Only the Paranoid Survive

by Andrew S. Grove

they have the business by the throat? Are they aggressive and greedy or are they conservative and guided by the long view toward their customers? • The power, vigor and competence of a company’s customers: Are there a lot of them or is the business dependent on just one or two major customers? Are the customers very demanding, perhaps because their business operates under cutthroat competition, or is their business more “gentlemanly”? • The power, vigor and competence of a company’s potential competitors: These players are not in the business today but circumstances could change and they might decide to come in; if so, they may be bigger, more competent, better funded and more aggressive than the existing competitors. • The possibility that your product or service can be built or delivered in a different way. This is often called “substitution,” and I’ve found that this last factor is the most deadly of all. New techniques, new approaches, new technologies can upset the old order, mandate a new set of rules and create an entirely new climate in