In search of the secrets of success

Over 10 years ago, against a background of ever-increasing customer demands, Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, predicted a development that companies in virtually all branches of industry would come to know: “It’s going to be brutal. When I said a while back that the 1980s were going to be a white-knuckle decade and the 1990s would be even tougher, I may have understated how hard it’s going to get.” The results of our many years of research bear out Jack Welch’s statement. Customers want the highest quality at the lowest prices. At the same time, many industries are suffering from over-capacity. Increasing market transparency is turning customers into well-informed, merciless buyers and it is becoming harder for companies to differentiate their offerings from those of competitors, which results in fierce competition on price and quality. It is only through continuous innovation and improvement of their products and services or clear price advantages that companies are able to maintain their competitive positions over the long term at all. Practice shows that, despite what are in some cases significant improvements in quality, very few companies manage to maintain their position in the market, let alone increase their prices.