A rose by another name . . .

I read in this morning's NY Times that Washington Mutual has disappeared. Actually the company called Washington Mutual has disappeared. It's been absorbed by JP Morgan Chase.

Regulators simultaneously brokered an emergency sale of virtually all of Washington Mutual, the nation’s largest savings and loan, to JPMorgan Chase for $1.9 billion, averting another potentially huge taxpayer bill for the rescue of a failing institution.

There might be some lessons here for printers and our industry. Washington Mutual did very well when the market for their product, home mortgages, was rapidly expanding. But when that market started to radically shrink, they were busy, busy, busy; first making lots of money, then trying to keep the ship from sinking. They didn't invest the time to look over the next hill. On the other hand, it seems that JPMorgan Chase did.

Bad ROT (return on time, coined by Dr Joe Webb) for WaMu. Good ROT for JPMorgan Chase.

Commercial banking is not going away. Most likely they will change the name on the door. But at it's core, they will lend money and charge people a fee for using that money. Hopefully they will make the process a little more efficient; innovate new product offerings that take account of the new conditions; settle for a smaller, but safer profit margin, for a while; and keep scanning the horizon to see what's next.

In our industry, it might look like this:
Commercial printing is not going away. Most likely the name for what we do will be different in different markets. But at it's core we will print stuff and get people to pay for it. Hopefully we will make the process more efficient; innovate new product offerings that take account of the new conditions; settle for a smaller, but safer profit margin, for a while; and keep scanning the horizon to see what's next.