When businesses declined due to COVID, why didn’t the more prominent companies shift their business model rather than declare bankruptcy?
Virgin Galactic could’ve become a luxury private jet wedding company!
Am I right, or am I right?
I wrote this on my Twitter wall a month ago, and now I think there is the best time to revisit and revive the thought process.
Why did the billion-dollar giants quit rather than pivot?
With the onset of a pandemic, many companies have turned off their marketing channels and declared bankruptcy for various reasons. Some of these include not being able to cope with the sudden loss of demand and existing overhead expenses, not having the necessary permissions to run the business due to lockdown restrictions, business closures creating a downturn in revenue streams, and much more to stack up!
But with all these billion-dollar companies closing up, I have this one question that keeps haunting me.
Why did they close rather than pivot?
If you have known businesses and how they operate, we all can stimulate what the next move can be—chasing the next BIG thing in the industry!
Yes, of course!
Amazon would be the best example of this! When they realized they had much more potential and demand in the market, they did not hesitate to shift from what they are known for. They created a flywheel and expanded their offerings.
From being a Book store to everything, the music, films, home appliances, and whatnot! Amazon is all around the nook and corner.
With the onset of Dunzo coming into the delivery assistant space, all similar business models have started to adopt the same analogy. Food delivery apps like swiggy and zomato have created a clone of dunzo and begun capitalizing on the existing demand.
Now while these new-age startups are racing towards the shiny objects [this syndrome has proven to be highly effective here], why do the veteran/highly expected giants not do the same?
Maybe not chasing the shiny objects in a frenzy way, but how about shifting as per the new customer persona?
Business is all about – getting today’s people what they need for today!
In all these contexts, the airline companies [Kingfisher might have capitalized on this, provided they were still in business] still had choices to make to get their business games up.
And, I agree I am neither a prodigy nor an expert in the field. I do not want to talk about the pros and cons of an airline company taking up the pivot.
What’s bothering me is the potential they have and the possible shift in the business model that could have given a better breathing space to innovate and meet new demands rather than giving closure.
Now that you have come this far, you will know what my idea is!
So what do you think? Why did Virgin Galactic, or any other airline company for that matter- did not focus on becoming a luxury jet wedding company [One of the possible and in trendy demand] but instead choose to go with bankruptcy?
Thoughts/Comments/Feedback – Welcome!
