Reprint: R1101H
Fending off new competitors is a perennial struggle for established companies. Govindarajan and Trimble, of Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, explain why: Many corporations become too comfortable with their existing business models and neglect the necessary work of radically reinventing them.
The authors map out an alternative in their “three boxes” framework. They argue that while a CEO manages the present (box 1), he or she must also selectively forget the past (box 2) in order to create the future (box 3). Infosys chairman N.R. Narayana Murthy mastered the three boxes to reinvigorate his company and greatly increased its chances of enduring for generations
Forward-looking CEOs must harness the power of the past, the present, and the future in three critical disciplines.
Consider a few of the great innovation stories of the past decade: Google, Netflix, and Skype. Now ask yourself, why wasn’t Google created by Microsoft? Netflix by Blockbuster? Skype by AT&T?
HBR Learning
