Disappearing Brands

Wall Street 24/7 is, again, predicting brands that will disappear this year. Their criteria are:
– A rapid fall-off in sales and steep losses;
– Disclosures by the parent of the brand that it might go out of business;
– Rapidly rising costs that are extremely unlikely to be recouped through higher prices;
– Companies that are sold;
– Companies that go into bankruptcy;
– Companies that have lost the great majority of their customers; or
– Operations with rapidly withering market share.

WS 24/7 is predicting the disappearance of the following:
– Avon
– MetroPCS
– The Oakland Raiders
– salon.com
– Suzuki
– Pacific Sunwear
– Research In Motion
– Current TV
– Talbots
– American Airlines

Some that have been predicted by WS 24/7 have not disappeared, but could go this year. Noikia is high on that list.

Using the criteria, above, one can fill in the blanks. Kodak, and Sears come to mind. Others may not disappear, but will be relegated to second tier status. Tech companies like Dell, who lost its number one position to HP and was recently overtaken by Lenovo, stand to lose ground as they face the reality that they did not see, or at least pay heed to, the inevitability of paradigm change.

Companies that face pension issues may also diminish or disappear. This is a big reason for American Airline’s bankruptcy. Hostess Brands is already in Chapter 11. Could that change to Chapter 7? Goodyear and OfficeMax are teetering under the weight of pension plan underfunding. And the list goes on.

Then there are those that are propped up by government bailout money. What might happen to General Motors, for example if the government were to change policy and liquidate its holdings? What might the international banking sector landscape look like without the cash infusions that have and are taking place?

The lesson: product lifecycle management + strategic planning and management + competitive innovation = longevity