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Faizan
Even companies that have done well in creating new business models will find themselves suddenly running up against limitations in pursuing the success they would like to enjoy. As a result, company leaders need to have the next generation of business models in advanced development at all times. Sometimes, this lesson is best learned when business model innovation has been slow to develop in the company's beginning.
Zebra Technologies is a leader and pioneer in providing portable bar coding printers for making labels. When you ask the butcher in your supermarket to cut something special for you, chances are that the price will be put on the package by a label printed on Zebra Technologies equipment.
Ed Kaplan, CEO and co-founder, observes that the company was founded in 1969 with no business model. There were simply two engineers who performed custom electro-mechanical design work on a part-time basis. The operating concept was that if you built a better mouse trap, the world would find you. Most of the lessons the founders learned in business school did not apply to a start-up situation, so the company took awhile to find its foundation.
The company's initial success was in providing machines for making and reading the paper tapes used to direct machine tools. After initial expansion, it became clear that the market potential was limited.
Searching around for something new to do, the company spent two years to come up with its first bar code printing device. The timing was good because the Universal Product Code (the largest initial use for bar coding) was adopted in 1973, and went into wide-scale application in the late 1970s. The meat and produce counters in grocery stores were the company's initial application.
From there, the company expanded its focus into industrial markets, prospering when an industry or a large company required its suppliers to use bar codes to ease supply chain management.
In 1987, the company sold its paper tape business to its largest competitor to complete its first business model evolution.
Zebra Technologies is a leader and pioneer in providing portable bar coding printers for making labels. When you ask the butcher in your supermarket to cut something special for you, chances are that the price will be put on the package by a label printed on Zebra Technologies equipment.
Ed Kaplan, CEO and co-founder, observes that the company was founded in 1969 with no business model. There were simply two engineers who performed custom electro-mechanical design work on a part-time basis. The operating concept was that if you built a better mouse trap, the world would find you. Most of the lessons the founders learned in business school did not apply to a start-up situation, so the company took awhile to find its foundation.
The company's initial success was in providing machines for making and reading the paper tapes used to direct machine tools. After initial expansion, it became clear that the market potential was limited.
Searching around for something new to do, the company spent two years to come up with its first bar code printing device. The timing was good because the Universal Product Code (the largest initial use for bar coding) was adopted in 1973, and went into wide-scale application in the late 1970s. The meat and produce counters in grocery stores were the company's initial application.
From there, the company expanded its focus into industrial markets, prospering when an industry or a large company required its suppliers to use bar codes to ease supply chain management.
In 1987, the company sold its paper tape business to its largest competitor to complete its first business model evolution.
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