Us strategists do love our 2×2 matrices and I came across another one this week in the latest Harvard Business Review (Sept-Oct). In an article entitled ‘Adapt your Business to the New Reality’ it talks about how businesses need to understand the changing habits due to Covid and assess whether they are temporary shifts or are here to stay. It categorises shifts in behaviour into long term or short term and whether the trend existed pre-Covid or whether it emerged as a result of the pandemic.
It uses the entertainment industry as an example:
Boost: Video gaming
Catalyst: Streaming platforms
Displacement: Jigsaws
Innovation: Direct to consumer theatre
I can certainly relate to this – a few weeks into the pandemic we had done every jigsaw in the house and were even swapping with neighbours! However it was a short lived trend.
This is a really easy model that you can use to plot trends – not just Covid related – and think about their likelihood of longevity and what it means for your business.
Q. Are you agile enough to take advantage of boosts and displacements? Or is your focus on developing new products and services to meet lasting changes in consumer behaviours?