Two Paths

You can’t be all things to all people is a business axiom that too many companies ignore. You develop a core competency, gain market share and satisfied customers, and then decide to branch out into an arena you know little—or nothing about. The usual result is disaster.

Boston Market is a prime example. Founded as Boston Chicken, it did one thing, and one thing only—make great rotisserie chicken. But in a rush to expand its national footprint it added other dishes such as turkey, meatloaf, and ham. The expanded menu, which seemed to upper-level executives like a good idea at the time, also required a new name—Boston Market. In the process of doing all this the company lost focus and moved away from the one thing at which it excelled—great rotisserie chicken. The expansion also added a lot of debt, which eventually led to bankruptcy.

But Timney (page TK), as you’ll learn in this issue, is different. In his profile of this manufacturer, Andrew McKean says, “Timney has become the largest trigger company in the world, its distinctive mango-yellow packaging adorning racks at gun-accessory counters, the pegboards of gunsmiths, and the bottomless depths of the internet. If the company’s sustained growth can be credited to manufacturing consistency, it’s also because of its singular focus. Timney doesn’t make suppressors or scope mounts. It doesn’t intend to replace your gun’s stock or barrel.”

In other words, they make triggers. Just triggers. Why do they stay in their lane? Because, it’s what they do best. Nothing wrong with that.
Diversification can work, if it’s done intelligently and doesn’t stray from a core competency. And that’s the key to the success at EOTECH, as Brian McCombie explains starting on page TK. Best-known for its Holographic Weapons Sights (HWS), EOTECH has spent the last several years diversifying into magnified scopes, micro red dots, night-vision and thermal systems, and on-gun laser devices.

“The internal strategy of magnified optics was to diversify our optic portfolio,” says John Bailey, EOTECH’s vice president of marketing. “We wanted to be more than a one-trick pony with our HWS. We also felt our brand had a great reputation for quality, dependable optics and launching a high-performing lineup would be accepted in the market.”

So, two paths to success, each based solidly on core competency. Neither has chased market share willy-nilly or strayed into product areas best left to others. Sometimes the best strategy is knowing just who you are—and just who you aren’t.