Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
I hear that said, but is there any evidence to support it? Penguin had their best ever year in 2011, with an 8% increase in profit. Is that indicative of a business that's in decline? |
It depends on *how* they got that increase.
Auto companies (to single out just one industry) the world over have been in overall decline for decades yet they still manage to grow revenues in most years.
Sometimes short-term "growth" comes at the expense of long-term suicide.
It is hardly rare for a company amidst a tech disruption to shrug off change or think they are "managing" change, because they are focusing on the wrong metrics, only to get blindsided by a sea change tipping point. At which time they discover they did everything perfectly wrong; that is, they perfectly executed what was exactly the wrong strategy.
The BPHs are big and powerful and have a lot of resources, but in a lot of areas they are rowing against a strong tide, expending resources that might be better used looking for an alternate path. And some of the things the BPHs have done over the last 2-3 years have the smell of purely tactical thinking without much consideration for long term impact. (The price fix conspiracy, for one.)
Odds are we won't have long to wait and see what the proper strategy is.