Digital thinking

Why do digital companies often outcompete conventional ones?

Why do digital companies often outcompete conventional ones?

Once I had dinner with my friend, an entrepreneur who had sold his manufacturing business and started a digital company. He confessed that it was difficult for him to change his approach to running a business when he began working with “digital” people. “They think differently,” he said. But when I asked him what’s the difference between “analog thinking” and the “digital one,” he found it difficult to articulate it clearly.

Then I read an article about an online DIY retailer beating the competition with some brick-and-mortar store chains. The article’s author underscored that brick-and-mortar behemoths had plenty of resources to “digitalize” their businesses. But in the beginning, they stuck to their business model. Then, when they realized that changes were inevitable, they developed their online sales much slower than the cheeky young digital competitor. The author also used the “digital thinking” phrase to explain the cont…