Killing Giants
10 Strategies To Topple The Goliath In Your Industry Stephen Denny
Anyone starting their own business is likely to have at some point wandered how they’ll ever compete with the ‘big boys’ but in Killing Giants, Stephen Denny believes that smaller responsive competitors out there today hold far more power than they themselves believe.
It is a David v Goliath battle for survival and Denny argues the case that the tenacious underdog in any industry has the ability to out think and out compete market leaders through their ability to be both flexible and asymmetrical. Whilst the giants of the industry become burdened in processes and procedure so the start-ups and growth businesses are forced to remain lean, nimble and relevant with an ability to respond to the slightest changes in both the marketplace and the overall economy.
It’s difficult so far to disagree with what Denny is saying- the David’s of this world have always had to work quicker and smarter to stay afloat let alone get ahead. Where I begin to disagree is that it is in David’s favour to slay Goliath- it may work well in stories but we are no longer in a period of disruptive technology and the rules of engagement have changed.
What that means is that Goliath is fighting back, becoming more receptive to innovation and flexibility and yet they have begun to understand that it needs the “David’s” of this world and in such a climate synergy becomes more lucrative than open warfare.
The large enterprises and corporate’s whether they be banks, ISP’s, mobile carriers, or retail chains offer distribution, audience, reach and the ability to scale. What they don’t have is the ability to become high- growth in the “network-oriented” world that we live in.
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Their supply chains don’t work that way, and there’s an alignment of natural allies which butts heads with their linear and hierarchical operating model.
How the high-growth firms of today and tomorrow are being built is that the clever David hops on the back of Goliath. No more is David the militant revolutionary out to annihilate Goliath- they are mutually interdependent. The art of smart business has become aligning the Goliaths who are looking for a strategy or high-growth with the right start-ups that offer them part of the answer.
Denny guides the reader through the important realization that not all giants are identical and therefore offer different options and opportunities for the small company. The author’s understanding and insights makes this book a valuable tool for those small businesses with the ability to scale. By enabling those business with insights on how the Goliath in their industry works and thinks, then the David’s can make themselves count and valuable.
The winners in this next era will be those companies who are organising their business model for the transactions in their ecosystem. They will have sought out their natural allies, and make it in everyone’s interest for them to win together. Network value is the new metric, and the recent IPO’s need to be measured around the value of their network not just their PE’s.
Being small is certainly an advantage but only for those who know how to make it so.
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