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The business landscape is full of the carcasses of huge companies that failed due to little (or zero) innovation. Lack of innovation puts any company at risk of a slow death, but refusing to evolve with the market can be even more devastating.

Without a robust and resilient innovation strategy, no company can survive says Phil McKinney, CEO of CableLabs.


  1. Thomas Cook There has been much analysis of their failure on 23rd September 2019, much of it due to poor finance control.

    Many used terms like : "Mintel research in April found Thomas Cook 'lacked clear differentiation in the market' despite the company 'having a good reputation' + was not seen as particularly innovative or cutting edge, or as offering good value + Experience rates and recommendation levels among its customers remained well behind its nearest competitors" (Source: Travel Weekly).

  2. Blockbuster was at its peak in 2004. They survived the change from VHS to DVD but failed to innovate into a market that allowed for delivery, let alone streaming. Because Netflix could see the vast opportunities in streaming/downloads, they are one of the "big Boys" and Blockbuster are just bleached bones in the desert.

  3. Kodak dominated the photographic film market during most of the 20th century. The company had a chance to be world leaders in digital photography but blew its chance. They developed the world’s first digital camera but could not get approval from management to launch it because it might cut into the film market.

  4. Nokia was the first in the world to create a cellular network in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and became the global leader in mobile phones. The Nokia executives couldn’t grasp the concept of software and kept focusing on hardware for fear of alienating current users. In 2008 they decided, too late, to compete with Android.

  5. Carillion British multinational facilities management and construction company was the UK’s second largest building and outsourcing provider until its fall. So, what went wrong? There were several key areas that led to their failure, and the first was board performance and too much debt.



Some interesting sources :-

  1. High Street woes mount as 85,000 jobs feared lost BBC Oct 24th
  2. Valuer AI 50 examples of corporations that failed to innovate and missed their chance.



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(C) 2007 ~ 2024 SI7 - Stats