Water vehicles are commonly used to describe the size of companies in business circles. The metaphor indicates the size of the company and its ability to change direction. Big companies are huge cruise liners with massive onboard resources, but an inability to change direction may leave them like the titanic; while small companies with less resources, but less bureaucracy, are able to change direction with the tide and trends, outpacing the bigger companies. But is it possible to become a big company and still be nimble?
Facebook seems to be personifying the latter. Last year the company was being criticized for its lack of mobile strategy and in 12 months they have completely changed direction and proved the critics wrong. In the video above, Thinktank founder Scott Galloway discusses Facebook’s growth strategy and states:
“They have been able to pivot like no other company. They did not have a mobile product couple of months ago and now it is 41% of their advertising revenue, a third of their revenue, and recently they enhanced the facebook exchange. This is a company that is literally able to develop a robust products that impact and move the needle, and it is getting to be a big needle. The speed at which they have managed the transition to mobile is particularly impressive.”
Galloway is correct in his analysis, what Facebook has achieved in such a short period of time is quite impressive. Tech companies are typically known for being more nimble and innovative than other sectors, but Facebook is particularly adamant about it. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been cited in numerous interviews as being committed to keeping a certain company culture, one that is even more innovative than Google. So far, Mr. Zuckerberg and the Facebook team seem to be achieving their goals.
