企业如何在模糊的经济中获胜

Ways To Win In A Shifting BusinessLandscape CyrilSemaanJoe AbiAklSari ElZouheiri In a world where almost two thirds of Gen Z consumers are ready toabandon their favorite brands for better alternatives, businesses canno longer afford to be complacent. This is particularly true in an eracharacterized by both permacrisis — a sustained period of instabilityand uncertainty — and the emergence of the blurredeconomy. Framing the business conversation as digital versus physical is outdated.It has expanded into being about the blurred economy, characterizedby dissolving traditional industry boundaries, rapid technologicaladvancement, and evolving consumer expectations. This transformationis reshaping how companies across sectors — particularly those servingconsumers — must rethink theirstrategies. This shift creates fertile ground for ecosystem players: businessestaking advantage of dissolving industry lines to expand across sectors,integrating services from retail to logistics and finance totransportation. The real challenge today is creating seamless, frictionless, andpersonalized experiences across all touchpoints. This new landscapedemands a radical shift in how companies engage customers andredefine their valuepropositions. THE FORCES BEHIND THEBLUR So what exactly is the blurred economy? It's a major change in how businesses work, drivenby three big forces: fast-changing customer habits, tougher competition, and the breakdownof old industry boundaries. This shift is changing how companies think about growing andstaying successful. These forces aren't just passing trends — they're pushing businesses torethink their strategies and keep innovating to succeed in a constantly changing market.Let's dive deeper into each of these forces and what they mean forbusinesses. CHANGING CUSTOMERBEHAVIOR Today’s consumers are more demanding, impatient, and open to change than ever before.Nearly two-thirds (62%) of Gen Z consumers globally are willing to abandon their favoritebrands in favor of better alternatives, signaling a profound shift toward greater consumeropenness and brand fluidity. This trend underscores the urgent need for businesses toinnovate continuously and deliver superior value to retain loyalty.1 Similarly,Oliver Wymanresearch reveals a strong appetite across the Gulf CooperationCouncil (GCC) for integrated and expanded service offerings from retailers. Approximately60% of GCC consumers express a desire to access adjacent or additional services throughtheir current retailers, highlighting a growing expectation for convenience and ecosystem-driven experiences.2 A recentOliver Wymansurvey of consumers in the UAE and Saudi Arabia further illustratesthis demand: the majority of respondents are open to accessing expanded services fromtheir preferred brands, including ordering food and booking restaurants, paying utility bills,accessing healthcare goods, and using telecom services. This broad appetite demonstratesthat customers are willing to follow trusted brands into entirely new sectors, reflecting theirdesire for seamless, integrated experiences across industries.3 INTENSIFIEDCOMPETITION Competition is also becoming fiercer as pure-play digital players with aggressive growthstrategies flourish in new markets, particularly in sectors like fashion and eCommerce. Theseglobally connected players — with particularly successful recent examples emergingfromEast Asia — are disrupting traditional models via ultra-fast supply chains, low prices, advanced AIsolutions, and data-driven marketing. This puts immense pressure on regionalorganizations. Digital incumbents also continue to expand their dominance, leveraging their scale andlogistics networks to penetrate industries like grocery and healthcare. These digital-firstcompanies are not just reshaping their own sectors, they are compelling omni-channelretailers to innovate rapidly, adopt more flexible strategies, and provide seamless customerexperiences to stay in thegame. EROSION OF INDUSTRYBOUNDARIES Industry boundaries are blurring as companies diversify and redefine their value propositions.Telecom operators evolve into tech platforms offering fintech and cloud solutions, retailersexpand into adjacent sectors, and ride-hailing apps transform into super apps providingpayments, grocery, laundry, and last-mile deliveryservices. Leading players of specific industries are expanding beyond their traditionalofferings(illustrative) This shift is accelerated by industry- and channel-agnostic ecosystems. Facing marginpressures, retailers are moving into higher-margin sectors like insurance and finance todiversify revenue. Technological convergence enables various cross-sector digital paymentinnovations, while consumers increasingly expect integrated multi-industryexperiences. On the channel side, businesses are breaking down silos to create seamless, flexibleexperiences across physical stores, e-commerce, and digital platforms. Integrated dataflows and omni