What must your business do today to remain competitive tomorrow? With the acceleration of new digital technologies, the answer to this question is far from simple. Fortunately, the September 2016 issue of McKinsey Quarterly included an article entitled An Incumbent’s Guide to Digital Disruption that offered some great tips. The article stressed that incumbents don’t need to become the victims of disruptive technologies. The keys to success include recognizing where your business is in the lifecycle and acting in time.

The McKinsey article highlighted a number of industries that were shattered by digital disruption. For example, the introduction of the personal computer brought the minicomputer business to a screeching halt, proving disastrous for companies like Wang and Digital Equipment. Meanwhile, IBM used this disruption to its advantage and decided to make investments in the software and services business. In other industries, Airbnb (lodging) and Uber (car travel) have completely disrupted their respective markets. Although print still plays a vital role in today’s communications world, it is now only one of a multitude of media channels. In the face of digital disruption, print industry incumbents need to determine what they must do differently to survive and even thrive in the future. Many industries follow a predictable pattern, and the printing industry is no different. When a company is just starting up, it is often agile and willing to experiment. As firms mature, however, they begin to lock in routines and processes. The focus shifts from innovation to efficiency and the delivery of steady results. Once they become established in a routine, many organizations fail to recognize the emergence of competing business models, but these disruptive ideas can have a dramatic impact on a company’s overall business model. 

While compiling its article, McKinsey & Company developed an “S” curve that defines the stages of the disruption lifecycle. It outlines that challenges that incumbents face in dealing with changing market dynamics, then makes recommendations for moving forward. These challenges reflect the conditions that printers of all sizes are facing today. The Figure below provides an illustration of the lifecycle, and the text that follows offers a synopsis of the McKinsey disruption lifecycle.