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Source: The Unexpected 55

or into mass merchandising without the retail expertise have uniformly
come to grief.
The unexpected outside event may thus be, above all, an opportu-
nity to apply already existing expertise to a new application, but to an
application that does not change the nature of the “business we are
in.” It may be extension rather than diversification. Yet as the above
examples show, it also demands innovation in product and often in
service and distribution channels.
The second point about these cases is that they all are big-com-
pany cases. Of course, a good many of the cases in this book, as
in any management book, have to be big-company cases. They are
the only available ones, as a rule, the only ones that can be found
in the published records, the only ones discussed on the business
page of newspapers or in magazines. Small-company cases are
much harder to come by and often cannot be discussed without
violating confidences.
But exploiting the unexpected outside event appears to be some-
thing that particularly fits the existing enterprise, and a fairly sizable
one at that. I know of few small companies that have successfully
exploited the unexpected outside event; nor does any other student of
entrepreneurship and innovation whom I could consult. This may be
coincidence. But perhaps the existing large enterprise is more likely
to see the “big picture.”
It is the large retailer in the United States who is used to looking
at figures that show where and how consumers spend retail dollars.
The large retailer also knows about shopping-center locations and
how to get the good ones. And could a small company have done
what IBM did and detach four task forces of first-rate designers and
engineers to work on new product lines? Smaller high-tech compa-
nies in a rapidly growing industry usually do not have enough of such
people even for their existing work.
It may well be that the unexpected outside event is the innovative
area that offers the large enterprise the greatest opportunity along
with the lowest risk. It may be the area that is particularly suited for
innovation by the large and established enterprise. It may be the area
in which expertise matters the most, and in which the ability to mobi-
lize substantial resources fast makes the greatest difference.
But as these cases also show, being big and established does not
guarantee that an enterprise will perceive the unexpected event and
successfully organize itself to exploit it. IBM’s American competitors