I was at Subway a few days ago to get a sub for lunch. On my way out, I noticed a flyer outside the door advertising a new breakfast offering, which included everything from eggs and bacon sandwiches to steak and ham. "Interesting", I thought, "about time Subway took the battle to the competition." The major players in the breakfast-to-go market had already included lunch items in their menus, which would have cannibalized Subway's sales in some way. Now, Subway was doing likewise and was erasing expanding its market boundaries. As I walked out, I wondered if Subway would someday start selling donuts or even burgers.

Several years back, you had to go to different places for different things. Most businesses and corporations operated in their own unique space, and were mostly known for one type of product or product line. So if you wanted coffee, you would go to Starbucks, if you needed medicine, it was Walgreens, for books, you went to Barnes and Noble and for consumer electronics, you located Best Buy or Radioshack. These firms were all good at what they did and they made tidy profits. Ironically, these profits were probably the cause of the problems. As many economists and strategists know, profits attracts new entrants, and this continues until there is very little profit left in the industry. This has made firms expand their product and business offerings, crossing market boundaries and reducing each business's unique differences. The recent recession didn't help matters, as firms were forced to seek new ways to generate revenue. Walgreens and CVS which both started out as drug stores have effectively become grocery stores where you can get everything from Milk, electronics and cleaning supplies.

The bigger firms are not exempt. Last year, Xerox acquired ACS, a company with significant clout in the IT services industry. This gives them a base in the services industry and helps them gain another foothold in the battle with HP for the print management industry. Google released Chrome, Android and the Nexus One phone to presumable gain a foothold in other businesses.  LinkedIn incorporated a status update and is looking more and more like a Facebook for professionals. I wonder what new thing we'll see tomorrow. Maybe Radio Shack selling Auto supplies? Or Pfizer making beauty products? Maybe we'll soon be able to go to a store and buy just about ... anything.