The Business Report

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Strategy: Sticking to your knitting may prevent growth

Globe and Mail
26 Jun 2006
Companies are supposed to stick to their main business, not expanding beyond their core capabilities. But technology writer Nicholas Carr points in Strategy Business to a rubber processor who hit success by getting into publishing: Andr and Edouard Michelin published a guidebook for tourists, the famed Michelin Guide, that by providing information on gas stations, hotels and restaurants in the early 1900s drew people onto the roads, increasing demand for the company’s tires. Mr. Carr says that shows the value of building new businesses that complement your own. “Most products exist in an ecosystem of complementary goods and services, each of which influences the others’ sales and prices,” he says, suggesting you need to be alert to opportunities in ... read more...