Why tech companies fail to jump the financial S-curve

Abstract

The rules of the game in the globalized business environment have changed. In the Information Technology (IT) industry, starting as a new company with a new offering or business model, climbing the upward growth trajectory of financial results, and later getting stuck in a flat or declining graph has been a common pattern for many companies. Many of them have failed to jump the financial S-curve, create and climb a new one. To address this, I have referred to seminal works, have gained insights from experts, have captured inputs from corporate leaders, have consulted academicians, and have discussed with fellow Sloan Fellows. In this thesis, I analyze and discuss the phenomenon of failing to jump the financial S-curve. I argue that tech companies overlook the hidden S-curves. To respond to these hidden S-curves, companies must allocate resources to their powers of category, company, market, offer, and execution. Resources allocated to these powers must not be traded off under the pressure of performance. The leaders should create four different zones of performance, productivity, incubation, and transformation. As a recommendation to companies and their leaders, I offer a road map to successfully jump the financial S-curve, and climb a new one again and again.