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> Starbucks, founded 1971, fifty years old next year. Caterpillar Inc., founded 1925. Ford, 1903. 3M, 1902. Kroger, 1883. Campbell Soup, 1869. Pfizer, 1849. Pr

> Starbucks, founded 1971, fifty years old next year. Caterpillar Inc., founded 1925. Ford, 1903. 3M, 1902. Kroger, 1883. Campbell Soup, 1869. Pfizer, 1849. Proctor & Gamble, 1837. Colgate-Palmolive, 1806. Choosing a handful of successful winners in comparison to "most firms only last about 10 years" is a selection bias. All of the original members of the DOW Jones industrial average have declared bankruptcy or been absorbed into other companies -- except General Electric! Oh wait, they were just removed from the index

AnthonyMouse 6y ago
> Choosing a handful of successful winners in comparison to "most firms only last about 10 years" is a selection bias. "Most firms only last about 10 years" is selection bias because most firms don't even last 10 years. Infant mortality is very high. The firms that do last 10 years usually last 20 or more. Meanwhile you're ignoring my point -- it isn't a question of how many companies are destroyed, it's a question of destroying even more of them. Some evidence that maintaining a stable company is hard is not an argument for making it even harder.
- lowmemcpu 6y ago
  > "Most firms only last about 10 years" is selection bias because most firms don't even last 10 years. How is that selection bias? > Meanwhile you're ignoring my point -- it isn't a question of how many companies are destroyed, it's a question of destroying even more of them. Some evidence that maintaining a stable company is hard is not an argument for making it even harder. Sure. I'm not proposing we should make it harder