The business environment is very dynamic. A product that is popular may not be popular tomorrow. Technology has a very high rate of change and products tend to become obsolete quickly. All managers are tasked with the responsibility of making sure that the products they handle are on demand. The changing external conditions may make a product or service decline in terms of popularity within a very short time. The dynamic business environment introduces factors like competition, technological advancement, the changing needs and preferences of the consumers, economic conditions, legal issues and the social welfare of the population.
The production and sale of Smartphones and media tablets has led to the decline of demand for single-task products (Selburn, 2014). Multipurpose products are preferred by the consumers because they are convenient and a person can perform a variety of functions with them. Those products that perform single tasks are quickly losing their market share. Examples of such products include the MP3 Player and portable navigation devices (Selburn, 2014). In the electronic industry, competition is very high and every company is trying very hard to survive.
Kodak is an example of a company that failed due to resistance to change. Kodak thrived in the picture industry and capitalized on selling films. The advancement of technology brought in the digital photography and therefore, replaced film. Kodak’s sales began to fall because people stopped buying its films and preferred the digital photos. Kodak had foreseen the outcome, but was slow in taking action. Kodak’s competitor Fujifilm acted very fast and maximized on the sales of the remaining films while developing new product lines. Fujifilm has done a lot of research and is also selling cosmetics and making films for LCD screens.
References
Jordan Selburn. Rising Media Tablet and Smartphone sales cut demand for Single-task consumer products. 2014. https://technology.ihs.com/389345/rising-media-tablet-and-smartphone-sales-cut-demand-for-single-task-consumer-products
The Economist. The Last Kodak Moment. 2014. http://www.economist.com/node/21542796
