A speed crises thrives especially well when companies pursue ­aggressive market strategies such as “first mover” or diversification strategies on fast-growing or fast-development markets. Any time a firm decides in favor of an aggressive market strategy like “first mover” on rapidly growing markets, its aim is to be the first if at all possible and to secure market shares on a new, highly promising market segment. The goal is to launch an innovative product on the market ahead of the competition, securing a long-term competitive advantage as innovation leader. If this is to be accomplished, either new business units must be created or existing business units must be restructured accordingly. The example of convergent products in which ­various functionalities or services are combined into one offering can be used to show just how extensive this scheme can be: In addition to the purely technical integration, the integration of the business processes and the supporting IT systems along with the necessary organizational adaptations are decisive. The challenge here is in integrating separate or specialized processes and structures on a number of levels. The speed with which these adjustments must be carried out creates massive instability of the organization in its wake. Dealing with the consequences demands tremendous effort.   

Can you buy growth?   

Making up lost ground by going on a shopping spree (mergers and acquisitions) means the differing structures and procedures of two, generally dissimilar, companies must be unified into a new, but functioning whole fast enough to prevent the differences and redundancies of resources from becoming permanent. If the acquiring company is unable to get a handle on the complexity which has taken a sudden leap upwards, the integration, even though it may be strategically well thought out and appear sensible, will lead to an internal crisis. If such a crisis ­occurs in combination with the speed crisis or if indeed the merger was a strategic measure in response to a speed crisis, the competition becomes even keener and can, in extreme cases, threaten the very existence of the company. Mistakes made ­during the integration or delays in carrying out integration steps can be corrected then only with a relatively large expenditure of resources and time. In the meantime, the competitors cross the finish line without breaking a sweat.