Nowadays, business paranoia exists even for the number 1 company in any particular field.
Either you are number 1 and constantly striving to stay on top, or your biggest competitor (Number 2) will be hot on your heels to take you out on a double or nothing pursue of business supremacy. Country borders are meaningless. Businesses these days transcend all boundaries.
Look at Apple and Samsung – both are constantly fighting it out to stay on top of their game in handphones. It is a take no prisoners approach. Elon Musk’s Tesla, SolarCity and SpaceX are constantly doubling down to be number one. They are their own worst enemy, setting audacious goals which a normal CEO would not dare to promise.
In most sectors in today’s world, one hardly hears about the number 3, 4 or 5 competitors. The top 2 guys will battle it out to kill each other and the rest of the players are just by-product road kill. Like Uber and Didi in China recently, where billions were spent. Uber finally calling it quits a year later.
Where does it leave the rest of the competitors? They should be very very afraid that the rug might be pulled from under them any day soon. Fintech startups are obviously trying to do that now to all banks. Any industry with an inefficient matching system is ripe for a new tech startup to disrupt and collapse their big profit margins. They are always around the corner, waiting to sneak up upon the unsuspecting fat and bloated old timers.
We are witnessing the beginning of the acceleration of the next new new thing(s). Where innovations once upon a time only comes once every few years, we are going to see many new killer apps coming fast and furious very soon. Hang on to your seats!
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