Let’s End the Myth that Ideas Are Worthless

Re:Let’s End the Myth that Ideas Are Worthless by tgflynn on Sunday January 02, 2011 @09:47PM (#2061886)

You have a good point.

I often wonder why the software and internet businesses seem so strongly winner take all, where the winner is most typically not the first but the best (in a sense measured by the market) to execute an idea (ie. Microsoft, Google, Facebook). It seems like the classical economic view of competitive markets is becoming more and more of a fantasy world.

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Re:Let’s End the Myth that Ideas Are Worthless by livejake on Sunday January 02, 2011 @11:33PM (#2062090)

Yeah, it's interesting. The reasons vary for each company and books could probably be written for each one. A key factor is network effects. Read up on network effects: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect

"In economics and business, a network effect (also called network externality) is the effect that one user of a good or service has on the value of that product to other people. When network effect is present, the value of a product or service increases as more people use it."

Not just internet and software businesses, railroads, telephone networks, and financial markets are other businesses that are impacted by network effects.

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