Transformation of Strategies of Thomson Corporation
How does a business-to-business company find out exactly what end users do with its products？ That was the question we wrestled with at the Thomson Corporation, because the people who buy from us are not the same people who actually use our products in their daily work. But as older generations die out and younger ones come online, and as generations in the middle try e-books and realise their advantages, the demise of paper books will continue to accelerate. For Thomson, the answer has been to combine multiple methods of deep customer inquiry, from market surveys to observing users directly in their workplace. Those efforts have been part of a front-end customer strategy that has become the cornerstone of the company's transformation. This strategy has included asking lawyers, accountants, financial analysts, investment managers, scientific researchers, and other professionals who use our products and services what they do on a minute-by-minute basis. (9) By doing so, we've learned how to help end users with their work in ways that might otherwise never have occurred to us.
Such scrutiny of the end user wouldn't be unusual if we were a consumer products company. (10) But like most other B2B companies, Thomson historically had a much better understanding of its buyers than of its end users. (11) The transformation of Thomson began a little over a decade ago. (12) We published more than 200 newspapers, along with textbooks, law books, and professional journals, and operated the largest leisure travel business in the United Kingdom. Thomson was a prosperous leader in its markets, but we were concerned about the long-term viability of our business portfolio. First, our markets were not equal in terms of growth potential. Leisure travel, for example, was becoming increasingly competitive and turning into a commodity. To realise Thomson's full potential, we needed to become less diversified and more focused on the business model with the best prospects for the future.
Second, as we looked around the corner we could see the beginnings of a radical change in market dynamics. (13) The worth of our considerable paper assets was in jeopardy.
The transformation began with the divestiture of businesses that didn't fit our strategic focus on information publishing services and with the acquisition of professional information publishing assets that did, along with investments in the technology needed to build and deliver products and services online. (14) These advances were driven by the changing needs of our end users and, by extension, our buyers.
A The real breakthroughs, however, came a few years into the transformation process. In 2001, when we realised we needed to focus more closely on customers than ever before.
B At the time, Thomson was a nearly 70-year-old holding company with $8.7 billion in revenue.
C But as older generations die out and younger ones come online, and as generations in the middle try e-books and realise their advantages, the demise of paper books will continue to accelerate.
D P&G is known for following consumers around stores and observing them in their kitchens.
E We knew a fair amount about, say, financial services information managers, who were responsible for making purchasing decisions for an entire department, but little about the individual brokers or investment bankers who used our data, research, and other resources daily to make investment decisions for their clients.
F In particular, it appeared that the rise of the internet would change the newspaper and publishing markets forever.
G The internet has indeed become an integral part of consumers' commercial activities.
H Then we've systematically sought to deliver solutions that meet their needs during each of those hours.
(9)