The Invisible Competitor Disrupting Your Business

Most companies and people know that we are living in times of profound chaos, volatility and ambiguity. There’s no certainty about anything, and everything is changing at a pace that is almost impossible to catch up with. In business terms, think about this way: is your company safe? Are your business model or main products and services safe from disruption? When was the last time that something actually worked the way your company predicted it would? For how long do you think that the 5-year strategic plan you spent so much time working on will remain relevant? And, perhaps more importantly, can you identify with any certainty your competitors?

You might have a straightforward response to all those questions, but I would invite you to think about them again! The only certainty now is that there's an imminent danger that rapid and fearless innovation driven by cheap access to technology and information will disrupt companies and entire industries. Many people know this! Everybody is talking about disruption and innovation, about change and relevance, about reinventing themselves in order to remain profitable and relevant. But there's a big gap between knowing that disruption is the new normal and truly assimilating the fact that your company could potential be disrupted or replaced. One of the elements that contribute to widening this disruption awareness gap is the difficulty and complexity in identifying who your competitors are. Competition is coming from all flanks, either disguised as potential clients, hidden or maybe even invisible in industries radically different than yours.

Would you believe that Starbucks is any competition for banks? Well, Starbucks has more money in savings (in gift cards) than most banks in the US. Would you believe that Capital One is any competition for Starbucks? Capital One is partnering with Peet’s Coffee to provide sort of a coffee-financial advice service together. Or how about Uber a competition for banks? Uber is opening small business bank accounts at a faster rate in the US than anybody else (since 30% of its drivers never had a bank account). We are getting ready for the 3D printing industry to disrupt industries that produce very expensive and almost impossible to purchase products (braces, casts, etc.). Competition is coming from everywhere!

I call this disruptive and difficult to identify competition "invisible competition". Even though it is not really invisible, it is actually very difficult to characterize and describe. Very often, these invisible competitors are overlooked or neglected by companies and industries that would never believe that it is possible to be replaced and disrupted by those who are working on such different fields.

Potential disruption from invisible competitors will not only happen to big companies in “well-established industries” (for example, banking or coffee). It is actually happening everywhere, to small or large companies. Many of these organizations and their leaders are oblivious to the fact that competition is not evident and simple anymore, and let alone coming from the traditional companies with which they share the market. Fierce competition is coming from everywhere, especially from the very least recognizable sources. Performing the “threats” part of a SWOT analysis has never been more difficult.

There are three very effective ways to deal with what invisible competition. They are:

Total awareness of market trends, even those remotely related to your own industry

Your organization must keep a keen eye not only in the trends of the industry to what it belongs, but also to the new things happening everywhere. Involve everybody in your organization in becoming sources of information. Meet regularly in order to discuss potential competitors and opportunities to disrupt others.

Open-mindedness to leave the old assumptions behind and adopt an agile and flexible approach

There’s nothing worse in the business world than stiffening corporate assumptions and limiting the possibility of change. It is essential for companies to always be ready to quickly pivot and even leave behind what they've always done to adapt to new models and needs. In times of profound disruption, the winners will not be the biggest or smallest companies, but the ones that adapt faster to the new realities and those capable of quickly creating new industries.

Build operational capacities and corporate strengths based on diversity

The fierce and relentless attack to your corporate most entrenched assumptions is coming from everywhere. It is just impossible for any single individual or groups of alike-thinkers to grasp what's going on, let alone to respond to it. It is fundamental to promote a strong culture of cross collaboration and diversity in your organization. Collaboration between people of similar backgrounds or ideas isn’t enough. It is fundamental to break barriers and rewarding teams with seemingly strange combinations of skills and knowledge. It is by far more useful and relevant to have artist with engineers working together, than only engineers or only artists.

Follow me on Twitter: @erubio_p

Visit my blog: www.innovationdev.org

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About the Author: Enrique Rubio is an Electronic Engineer and a Fulbright scholar with an Executive Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Syracuse University. Enrique is passionate about leadership, business and social entrepreneurship, curiosity, creativity and innovation. He is a blogger and podcaster, and also a competitive ultrarunner. Visit the blog: Innovation for Development and Podcast. Click here to follow Enrique on Twitter. 

Disclaimer: opinions are my own and not the views of my past or current employer.