Aggressive defense of the status quo by powerful firms, or a consortia of firms in some sort of industry lobby body often indicates a fat profit plum ripe for the plucking, or a closed shop that protects inefficiency. Perhaps they are the same thing.
Look at the defense of the record industry against the digital music revolution, the aggressive defense of the pharmacy drug (legal) distribution monopoly, the newspaper distribution monopoly (would you buy a newsagency now with the e-distribution of news taking over?) and the artificially high entry barriers imposed on new entrants to many professional bodies and you will see potential profit in the breaking down of the status quo, which protects someones easy life.
Usually, everyone apart from the defenders benefit when these strong guardians of yesterday are wiped away, as they usually are, with a greater level of pain than would be incurred if there was a sensible and creative discussion about alternative models.
In the end, all the lobbying does is create added waste and pain, and the chance to protect the profits of incumbency by innovation, and evolving the business model to better serve customers is lost in the determination to protect the status quo.
StrategyAudit 