189O, Johnson & Johnson mainly supplied antibacterial gauze and medical ointment. The company once received a letter from a doctor complaining that patients felt uncomfortable after using some medical ointment. Fred Gilmer, the research director of the company, responded quickly by sending a pack of Italian talcum powder, which can make people feel comfortable when used on the skin, and then persuaded the company to attach a small can of talcum powder to some products as part of the standard packaging. The company was surprised to find that customers soon began to directly ask for more talcum powder. In order to meet this demand, Johnson & Johnson also made a product called "Johnson & Johnson baby powder", which has become a world-famous basic household item. According to the official history of Johnson & Johnson, "Johnson & Johnson set foot in the baby powder business under quite unexpected circumstances." More importantly, the company began to take extremely small and gradual steps, and eventually carried it forward, turning it into a major change in the strategic shift to consumer products-an "accident" eventually accounted for 44% of Johnson & Johnson's operating income. For the growth of the company, it is as important as medical supplies and medicines.
Later, Johnson came across another famous product. Earl Dixon, an employee of 1920 company, made a ready-made ointment tape for his wife because she cut the wound with a kitchen knife carelessly, which was composed of a small piece of gauze, special dressing and surgical tape, so that the whole tape would not stick to the skin. Dixon talked with the marketers about his invention, and they decided to try this product in the market. After the initial slow start and continuous improvement, "Band-Aid" became the best-selling product in the history of Johnson & Johnson, further strengthening Johnson & Johnson's "unexpected" strategy of entering consumer products.
Marriott: Take the opportunity to enter the empty kitchen service industry.
1937, Willard Marriott opened the first root juice soda shop. 10 years later, he established nine chain restaurants and made a lot of profits. Marriott's 2OO enthusiastic employees have been trained by the company, serving customers meticulously, and their business operation is obviously smooth. The company plans to double the number of its restaurants in the next three years. The future of this new company has never been so bright. Just concentrate on implementing the expansion plan of the restaurant, Marriott and its management team are bound to achieve considerable results and will certainly be busier.
However, what if something strange happens in Wanhao No.8 restaurant? Restaurant 8 is located near Hoover Airport, and its customers are completely different from those of other Marriott restaurants. They are all passengers passing by the restaurant by plane. They bought dinner and snacks and stuffed them into bags, paper bags or carry-on luggage. "Well, what's the situation now?" When Marriott visited Restaurant No.8, he asked, "I mean, about coming in to buy things and eating on the plane?" The restaurant manager explained, "More people join in every day."
Marriott thought about it all night. According to Robert O 'Brien, a biographer of Marriott, he visited China Eastern Airlines the next day and started a new business. Restaurant 8 uses orange trucks with Marriott logo and name printed on both sides to deliver prepackaged lunch boxes directly to the runway. A few months later, the service was extended to American Airlines, which was responsible for catering 22 passenger planes every day. Marriott quickly sent a full-time manager to take charge of this new business, and was responsible for the comprehensive expansion at Hoover Airport and extended to other airports. As far as Marriott is concerned, the empty kitchen service evolved from the seed of this unexpected opportunity and finally expanded to more than 100 airports.
In order to decide what to do, Marriott may get into lengthy meetings and strategic analysis. For Marriott, the unusual customers of Restaurant No.8 are a strange variable among the traditional basic customers, and the company can ignore them, but he decided to do an experiment and actually test it to see if this strange variable may be a favorable variable. Marriott seized the unexpected good luck with quick and brave actions and gradually changed the company's strategy. In retrospect, this action seems brilliant, but in fact it is only the result of an opportunistic experiment that has just worked.
American Express: I have no intention to set foot in finance and tourism.
Founded in 1850, American Express is engaged in regional express delivery service, which is basically equivalent to the United Parcel Service Company (UPS) in19th century. 1882, the company took a small step-by-step action, which proved to be the root of strategic upheaval. Due to the increasing popularity of postal money orders, the demand for American Express cash delivery service (similar to armored cash truck service) is decreasing. In response to this change, American Express created its own draft and achieved unexpected success. 1 1950 copies were sold in the first six weeks. American Express actively seized this opportunity, not only began to sell this product in all the company's business premises, but also in railway stations and general stores, thus inadvertently beginning to transform into a financial services company.
10 years later 1892, Fargo, president of American Express Company, went to Europe for a holiday and found it difficult to turn his letter of credit into cash. This problem (and therefore an opportunity) prompted American Express to change its course further. Alden Hatch wrote in his book The Hundred Years History of American Express Company from 185o to 195o:
After returning, Fargo walked into the American Express Company at 65 Broadway, New York. In the hallway, he walked thoughtfully through the office ... into the room of employee Masler Bailey. Without saying hello, he said bluntly, "Bailey, I have a lot of problems when I want to cash the letter of credit." As soon as I left my old place, these letters of credit were not much better than wet wrapping paper. If even the president of American Express has this difficulty, think about it. What kind of problems will ordinary passengers encounter? We must find a way. "
Bailey did come up with some ideas He created a clever solution: "American Express Traveler's Checks". This traveler's check can be signed at the time of purchase and endorsed at the time of cash. Finally, his method spread all over the world. Traveler's check mechanism has given American Express unexpected benefits. Due to the loss and delay of checks, the company sells more checks than it cashes every month, thus creating a buffer for spare cash inventory. According to Jon Friedman and John Meehan's description in Kahouse:
American Express accidentally invented this "negotiable instrument" ... The initial amount was only $ 75O, and finally it exceeded $4 billion at 199O, creating a surplus of $200 million. American Express actually-unintentionally-created a new international currency.
At first, traveler's checks were just another opportunistic and gradual action, but they further transformed American Express into financial services. American Express did not intend to enter the financial services industry, but became a financial services company.
Traveler's checks also help the company to evolve into a travel service company completely unintentionally. In fact, President Fargo issued a clear instruction that American Express will not enter the tourism service industry. He said, "We hope that everyone will wholeheartedly and clearly remember at any time and place that our company will not and has no intention to set foot in the tourism service business."
Despite this directive, all American Express has done is enter the travel service industry. American Express has developed a way to solve customers' problems and quickly took advantage of this opportunity. This impulse is guided by the company's core concept of serving customers wholeheartedly, and even the CEO can't easily restrain this impulse. 1895, the company opened the first traveler's check office in Europe. Soon after, an enterprising employee named William Dai Libai saw that American travelers were always crowded in the Paris branch, busy cashing checks, requesting postal services, arranging travel schedules, booking tickets and asking for information. In order to meet their needs, Dai Libai began to expand the company's business. Of course, he must be careful and keep a low profile so as not to anger Fargo. He took a step-by-step action, tried to sell the space at the ticket window, and then used the experimental results as a stepping stone to persuade the company to open a "tourism department" and start selling train tickets, package tours and various tourism services. By 19 12, American Express has established a solid foundation and won the reputation of an excellent travel agency, "but even the company itself has not admitted this fact". In the early 1920s, Dai Libai's experiment turned tourism-related services into the second important strategic pillar of the company, second only to financial services.
Therefore, through a series of gradual steps (most of which are opportunistic experiments, but certainly not part of any great plan), American Express has evolved into an organization completely different from the original entrepreneurial concept express delivery business.