The Icarus Paradox- A Business Outlook
Amidst Greek Mythological tales of Hercules, Pandora’s Box, Medusa and so many more, one such story that stands out is Icarus’. The master craftsman Daedalus, had fashioned wings out of feathers and beeswax to escape from an island (Crete). On adorning these wings and successfully fleeing from Crete, his son- Icarus, out of sheer ignorance and over-confidence, decides to soar higher and closer to the sun. The wax begins to melt, sending him crashing to his end. What enabled him to fly once, now became the reason for his doom.
In a modern-day perception, this story holds true for many situations. One’s strength could eventually become one’s weakness. When we look around today, most of the businesses plummet to their deaths because of the very same reasons as their successes were once. Today, we call this phenomenon the “Icarus Paradox”.
To understand this better, we shall take the example of one of the first few social media websites and one that used to be a household name in the early 2000's- Orkut. Orkut, founded by Google, was a website with a combination of features from Facebook, Yahoo Messenger, Skype and MSN Chat. In its initial days, Orkut had 3 times more users than Facebook due to its simple interface and one-of-a-kind updates such as: providing different languages, being able to maintain and share scrapbooks and an integration of Gmail and Orkut credentials.
But this success for Orkut was short-lived. Facebook kept evolving and introduced a user-friendly interface that also catered to the privacy concerns of the people. In addition to that, Facebook introduced games, posts and likes to capture the attention of all age groups. With Facebook providing “Something for everyone”, Orkut was way behind in recognizing the changing needs and introduced further upgrades which complicated the interface and slowed the speed.
Orkut could have been what Facebook or Instagram is today, had it focused on dynamism and adaptation. Google tried to shut Orkut down and instead promote Google+, which in turn backfired since Google+ could not match with its competitors in the long run.
This case of Orkut brings our attention to a fundamental concept, one that is omnipresent but often left unidentified, the concept of- “Business Environment”. Any business venture can survive and thrive with the awareness of and adaptability towards its internal and external environment. A constant check on the internal environment will help the businesses improve their strengths and work on their organizational flaws and at the same time, critically analyzing their external environment will help them foresee opportunities and adapt to the changing times.
The pandemic is a testament to the same. With their receptiveness, the businesses that adapted to the new- normal could sustain themselves. Whereas those who could not, were struggling and few had to bid us adieu. Few long- term businesses declared bankruptcy while surprisingly few startups emerged as unicorns. Of course, there are more variables at play that facilitate survival and growth but one cannot act upon a problem that has not yet been identified.
Ignorance may be blissful, but not in this case. The world is dynamic; change is the only constant. To succeed in a customer-oriented, highly competitive, modern-day market, a business has to keep its eyes wide open. Anything could happen in a blink.