My Bottom Line: David Jones, Havas

Global chief executive of France-based advertising group Havas David Jones says it is vital to be obsessive about change and reinvention if you want a company to survive.

He points to his own industry of advertising and says it must realise that digitisation is the future - a failure to understand this is the difference between new business opportunities and extinction.

David says the biggest barrier to change is past legacy. If a company has been successful in the past it is difficult to understand that old business models need changing and this is where companies such as Kodak and Polaroid came unstuck. He says very few companies manage to successfully reinvent themselves - although IBM is an example of a company which has.

David appeared on The Bottom Line which is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and BBC World Service. Subscribe to the podcast or watch it on the BBC News Channel.

Find more business wisdom from other chief executives on the My Bottom Line website.

  • Business