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Re: [ontolog-forum] SME (subject matter experts) and Ontology developeme

To: "'[ontolog-forum] '" <ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: "Rich Cooper" <Rich@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 20 Mar 2015 11:06:38 -0700
Message-id: <025d01d06338$9cdf1b50$d69d51f0$@com>
Some chap at HBS wrote a book about destructive innovation, or
some similar term, and advocates it all over the media.  His
theory is that the little startup firms, nipping the buds of the
colossus fruit, find the little missing niche products and
services that colossus has no time to pursue because the profit
margin is lower than their current fruit market margin.  To do so
would not be a good investment strategy for the shareholders, who
want dividends and growth in the higher percentage ranges.  Those
dinky little markets don't add much to the bottom line until
years of growth.    (01)

The startup firms then starve or get funding, using whatever
resources they can to leverage the patent, copyright and
trademark protections to grow the firms.  They learn (20-30
percent per doubling of experience) to produce value beyond the
colossus's offerings, and increase in size to become the next
colossus.  Iterate ad infinitum.    (02)

For example, telephone over telegraph (telegraph management had
not a clue), TV over radio, transistors over tubes, whatever new
innovation takes over the old.    (03)

It's the way business analysts find makes the most growth in
wealth for their customers - the stockholders and investors.
Even though the engineers know that it wastes enormous potential,
that potential simply isn't of much value to an ongoing colossus
with lots of irons in the fire.    (04)

Business strategists once thought the way to continued growth is
through conglomerates that own many companies.  They lost.  The
winners have been the companies that specialize in one highly
focused area.  So the colossus literally can't support new R&D
that goes much beyond the present.    (05)

Sincerely,
Rich Cooper,
www DOT EnglishLogicKernel DOT com
Rich AT EnglishLogicKernel DOT com
( 9 4 9 ) 5 2 5-5 7 1 2    (06)


-----Original Message-----
From: ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:ontolog-forum-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of John
F Sowa
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2015 10:37 AM
To: ontolog-forum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [ontolog-forum] SME (subject matter experts) and
Ontology developement - principle? - Ethics?    (07)

Pat,    (08)

The Xerox Alto shows how corporate management cannot see the
potential of products that fall outside their corporate strategy:    (09)

> They were never promoted commercially, but they were a mature,
> finished product. [Xerox] Rochester was using I think five of
them
> all linked by network for office work, administration and
general
> computing support. It was the first time I had ever seen a
WYSIWYG
> word processor, and it blew my mind.    (010)

Rochester was the home of the original copier business, and it
remains Xerox HQ.  Management couldn't see what was happening
right under their noses, because they never paid attention to
what their secretaries were doing.    (011)

But I would put a large part of the blame on PARC management.
They should have noticed how the Alto was being used at Xerox HQ.
All they had to do was to count how many offices in the world
could use such systems, multiply by 5, and use the numbers for
their business case.  To sell their proposal, they could just
ask the CEO to walk down the hall and look.    (012)

Researchers at IBM knew about the PARC products, but they had
no more influence on the corporate decision makers than the
researchers at Xerox.  And they didn't have a demo to show them.    (013)

Steve Jobs visited Xerox PARC, saw the potential, and the rest
is history.  The reason why Apple succeeded where Xerox and
IBM didn't is that Jobs also happened to be the CEO.    (014)

John    (015)

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