We had a discussion in a Strategy class about business models. In several cases, fellow students worked for companies who imposed high switching costs on their customers. They made products that took so much investment in implementation and learning, that moving over to a different product (even if it was better) seemed too costly. That locked in revenues for a long time.
A great example was software for government entities. For some reason, government agencies don't just use Microsoft products. They buy really weird, dense software systems from obscure contractors that take forever to learn. Entire job descriptions revolve around the operating of these systems. That government entity is not about to switch. It's "how we do things around here."
I suggest that is a sound business model, but not at all sustainable. Why not sustainable? It is not inspiring, and we are entering a market where more and more people will demand to be inspired, delighted, and made enthusiastic by products and services.
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