Products new to the world are greater risks and harder to time than minor additions to existing product lines. When the stakes are high, find out in detail what customers wish for, how they choose between alternatives, and what it will take to get them to substitute a new product for what they use now. Tim Ruefli of the University of Texas asks us to think in terms of a portfolio of strategies. Growth takes a portfolio of skills and human factors applied over several stages of company evolution. He says that every business evolves from pre-commitment to new venture to expansion to professionalization, to maturity.
Crises typically occur at each transition.
Managers operate today s business. Leaders prepare us for the next stage and push for transition. Think about that. Two distinct types of individuals, one optimizing the status quo, the other not satisfied, both working together to achieve corporate growth. Portfolios of products are managed within the context of a portfolio of business objectives.