Business leaders used to be able to plan and predict. They knew what industry they were in and who their rivals were. But now they find themselves in a world of blurring industry boundaries, shrinking product and company lifespans, disruptive technologies, and economic and geopolitical uncertainty. To succeed in the 2020s, traditional competitive strategy won’t always help. The game of business competition is moving to a new arena, calling on companies to compete in entirely new ways.
The combination of business ecosystems, big data, machine learning, and automated decision making is accelerating the rate at which companies can learn. By combining people and technology in new ways, companies can avoid the “average trap” and gain a competitive advantage by learning faster than their rivals about customers’ changing needs.
Algorithms learn in milliseconds. Humans grasp trends that unfold over decades. Companies can develop winning competitive strategies by combining human and machine intelligence operating on radically different timescales.
In an age of declining growth, being average is not good enough. Exceptional companies set unreasonable expectations and go beyond just satisfying their customers.
To succeed in India, says Janmejaya Sinha, you have to take India on its own terms.
The business environment in the coming decade will continue to be uncontrollable and unpredictable. Economic, technological, and political uncertainty will be the norm. How can business leaders create robust competitive strategies in such conditions? By looking to biology for lessons on resilience and adaptation. Biological systems avoid becoming victims of change by relying on six characteristics:
Companies are encountering the “AI paradox”: it is deceptively easy to launch projects with AI but fiendishly hard to reach scale.
Practical applications for quantum computing in multiple industries are closer than many people think. The market could hit $50 billion by 2030.
Companies doing business in this vast, and vastly innovative, market must navigate unique characteristics—consumer behaviors, business models, very large ecosystems. Jeff Walters explains.
The ability to build, manage, and collaborate in complex business ecosystems will be a major source of competitive advantage in the decade ahead.
83% of digital ecosystems involve partners from more than three industries.
Sources: Factiva; BCG analysis.
The most successful digital ecosystems have about 40 partners.
Sources: Factiva; BCG analysis.
BCG research shows a direct correlation between geographic reach and the success of a digital business ecosystem. Find out what other factors distinguish leaders from laggards.
Many companies are building or joining collaborative networks. The challenge is how to effectively set up and manage these ecosystems and use them strategically to maximize value—and gain a competitive edge.
Winning the ’20s
How should leaders prepare their companies to thrive in the new decade?
No industry is immune to the forces that are transforming business and society. Companies of all kinds are figuring out how to adapt to a new logic of business competition, create opportunity from uncertainty, and prepare to thrive in the 2020s amid yet more change.
Domestic automakers are rapidly gaining an edge in ride-hailing services, self-driving cars, and electric vehicles. Foreign players need a bold and nimble strategy to remain competitive.
A question for all players in the industry: Are you effectively pursuing the opportunities that data and technology present?
Tech-savvy companies know the answer, but they don’t hold all the cards. Banks should act now to create a win-win scenario for themselves and their customers.
Travel companies that fail to innovate will be reduced to commodity providers of hotel rooms and airplane seats.
BCG managing director and senior partner Ryoji Kimura explains how increasing complexity is upending traditional models of business competition.
