First Mover’s Advantage verses Sustainable Growth
Its common sense that only those with a deeply ingrained capacity for continuous learning and self reflection stand a chance of surfing the waves of change successfully. (Ignatius Loyola).
The rule of thumb dictates that when a company has a first mover’s advantage in a given market or a product, they need to ensure that they maximize their returns in the shortest time possible and with all necessary resources available.
Although this may be true to some, it may be counterproductive to the organization in the long run since the decision to maximize returns by committing all resources to one activity is both risky and myopic.
Organizations therefore need to strike a near perfect balance between first mover’s advantage and sustainable growth.
Most companies just like big football clubs have notoriously poor track record when it comes to identifying future leaders and investing to develop them. They would rather spend millions of dollars recruiting the best to maximize in the short run hoping to make enough to continue the cycle.
An organization can grow only as fast as available capital, talent and management capacity to oversee the growth. Many an enterprise has imploded from unsustainable growth.
The E-commerce phenomenon came with a lot of expectation. Many early 21st century online customers thrilled by the promise to mouse-click their way to holidays, best offers etc were underwhelmed or less enchanted with the E-Retailers who had underestimated the up-take and demand for products and services and were therefore overwhelmed .
Most E-Commerce over sell their capabilities without having a well defined business and strategic plans plan leading to unsustainable growth and eventually self implosion.