Wharton's Eric K. Clemons explains why even the newest business models echo a pattern from successful companies in the past.
Today’s technology giants, such as Uber and Google, are successful because they introduced something new and innovative to the market, according to conventional wisdom. But Wharton professor of operations, information and decisions Eric K. Clemons thinks that’s too simplistic. Patterns repeat throughout history, and one can find glimpses of today’s new business models in the most successful companies of yore, he says.
Mastering “pattern-based thinking” will help today’s companies get ahead, Clemons argues. He joined the Knowledge@Wharton radio show on SiriusXM to talk about this mindset, which he encapsulates in his book, New Patterns of Power and Profit: A Strategist’s Guide to Competitive Advantage in the Age of Digital Transformation.
Knowledge@Wharton: Why did you decide to write a book about this topic?
Eric K. Clemons: It’s actually a memoir. It’s the history of a great adventure. About mid-1980s, I realized that economics really understood big industry and [Harvard professor] Michael Porter had said just about everything that needed to be said about strategy for traditional manufacturing, transportation and retailing companies. But traditional industry wasn’t where things were happening. Economics had started to look at the power, the value of information. ... "
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