News from the attic: Hamel and Prahalad's article in Harvard Business Review

Two things stand out for me in Hamel and Prahalad’s article in Harvard Business Review July/August 1991. The first is the march of technology since: they cite a top of the range laptop computer costing almost $10,000 which had 1.44MB RAM and 200MB memory. The other is the theme of the article “Corporate Imagination and Expeditionary Marketing.”

Their theme is that manufacturers should not simply look at markets for new product ideas; they should develop new product ideas and then create the market for them. They suggest a new mindset as follows:

The old logic	The new mindset
Served markets	Opportunity horizons
Defending today’s business	Creating new competitive space
The company is a portfolio of businesses	The company is a portfolio of core competencies
Following customers	Leading customers
Product markets	Functionalities
Maximising the hit rate	Maximising learning
Commitment = investment	Commitment = persistence

Is this the secret of Apple’s success?

News from the attic: Hamel and Prahalad's article in Harvard Business Review

Calvert Markham