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0 pointsadventured9y ago0 comments

No, they got large because they weren't previously lead by idiots. Then they get large and then they rot.

History is littered with endless examples: HP, IBM, GM, Kodak, Sony, Xerox, Sears, Pan Am, US Steel, Nokia.

Some of them collapsed entirely, some still struggle on, some recovered only to rot again. It's rare that mega corps don't go through some variation of a rot cycle due to the accumulation of poor leaders at the top once they get large enough and far enough away from the original vision and leadership that got them to the top.

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blahi9y ago· 2 in thread

You are oversimplifying this to the point where your conclusion is almost completely wrong. There are many factors which contribute to the decline of companies. For example there was an article about Kodak on HN and why it failed. The inertia was too strong in that case. Differences in goals and objectives is another very popular reason.

I understand it's tempting to think your bosses are morons but they rarely are.

dkarapetyan9y ago

So if Kodak leadership was full of geniuses how come it failed? Companies often get large not because of leadership but because they happen to be at the right place at the right time with the right idea. Plenty of people have the right idea but they rarely happen to be at the right place and time.

blahi9y ago

I pointed you out (sort of) to why Kodak failed. It had MASSIVE facilities with 10s of thousands of employees making industrial chemicals. You cannot snap your fingers and transition to another business model.

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