Industry Types and the Opportunities They Offer (Mature Industries)

Mature Industries
                    A mature industry is an industry that is experiencing slow or no increase in demand, has numerous repeat (rather than new) customers, and has limited product innovation. Occasionally, entrepreneurs introduce new product innovations to mature industries, surprising incumbents who thought nothing new was possible in their industries. An example is Steve Demos, the founder of White Wave, a company that makes vegetarian food products. White Wave introduced a new product—Silk Soymilk—into a mature industry—consumer milk. Silk Soymilk became the best-selling soymilk in the country. Soymilk isn’t really milk at all—it’s a soybean-based beverage that looks like milk and has a similar texture. Still, it has made its way into the dairy section of most supermarkets in the United States and has positioned itself as a healthy substitute for milk. Who would have thought that a major innovation was possible in the milk industry?
                    The lure of mature industries, for start-ups, is that they’re often large industries with seemingly vast potential if product and/or process innovations can be effectively introduced and the industry can be revitalized. In the case of White Wave it worked. Regrettably, it didn’t work for Eclipse Aviation, a 1998 start-up that attempted to revitalize the private jet industry. Eclipse Aviation had a vision that literally thousands of people including investors, pilots, aviation experts, local government officials (where Eclipse facilities were located), and others desperately wanted to come true. It ultimately didn’t come true as profiled in this chapter’s “What Went Wrong?” feature. Eclipse Aviation’s story is a reminder that some industries are nearly impossible to revitalize, despite a massive effort on the part of the people involved.