Dynamic businesses

A dynamic business is one that can respond and adapt to changes in its market. Rather than carrying on with products that are losing demand, it changes what it offers, how it sells it or who it sells to.

Markets never stay still. Customer needs shift, technology moves on and competitors bring out new products. A business that reacts to these changes is more likely to keep its customers, protect its sales, survive and grow. One that keeps doing the same thing may find its products become obsolete, as customers switch to a rival that has moved with the times.

Three ways to respond

• Adapt an existing product so it fits what customers now want — for example, adding a feature a rival already offers or making a version aimed at a different group of buyers.
• Replace it with a different product or service once demand for the old one has gone.
• Develop something new that uses the business's skills and existing customers to open up fresh sales.

Worked example

Harlow Photo Studio used to earn most of its money from family portraits. When phone cameras improved, fewer families booked a sitting. Instead of advertising the same packages harder, the owner responded: she replaced them with passport and ID photos, took on product photography for small online sellers, and started drone photography for estate agents selling houses. She kept the shop, the staff and many of the same customers, but the work the business did changed, and sales recovered.

A business does not have to be new or small to be dynamic. A large, long-established company can be just as adaptable if it listens to customers and watches its competitors. Being dynamic is about how quickly a business responds to change, not about its age or size.