Role of a “worthy rival” in an infinite game

Historically if we look at business , numerous examples show how losing sight of a worthy rival , led to complaecency and eventual extinction of a company.

When an organization has rivals , survival is the key even to the extent to thinking of disruption opportunities.The moment a company dominates with apparently no sight of good competitors gradually complaecency sets in.

Look at the following examples of :

1) MP3 players , walkmans when Apple came up with iPod.

2) Kodak going out of market in the digital era

3) Blackberry going out of market with the advent of iPhone

4) Blockbuster underestimating disruption from companies like Netflix.

These examples prove beyond doubt how the presence of a “worthy rival” is so very important for an infinite minded organization who wants to keep playing an infinite game.

Simon Sinek mentions this in “The Infinite Game”.

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