In addition, a company must incur the additional expenses of establishing and supporting a new brand name. One can, of course, persist in the belief that conventional retailing is going to survive and that remaining loyal to the existing dealer network is the right answer. In some areas, this is obviously true. In other areas, it is just as obviously not true. But for at least a generation, no one will clearly know what commodities belong in which category.
Sociology always beats technology, but eventually sociology changes.
Having downloaded Sony racing games as children, they will be willing to download a simulator from Ford and drive a Jaguar around a racetrack in cyberspace, crash the virtual Jaguar, and learn much more about the actual car s characteristics than I will ever learn by taking a sedate test ride around the block. The economic dilemma can be simply stated. The present sales strategy will lead to extinction, but firms are unable to navigate to the sales channel that leads to survival. No one willingly plots san exit strategy, but perhaps that is the right answer in many cases. Lester C. Thurow is professor of management and economics at the MIT Sloan School of Management.