[nwhatt]

His more abstract posts usually come together more for me after listening to his podcast (Exponent).

I'm not sure what parts of a value chain a business controls and core competencies are the same thing.

> What does work are (1) forward and backwards integrations into the value chain and (2) acquisitions.

He's saying that no matter what your core competencies are, no business can adapt to an entirely new value chain. At best they can hope to acquire a company with the right business model, or integrate further into an existing value chain (Netflix, moving into content creation and distribution).