PERIPHERY

Periphery can be visualized as the edge of the creative destruction twirl, which is caused, in the simpler case, by the competition between a mature business and a new one. In this twirl, the companies which are attacking (by trying to satisfy unsatisfied/unknown needs or to exploit new and precious capabilities) are located at the periphery, while the companies which are in a defensive position occupy the twirl's centre, concentrating themselves on the evolutive improvement of pre-existing business. In the more mature sectors the twirl spins slowly, producing just occasional challenges to the existing order; in the other sectors, instead, the twirl spins so fast that periphery is the only thing that can be observed. Moreover, the twirl's velocity can change radically sometimes under the effect of external forces. To understand periphery it is necessary to understand which are the unsatisfied needs and which are the capabilities and skills to satisfy them. This means that periphery understanding can also help to better perceive the true competitive advantage offered by the companies available capabilities, instead of the theoretic advantage. Alternatively, by concentrating on periphery, it is possible to identify the new companies born to exploit new opportunities or new competences with methods which were till now unknown. Periphery represents an external benchmark as concerns the change rate acting in the economy. The proper use of this benchmark can help to focus strategic planning or research activities in such a way that they do not become too much abstract or too much specific and focused. By concentrating on periphery evolution, therefore, the company's innovative activity can aim to a substantial and transformative change and it can be helped in realizing the business development efforts at the proper time, neither too soon, nor too late. In the most cases, however, incubation of new ideas occurs in extra-company fields, such as in the universities. For this reason it is necessary to better understand what is happening in the nebulous mass of new ideas before they reach periphery. Indeed, by understanding what is being developed in this places, it is possible to better describe the periphery likely evolution. As soon as ideas seem to be economically effective, private capital takes the role of support. In this sense, a practical way to define periphery is to individuate the starting moment when private capital can be attracted to support an idea. To forecast the economical implications of periphery evolution it is necessary to distinguish between company failure and business concept failure. In other words, the focal point to understand periphery is the business concept potential, rather than the single company potential.