• Reinventing business models is now crucial across most sectors, with the pressure to change reaching a 25-year peak and $7.1 trillion in revenue poised to shift between companies.
• Timing is as critical as strategy: delay and competitors will surge ahead; act too soon and returns might fall short. Agility and readiness are key.
• PwC’s Pressure Index aids businesses in identifying when reinvention is imminent by monitoring indicators like innovation, regulation, disruptions, and market appeal.

As the global business ecosystem confronts one disruption after another, leaders are fundamentally rethinking how their companies compete. Business model reinvention (BMR)—the process of transforming how an organisation creates, delivers and captures value—is on the table in virtually every sector.

A recent PwC analysis found that the level of pressure to reinvent is at or near a 25-year high in 17 of 22 global sectors. This year alone, $7.1 trillion in revenue is set to shift between companies as a result of BMR.

When developing reinvention strategy, leaders usually think of where and how to compete. But they shouldn’t lose sight of an equally important factor: when to compete. The payoff for getting BMR timing right can include massive gains in revenue and market share, according to PwC’s analysis.

“Timing is incredibly important, especially given the macroeconomic volatility we’re facing today,” says Jean McClellan, national business model reinvention leader at PwC Canada. “Human nature in these situations is to wait until things settle down. But that can often allow competitors to overtake us. Leaders should check that bias, review their options and start operating more effectively.”

If a company mistimes BMR, this doesn’t necessarily foreclose the opportunity to get it right when the next wave hits. Businesses that wait too long or jump too soon in one era—even if they destroy or forgo billions in value—can use strategic agility to get back in the game during the next pivotal moment.

AI and biosciences are opening the floodgates to creating new value.

Chris Mar, Partner and National Transformation Leader, PwC Canada

The BMR Pressure Index: A bellwether of change

To help executives address the critical challenge of timing, PwC created the BMR Pressure Index, a set of six sector-level factors that together can forecast the impending need for reinvention.

“Many of our clients are reacting to specific destabilising events, but overlooking existing risks within their business,” says David Wijeratne, international growth leader at PwC Singapore. “For example, the current situation with U.S. tariffs is dominating many of our conversations. By contrast, the Pressure Index asks leaders to look for threats and vulnerabilities from several different dimensions—adopting a broader perspective, rather than becoming dominated solely by what’s in the headlines.”

BMR Pressure Index

1. Performance: declining industry returns force companies to find new modes of survival
2. Attractiveness: an industry’s growing appeal drives new and existing players to seek emerging value
3. Innovation: new technologies help companies capture new sources of value
4. Shocks: global disruptions put pressure on companies to adapt to new conditions
5. Regulation: shifting legal frameworks prompt companies to adapt to new sources of value
6. BMR intensity: increased adoption of BMR in a sector drives other industry players to follow suit

“Some of these indicators are lagging—they allow you to use your sector’s history to help predict where things are headed,” says Chris Mar, partner and national transformation leader at PwC Canada. “Others, like the current tariff situation and similar global shocks, are leading indicators. You can’t necessarily predict them and you might not want to reshape your organisation in anticipation of them. But you can put some building blocks in place to be ready if these shocks disrupt your business.”

When PwC applied the index to several sectors, measuring the indicators against three decades of business shifts, it found that when the indicators rose, a BMR era soon followed. The index anticipated the last three eras of BMR in U.S. broadline retail: the dot-com bubble, presaged by spikes in the sector’s attractiveness and BMR intensity in the late ‘90s; the rise of omnichannel strategies, predicted by upticks in innovation and regulation from 2006 to 2008; and online-first commerce trends, foreshadowed by a rise in many leading indicators starting in 2016.

The indicators were tied to the shifting fortunes of retail’s key players. One high-revenue retailer started as a big-box forerunner and made several smart moves during the dot-com era, but found itself playing catch-up in digital services during the omnichannel era, arguably moving too late to reap the full gains available. It continues to trail the sector’s online-first leader in market capitalisation today.

McClellan offers an example of varied timing moves in a different industry. “In Canada’s energy sector, companies are trying to time their energy-transition investments,” she explains. “Some organisations invested in hydrogen companies whose economic viability wasn’t quite there yet. They didn’t get the ROI, which led to tension with investors. Meanwhile, other organisations went to natural gas, allowing them to make immediate profit while opening them to a future hydrogen transition should it become economically viable.”

How to navigate BMR timing

While the BMR Pressure Index can serve as a barometer of change, companies must also develop their own capabilities to handle the risks of timing. “One of the most important things you can do is monitor triggers like changing regulations or new technologies,” Mar says. “The advent of cloud computing, for example, opened new ways to create value and serve customers. Now, AI and biosciences are opening the floodgates to creating new value if you’re playing in that sector.”

McClellan advises companies to look beyond their current competition. “Traditional competitors may be the least of your worries. Just look at the banking sector, where technology companies, telecommunications companies and utilities are moving into that space. You may find that a non-traditional competitor is moving faster than traditional competitors, which may require you to make a move you didn’t contemplate.”

Other BMR-timing strategies include experimentation and learning through AI and advanced analytics; identifying and prioritising future growth opportunities; fostering an organisational culture of openness to new ideas; and becoming reinvention-ready by tackling organisational inefficiency and improving decision-making processes.

Finally, according to Mar, leaders can sharpen BMR timing skills through scenario planning. “Conduct simulations to see how you, your competitors and your customers are likely to respond to shocks. It might not produce exact recommendations on what to do, but it will start building an organisational muscle around response planning. Then, when it’s time to reinvent, you’re not left staring at a blank whiteboard.”

This article was produced by Custom Content from WSJ in collaboration with PwC as part of the Rethinking Reinvention content series and was first published on 10 June, 2025.