The Collapsing Middle: Digital Strategy and Value Chains

When iTunes for Windows launched in 2003, it didn't just disrupt music—it revealed a brutal truth about competitive advantage in the digital age. In this episode, we explore why the middle of the value chain has become a death trap for even the strongest companies, and why the only sustainable strategy is choosing an end: own creation or dominate consumption. Through the story of how one retail giant abandoned everything that made it successful to build hardware it knew nothing about, we uncover the strategic imperative that will define which companies survive the next decade—and which ones are already falling.