As globalization initiatives continue to increase in both scope and number, there is a corresponding increase of importance of business networks of relationships with suppliers, customers, strategic allies, government officials and their agencies, etc.

Philip Lay and Geoffrey Moore are managing directors in TCG Advisors, a prominent strategy consulting firm that seeks to shape and act on the CEO’s agenda within leading technology-based companies. Moore is also the author of several bestselling business books that include Inside the Tornado, Crossing the Chasm, and Dealing with Darwin.

Lay and Moore have identified “Seven Early Warning Signs” that an organization and/or its business network is under attack, encountering serious disruption, and in imminent danger:

Geoffrey Moore

1. Someone’s eating your lunch, but you’re not sure who.
2. New players are entering your marketplace and capturing business with your customers.
3. Even your established trading partners are becoming competitors.
4. You have lost touch with your supply chain and do not become aware of some developments until it is too late.
5. You cannot see what’s happening in your demand chain.
6. Others’ business model innovations have become a serious threat.
7. Power is migrating to new roles in your business network.

What to do?

Read as many of the books written by Philip Lay and/or Geoffrey Moore as you can obtain and then apply effectively what you have learned.