Recognizing the Need for Change

Rita McGrath, Columbia Business School professor and author of the article, “Transient Advantage,” discusses several traps that can blind a company to the need for imminent changes to their strategy to preserve competitive advantage. These traps, discussed in the second half of the article, include: the first-mover trap, the superiority trap, the quality trap, the hostage-resources trap, the white space trap, the empire-building trap, and the sporadic-innovation trap.

Locate and post a link to an article in The Wall Street Journal, or another reputable source, about a company that fell victim to one or more of these traps.

• Identify the trap(s) and discuss why you believe the company’s management missed the warning signs.
• What were the impacts that resulted from falling for the trap(s)?
• Drawing on the guidance offered by Sherman in Chapter 6, what could they have done differently to avoid the trap(s)