Sustainability: The ‘must have’ holy grail

When I was a kid, Atari dominated the gaming scene. Sure, Mattel’s Intellivision and Coleco’s Colecovision had their loyalists, but to the general public, when you mentioned video games, Atari was the name that sprang to mind. The company maintained that status for years, but as competitors like Nintendo and Sega became part of the industry, Atari quickly fell from its perch as gaming’s “must have” system to a nostalgic memory. Sustaining a leadership role is a Herculean task. Once your product becomes a “must have,” how do you keep it that way for over a year? Five years? A decade? Just like the music industry has one hit wonders, the business world is littered with product fads that were, at one time, must haves. Remember the Pet Rock? Cabbage Patch Kids? Or, if you’d like a more recent example, there’s Crocs. The company... [read full story]                    

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