Shona Brown Kathleen Eisenhardt Time really sets competing on the edge apart. After all, competing is about change, and so time, not just speed, has to matter. For example, edge managers use time pacing to drive the rhythm of change inside their own companies and, when they can, outside in their home industries. They don't just react to external events. So Starbucks opens 300 stores per year to hit the target of 2000 outlets by the year 2000.
Cisco beats to the rhythm of weekly sales goals.
On the edge managers also compete in a longer time horizon. They use the past even as they generate new opportunities for the future. For example, when The Gap launched its highly successful Old Navy stores, they relied on their past to improve their chances of success. Edge managers also stretch out the past by extending the life of existing product and service platforms like Sony did with its wildly successful line extensions of the Walkman. Simultaneously, they also reach further into the future.