From: Technotranscendence (neptune@mars.superlink.net)
Date: Mon Nov 18 2002 - 15:33:33 MST
On Monday, November 18, 2002 4:43 PM Noah Horton nhorton@ectropic.org
wrote:
> I think the point of the question was probably referring
> more to the contributions that a company makes that
> do not fit into a business case.
You are completely wrong here in regards to my intentions.:) The point
of my question was this. I saw some earlier posts on this thread that
seemed to imply that a company's value is equivalent to its
technological innovations. I.e., if a company does not innovate
technology, it's value-less. Now, both Lee and Mike seemed to get what
I was getting at. Implied in the question, of course, is that value,
especially economic value, is not reducible to technological innovation.
An even more mundane example. I bought a latte earlier today. That was
of value to me. The woman making it created value for me. That's why I
gave her cash for it. She didn't have to create some brand new drink
never before seen on the face of the globe to create value here. (Of
course, that might have been more interesting and even more valuable.
Or it might not. Not all new products or innovations are successful or
more valuable.)
Lee gave examples of financial firms increasing value without even
putting out a physical product. A much more pedestrial example of a
company not technologically innovating, yet providing value is almost
any merchant (e.g., retail stores that simply bring products to people
in settings that make it easy to choose the products among
alternatives).
Why does this matter here? I wasn't just trying to underscore this to
be cute, but because someone like Bill Gates could have a legitimately
high economic value for reasons other his technological innovations.
(This does not mean that Gates is a saint or that he's above reproach or
even that he is legitimately of high value, but just shows that he could
be even if he did not create innovative products. Put another way:
economic value is not limited to just radically new product lines.)
That's all I was getting at.
Cheers!
Dan
http://uweb.superlink.net/neptune/
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