Not everyone would agree, but a well-run enterprise has the capacity for extreme maneuverability. It can retask whole suborganizations to new product or service lines. The well-run enterprise can purchase companies that do the thing it wants to do and sell the one it doesn't want to do. The obvious drawback here is you can be too successful at this kind of business approach. The lessons learned by IBM and, more recently, Microsoft, are cases in point.
History holds numerous examples.
Poorly run enterprises can persist for what seems an eternity on inertia alone. These organizations can carry clientele with them, despite poor delivery and performance. We have watched the successful ones reorganize themselves repeatedly without missing a beat. We've also seen the unsuccessful ones start reorganizations that, to this day, have still not completed. Although these observations are especially relevant to entrepreneurs rising to CEO positions at multinational companies, they are just as applicable to managers rising through the ranks of a company or individuals who need to understand the dynamics of their organization to be successful.