Faced with an eroding core business, most companies seem to do...nothing. In the media and entertainment industry, look at Blockbuster's lackluster embrace of mail delivery and video streaming, newspapers' mainly tepid moves into digital publishing, and television networks' doubling-down on a small number of hot shows. A company in a turbulent industry often seems like a dairy farmer whose herd has been reduced to just one cow, whose only adaptation of his business plan is to milk that heifer extra-hard. The story cannot end happily.
Barnes & Noble (B&N), America's largest bookseller, is bucking these trends. While its biggest traditional competitor, Borders, has ended up in bankruptcy, B&N is creating a credible growth plan in the midst of upheaval. Read complete Harvard Business Review blog post.
