Schumpeter on Strategy
reactionwheel.net
reactionwheel.net
It’s also fun to contemplate that Schumpeter figured this business strategy stuff out more than 100 years ago.
Highly recommended. Wu makes the point that Schumpeter gets it mostly right but did miss a few things, namely regulatory capture.
The problem with regulatory capture is that it is generally inefficient and given big enough opposition can get cracked.
The other important profit but not mentioned is externalities. Unethical but common. Damage the environment, damage society by exploiting the poor and others with little choice. Some externalities can be exploited for a very long time...
And also exploiting information asymmetry, by marketing or otherwise profiting as a middleman.
As for its general inefficiency: the examples of Bell Labs & the Hollywood studios are good counterexamples, both were unstoppable and required direct government intervention.
One of Wu's points is of the different nature of telecommunications (and common carriers in general).
I am in 100% agreement with you on the last two points.