On the one hand, the collective failure of corporate initiative to grow an industry’s user base, to focus that base on added value, to carve out sustainable market positions, and to create enduring levels of brand loyalty, opens the door to lower cost, likely offshore competition and rapid commoditization. In what has become a zero sum game, overcapacity and margin decline ensue.

Moreover, the same failures that created this situation in the first place are likely to be those that make the incumbent firms subsequently unable to deal with it.

The point being argued here is that all industries and all markets, without sustained effort and constant vigilance, will tend towards this kind of deterioration. Appropriate levels of investment appropriately applied will be required and Return on Investment becomes a particularly appropriate and very accurate gauge of an industry’s vitality.