Could a Business Become Less Adaptable as It Becomes More Successful?
Efficiency can become attached to yesterday's assumptions.
Sometimes. Success can encourage systems that favor efficiency over flexibility.
A company refines its operations around a successful business model for years. When market conditions change, adapting becomes difficult because processes, incentives, and expectations are optimized for the old environment.
The hidden mechanism is success lock-in. The systems that create success can eventually discourage experimentation.
Organizations often prepare for failure while underestimating the risks created by success itself.
A strategy becomes dangerous not when it stops working, but when it becomes difficult to question.
