Writer, Agilist, Elder Geek
Steven Savage Let's face it, my professional geeks, we love it. We also need it – hey, how many of us work to push the envelope or even get beyond envelopes entirely (we must not bow to the envelopes). For that matter, these days, innovation is needed both in a changing world and to deal with old ways of thinking and producing.
We are all about innovation.
The problem is innovation is often about leaving things behind.
So last column I mentioned that some businesses and companies were probably only surviving (perhaps even poorly) because they had simply become social institutions. We are used to these companies, and that keeps them from evolving–or dying off appropriately. So I asked myself, what companies and so forth were probably surviving due to a large part of sheer familiarity? The answer was pretty illustrative.
Here are a few I came up with. This is in no way the end all-be-all.
There are many things we can say a business is. A business is a tool to deliver goods, or do tasks. A businesses away to consolidate and in theory improve economic functions. A business is a way for people to effectively earn a living. There are many things indeed that we can say a business is.
(Yes, I could talk about corruption and so forth, but stick with me here.)
The business is also social institution and understanding that is important to analyze the future of businesses–when they actually have any.