The instinct in the market is to have a broad based technology and serve different segments of the customer. We will continue discussing the centrifuge example since this is a commodity in a research lab and very few scientists pay any attention the Make or model of the centrifuge as long as it works and does not look like an eye-sore in the laboratory.
So to continue the centrifuge example, when a new company enters in the crowded marketplace with new technology, let’s say, high speed brushless centrifuge that can accelerate to very high speeds in a short amount of time, they do very well in the market as experts in high speed centrifuges. However, very soon the instinct in every manager at the high-speed centrifuge company is keen to make another centrifuge that works at slower speed. The managers see that people need centrifuges at different speeds and they are keen to fulfill that part of the market demand. In the meanwhile the competition has realized the need for fast centrifuges and they jump in with their own high-speed model. Soon, the differentiation of the high-speed centrifuge company is lost since it is like any other centrifuge company that has very little differentiation. Fast forward a few years and now the company is fighting the battle with other competitors that are well established in the market, who probably have bigger resources and customer service. Fast forward a few more years and the company either merges with the competition or closes its doors.
What should have the high-speed centrifuge company done? Every intelligent manager at that company would have instinctively wanted to expand the market and grow into other markets. Instead, they should focus on the high-speed market that was their differentiator. They could have continued focusing with their R&D in their high speed market. The high speed company continues developing products at much higher speed, which are safer, faster, and quicker. Maybe, they continue coming up with better vacuum technology that enables their centrifuges to rotate at much higher speed, come to speed at incredible rates, use magnets that are cutting edge motor technology, or electronics that make the centrifuge easier to operate.
In short, focus on their strengths rather than weakness.