More people around the world were moving to urban areas, spawning increased traffic congestion and pollution (see"Urban Outfitter," p. 90). City governments were responding by imposing steep fees that discouraged people from driving or even parking their cars in the most densely packed areas. For BMW, or any company that builds and sells automobiles, the trend was a scary threat to future sales growth.
BMW assigned some of its brightest people to work on an independent skunkworks project for the next three years, and in March it launched BMW i, a new sub-brand focused on novel ways to move people around cities. Among the first initiatives was DriveNow, a car-sharing service in Germany that doesn't require fixed pickup or drop-off points. Motorists find available cars on their smartphones and unlock them with a chip stored on their driver's license.
This is how you differentiate between good and great company. Great company is never rest on its laurel and strive to be 'future-proof'.
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