A 100 million dollar credit union is 36,000 times smaller than JP Morgan Chase. How can a small credit union compete when the future is digital not local and JP Morgan Chase spends 17 billion dollars per year on technology?
At one time IBM had the market dominance in computers of Chase, Citi, BofA and Wells Fargo combined yet Apple and Microsoft, each starting from a few people in a garage, displaced IBM and are now dominant. The examples of large companies failing in competition with small companies are endless. “The Innovators Dilemma” is a must read if you are interested in the how and why.
Large companies are slow and inefficient while small companies can be very nimble. Large companies have a financial and organizational structure built around a certain way of doing things and certain assumptions about the market. Small companies are free to experiment with new innovations.
Brilliant ideas don’t cost anything. It just takes leadership from the top to challenge the current paradigm and head out in a new direction.
Author: Chris Doner, Founder and CEO, Access Softek