Moore's law or blue ocean
The success of a company is determined by a combination of vision, strategy and leadership. Great companies have a unique vision, often verbalized in taglines after the facts, but always present in the minds of its leaders. Some companies outpace competition through technological innovation. Moore’s law suggests that every 18 months someone will have a product which is twice as small, fast, cheap or easy to use. That's why Andy Grove, founder of Intel, told his managers that “only the paranoid survive”. Other companies identify new customer needs or new business models and create entirely new markets, stepping out of overcrowded ponds to explore the ocean. This “blue ocean strategy” has been successfully applied by companies like Google, Amazon and Apple
Plan, do, check and act, but beware of the black swan
On the other hand, no company can be successful without operational excellence. A company needs leaders and it needs managers. Leaders have vision and inspire people, managers understand how to plan and get things done. Without the proper financial and operational planning, resource allocation and people management, strategy will fail and the vision will never become reality. But in the end success or defeat of companies is often determined in moments of crisis. Be it financial or economic crises, technical or operational turmoil, or any other transitional or boundary effect, “black swan” events will happen. How a company deals with them makes all the difference.