I hate to tell you, “I Told you so.”  But I told you so.

Today’s Headline Breaking News:  “Borders Bankruptcy Filing Expected as early as Monday or Tuesday.  Borders Plans To Close about 200 stores.”

“Movement in a new direction helps you find new cheese.”

Everyone else was heading in that direction, if you can’t develop the app for that, then the mice will go elsewhere.  Even the Catholic Church this week developed an “App for Confessions!”, although the Vatican announced today that they aren’t completely okay with that.  I wonder if anyone in their strategy session dreamed about a subscription based book rental service?  Would have, should have, could have... and it’s not the public library...

Napster partnered with BestBuy to create a subscription service (probably exploring the Netflix strategy) for music, commercial free, instead of an illegal pirated music scenario of their beginnings. 

Netflix is the Microsoft of new technology devices, you can use it on your Wii, Xbox, Samsung TV, BluRay players, and just about any other new device that is coming out.  

Barnes and Noble’s Nook “me too” strategy at least on the surface has plugged some holes in the hemorrhage of brick and mortar retailing, publishing, and music.  Frankly, I am not going to be surprised to see that Barnes and Noble will close some stores this year as well (and develop smaller, less gargantuan spaces, as the need for a brick and mortar presence will diminish as more and more people convert to using their IPads, Nook, Kindles and cell phone gadgetry. 

Meanwhile, Apple celebrates it’s 10 billionth app download, and is the all in one destination for music, movies, and literature.  You can even play Netflix on their new $99 AppleTV or iPad, even though Apple would prefer for users to use the iTunes library. Brick and mortar isn’t going away though, but just expect to see more “partnered”  locations using less square footage.  Think coffee house/bookshop/Apple Store. 

Publishing should have more profits if they can figure out how to transfer knowledge more towards an electronic distribution, and tighten up the infrastructure.  College textbooks are even going to be going down the path of iPad distribution.     

In our office, we’re printing less paper.  I can’t tell you when the last time I purchased a DVD or CD...downloading all media these days in our world, but I assure you, our costs are transferred elsewhere as we are getting larger monitors and more technological gadgetry.  Sure, it’s cooler, but it also creates less clutter...

“The Quicker You Let Go of Old Cheese, The Sooner You Will Find New Cheese.”

In the age of consumers buying less, it is important for all companies to think ahead....ask your team “Where are we heading?  Is the world changing in a way that is going to affect what we are doing in five years?”  How are we going to be doing it?

Dream it.  Explore it.  Plan it.  Develop it.  Be ready.  Be first.  Grow it.  Get out in time, and God help you if you are late to the game, or refuse to get onboard.   I sure hope Apple is developing a solar powered iPad charger.

Learn from the tombstones of failure...Blockbuster, and now Borders. 

The mice will keep moving the cheese, and you’ll know how to find it before everyone else, because you were never afraid to explore What If.

Visit the Lantern Capital Advisors Website for more information on  Corporate Finance and Corporate Financial Planning

-Jennifer Mooney is the Chief Operating Officer for Lantern Capital Advisors and has spent her career working with growing companies to develop and implement corporate strategy and technology initiatives.  Jennifer’s background includes management consulting for Deloitte Consulting, Arthur Andersen, and IMRglobal and new media/web development for Hydrogen Media.  Jennifer has been a frequent speaker to entrepreneurs, and loves speaking and writing about effective e-commerce strategies and disruptive technologies.