7 ms·
This is certainly a myth. Everyone knows, including big companies, that as you grow in size you have a harder time innovating. The classic "lean startup" book m
by yohann305 8y ago
This is certainly a myth. Everyone knows, including big companies, that as you grow in size you have a harder time innovating. The classic "lean startup" book mentions this issue and gives the example of Intuit's in-house accelerator/incubator. No way Intel doesn't know about it too.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/04/19/innovation-isnt-just-for-startups-how-big-companies-can-tap-their-creative-power/#535dd848686b https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2018/04/19/in...
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- gowld 8y agoWhat myth? As you say, bigger companies have a harder time innovting.
- gray_-_wolf 8y agoYeah, but it's not necessarily related to competion, size is primary factor. At least I believe that was his point.
- js8 8y agoI think it is related to competition. Lack of competition brings complacency of executives, who think they can get free money for shareholders without having to reinvest into innovation. (And I think that was carlmr's point.) Of course, if you are bigger, the more likely it is that there is no competition at certain times.
- carlmr 8y agoYeah, my point was that a big company can coast without innovating. They usually have a lot of stuff to sell that they have done in the past. The pressure to rejuvenate comes from outside, rarely from the inside (surely there are exceptions as with every good rule). If you can survive without investing, a lot of companies choose not to.
- gehsty 8y agoApple / Google / Amazon don’t seem to struggle? Microsoft / IBM and now Intel defintely did. I think it has more to do with the leadership of the company than the size of the company.
- senozhatsky 8y agoDoes Google innovate? -ss
- lordlimecat 8y agoHave you seen how many messaging apps theyve made in the last few years?
- gsich 8y agoAnd it's still a mess that nobody wants to use.
- GrumpyNl 8y agoTook over 500 lightbulbs before there was a usable one. Just dont give up.
- retbull 8y agoI wish they would fix up one of the existing ones rather than keep shoving out new half finished ones. I poked around in a few of them from a web client and phone perspective for a while and still don't feel like they beat Slack.
- noobermin 8y agoThis is sarcasm right? Messaging apps are the height of "innovation?"
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- pome 8y ago
- gameswithgo 8y agowasn't bell labs part of a very big corporation when they invented basically everything about the modern world?
- nutjob2 8y agoBell Labs invented Google, Facebook, etc? Wow, did not know that. But as you say, the labs were a very small, independent part of a very big corporation, which is likely why they did interesting things. The other thing is that they were forced by the government to license transistor patents to others, who actually created almost everything else. By your theory the military invented the internet, so they invented the modern world. A huge and wasteful military is the key!
- jrockway 8y agoGoogle and Facebook would look a lot different without transistors.
- cestith 8y agoAnd lasers. And Unix. And switched networking. And binary digital computers. And long-haul undersea cables. And the first successful communications satellite. And data networking. http://blog.tmcnet.com/next-generation-communications/2011/08/the-top-bell-labs-innovations---part-i-the-game-changers.html http://blog.tmcnet.com/next-generation-communications/2011/0...
- grkvlt 8y agoYes, but apart from that, what have the Romans, er, Bell Labs ever given us?
- wlesieutre 8y agoThey didn't invent Google and Facebook, but they're responsible for transistors, lasers, Unix, C and C++, CCD digital image sensors, long distance microwave radio relays, the first transatlantic phone cable, MOSFETs, communication satellites, and cell networks. Not modern internet services no, but all of the infrastructure it's built on is grounded on theirs.
- pcnix 8y agoThis is also the topic of the book "The Innovator's Dilemma" by Clayton Christensen.