not in the family support business? Are we not like the public school system, though more than that? We also enable businesses to function more smoothly and we function as small businesses that contribute to the local, state, and national economy. Perhaps we are more valuable than we realize. Now, to convince politicians and the general public of this! Ket's show them. Publicity campaign, anyone?!

Jennifer Carsen · May 13, 2013
Daycare In Demand
Portsmouth, NH, United States


Great reminder. There are so many examples of this out there--railroads got crushed by air travel because they thought they were in the "railroad" business rather than the "transportation" business. And Kodak couldn't look beyond "film photography" to "photography" more generally, despite all indications that their customers were eager to move to digital. I think it's especially important for those of us in a timeless profession (like child care/education) to step back from time to time and remember what we're actually doing--and why.



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