In 1942, the economist Joseph Schumpeter coined the terms creative destruction. He was describing what happens when inovation radically changes the groundrules of how an industry works. Those who thought they had a monopoly, or a lock on an industry suddenly find themselves in a completely new world due to the introduction of a new technology.
The ‘creative’ part we all get… it’s the ‘destructive’ part no one wants to pay attention to.
The web is such a technology. It brings content into everyone’s home, 24 hours a day, pretty much for free. Compare that to cutting down trees, printing a newspaper, putting them in trucks and delivering them door to door every morning. That’s a pretty good competitive advantage. (And that is just the tip of the iceberg. Just ask papers who used to dine off the classifieds how they feel about Craig’s list). Or compare iTunes to Tower Records…. (or what used to be Tower Records). (more…)
