The pace of change in business has increased: companies move through their life cycles twice as quickly as they did 30 years ago. Those that do not stay in sync with change risk falling behind the competition, sometimes for good. It's no surprise, then, that one in three public companies will not survive the next five years.
To survive and flourish, it follows that companies must continually match strategy and implementation to their competitive environments. A minimum condition to adapt to external change is that we detect and understand it. Customers provide an essential window into change not only in their perceptions, needs, preferences, behaviors and emotions but also in the technology, competition and other factors shaping these.
