In this book, I will explore several specific examples of decoupling.
For example, from the beginning, Amazon separated out the series of activities that customers typically perform to purchase a product.
Customers went to regular stores to check out the actual product, learn more about it, and then made their purchases on Amazon.
Netflix has separated the activities customers take to watch videos.
Netflix left the massive investment required to provide the infrastructure that connects customers' homes to the internet to telecommunications companies, and only delivered the content.
Facebook distributes news widely.
However, unlike traditional media outlets, it does not produce news on its own.
--- p.26

Best Buy has implemented a variety of tactics to prevent showrooming and encourage customers to purchase products in-store.
First, we changed the product barcode so that customers could not scan it.
By introducing Best Buy's unique barcode, the company prevents customers from using their mobile phones to compare prices with other sites or engage in showrooming in-store.
Best Buy has renovated its stores, retrained its employees, launched a new online store, and offered exclusive products like special editions of Blu-ray movies.
It also employed an aggressive strategy of creating its own shopping app.
But none of these methods have stopped customers from showrooming.
--- p.45

The same was true of the video game industry.
Game developers like Zynga, Rovio, and Supercell had no intention of copying the entire business of established video game companies.
The area where they competed with the existing distribution developer, Electronic Arts, was the customer payment method.
…98 percent of mobile game users played games for free, but the 2 percent of game enthusiasts were willing to pay for them.
This strategy, chosen by new game development companies, proved effective.
As of 2019, most mobile game developers have abandoned pay-to-play systems, which require players to pay a certain amount to play the game, in favor of a freemium pricing model.
p--- p.52-53

In 2015, for the first time in history, sales at U.S. restaurants and bars surpassed those at grocery stores.
The problem is that many people don't know how to prepare a hearty meal because they never learned it from their parents.
Plus, you don't have time to prepare lunch all morning or dinner all afternoon.
In response to these circumstances, hundreds of grocery delivery service startups, such as Blue Apron, Chefd, and HelloFresh, have emerged.
…but now, delivery services like Chefd are separating the recipe-finding and ingredient-shopping steps from the cooking process.
When you apply for the service, the company will send you a box containing the ingredients that have been prepared, measured precisely, and prepared according to the recipe.
--- p.63

Ultimately, what Jolly and other company executives realized was this:
The point is that Best Buy can't win by countering customers' desire to showroom or by going head-to-head with Amazon.
The only solution was to somehow find a way to coexist with showrooming customers and Amazon.
Best Buy had to "relearn" how to make money.
And so it was.
Best Buy met with Samsung officials and proposed setting up a dedicated Samsung product area within its offline stores.
Samsung had to pay a fee.
Yes, that's right.
The idea was that retailers would charge manufacturers a fee in exchange for the opportunity to enjoy the privilege of providing them with prominent display space.
--- p.76

Entrepreneurs in innovative companies didn't even realize they were decoupling.
They simply sensed unmet consumer needs and did everything they could to intuitively satisfy them.
In the process, they were rapidly stealing customers from existing companies.
Likewise, executives I interviewed at major companies like Four Seasons Hotels, Westfield, Disney, Paramount Pictures, and Microsoft didn't embrace "decoupling" as a general approach.
They watched the destructive chaos unfolding all around them and feared that their existing businesses were either already under siege or about to be attacked.
Without knowing the root cause, we rushed into superficial responses, but the results were disappointing.
p--- p.103-104

There is nothing in this world that is safe forever.
The same goes for business models with powerful disruptive power, like the razor-blade model.
In early 2011, Michael Dubin, a 30-something entrepreneur with no prior razor experience, founded Dollar Shave Club (DSC), a membership-based website that offered razors online.
This website literally hit the jackpot.
By 2015, DSC had captured 51 percent of all online razor sales, dwarfing Gillette, which had a meager 21 percent share of online sales.
--- p.205

Existing companies try to respond in one of three ways:
This is a method of suffocating competitors by following or acquiring new companies or drastically lowering prices.
But using this method can have unintended consequences throughout the organization.
First, companies that imitate startups may see their profits significantly reduced.
Small startups can operate more effectively than established companies, even if they are less profitable and have less profit margins from decoupling.
But the cost structures of giant organizations like NBC, Telefónica, and Gillette don't allow for that.
Next, acquiring startups, or disruptors, also carries risks.
While the erosion of cash reserves through acquisitions is problematic, existing companies may also face difficulties integrating the new business into their existing operations.
Many technology companies have experienced the pain of acquiring other companies.
The most famous examples include Time Warner's acquisition of AOL (recorded as a $99 billion write-down), HP's acquisition of Autonomy (recorded as a $8.8 billion write-down), and Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia (recorded as a $7.6 billion write-down).
p--- p.211-212

As utilization increases, the number of cars people need will decrease, leading to an unprecedented collapse of the auto industry.
So how significant is this risk? The U.S. Transportation Research Board estimates that each shared vehicle takes 15 private cars off the road.
A report from the European Parliament claims that the number of privately owned cars in European countries could fall by between 63 and 90 percent if car sharing were fully adopted.
The largest decline was also expected in Germany, the world's largest auto exporter and fifth-largest new car market.
Unbeknownst to some auto industry executives, transportation-as-a-service is driving the current business model of private car ownership to the brink of extinction.
p--- p.251-252

The most serious disruptions often come from business models rather than technological innovations.
If people considering buying a car are now considering whether to buy a car or use personal transportation like Turo, Uber, or BlaBlaCar, the auto industry will experience a business model revolution, specifically decoupling.
In this case, established automakers face the greatest risk of disruption, given the sudden and significant shift in market share.
GM, in particular, would be at greatest risk if a significant portion of its current customers began asking, "Do I really need to buy a car?"
These customers will make a significant difference in their purchasing decisions.
In the first phase, you might add ride-hailing or ride-sharing startups to your consideration pool, while in the second phase, you might even remove GM from your consideration pool altogether.
If that happens, the most powerful form of destruction will occur.
p--- p.262-263

A response that is too grandiose can have negative consequences.
Dealing with every startup puts a huge financial burden on you.
Yahoo is one such example.
…Yahoo has been doing corporate shopping for many years.
Mayer has acquired 53 digital and technology startups, spending between $2.3 billion and $2.8 billion.
But in the end, 33 startups were forced to close, 11 stopped production, and 5 were left to fend for themselves.
Overall, Yahoo has only fully integrated two startups.
In 2017, Yahoo, which had lost its growth momentum, was sold to Verizon for $4.8 billion.
Considering that it was valued at $100 billion at its peak, it's the difference between heaven and hell.
p--- p.287-288

By initially using a strategy of securing a minimal number of listings on the site, Airbnb's founders strengthened the supply side.
This tactic allowed them to attract and maintain demand, which in turn slowly but significantly increased the supply of rental housing.
Like a large, heavy wheel that starts out slow but gains momentum once it gains momentum, Airbnb's wheel of success started out slow but then started turning at an increasing pace.
And Airbnb is expected to see tremendous growth in the future.
If you're an entrepreneur, what can you learn from Airbnb's early customer acquisition process, and even from fast-growing online marketplaces like Etsy and Uber? We see the following seven principles at work.
p--- p.314-315

Then one day Google appeared.
Gmail, which came out in 2004, allowed me to search and check email in one place.
Google Maps, which appeared in 2005, showed the location on a map simply by clicking on the address written in Gmail.
Google Flights, launched in 2011, made it easy to purchase airline tickets without having to copy and paste content.
Google caters to all the major areas of my business travel needs.
This has reduced the enormous effort and time costs that had to be paid in the past.
--- p.339

Netflix has adapted to the evolving needs of its customers.
Comcast chose to conserve resources rather than follow its customers' desires, and it paid a huge price for that.
Comcast has responded poorly to the stagnation of its cable television division by putting customers at risk rather than meeting their evolving needs.
Established companies and startups often have different perspectives on the same situation.
While Comcast has seen its resources deplete, Netflix has seen its customer subscriptions increase.
--- p.372

Once consumers experience the time and effort savings, they are more likely to use membership services in other areas of their lives, including housing.
Buying and maintaining a home is one of the most expensive and time-consuming processes for consumers.
Digital startups like SomeTac, TaskRabbit, and Hello Alfred make home repairs and housework easier.
These startups allow consumers to find the best people for specific jobs, and the startups can supply workers on a set schedule.
Set it and forget it! While consumers still have to put in the effort of providing direction and monitoring to ensure it's running as intended, the potential time savings from these services are enormous.

--- p.405