Art of War quote of the day

"The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy."

Many times companies simply think they are good at something and then throw it into the market against stronger competition. A company who I have worked for had been through a bankruptcy for this reason. They had their core products that did well for them and against competition, but then they created products that they believed were strong and decided to throw them into the market. What the company did not look at was the fact that the competitors were stronger and better situated, and the market had no desire for additional products, so when they went into the market they got destroyed. Was the product horrible? No, it was not, but the competition had not given them an opportunity, and neither had the market environment. They decided to just jump in because they believed they had a good product. Competitive and market environment intelligence are essential, and if you do not understand or have the information you need it doesn't matter how good your product is. If your competitors are too strong your product is just white noise. If the market isn't open to any new products you are setting yourself up for failure.