News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Philips and the Death of Europe's Last Electronics Giant [video]. Parent comment

Re:Philips and the Death of Europe's Last Electronics Giant ... by Daub on Monday March 13, 2023 @05:56AM (#35133454)
There have been many books written on why companies succeed/fail. The general observations that you make all concur with agreed wisdoms on this matter: small startup = mobile, creative, innovative and fast moving. Estabslhsed blue-chip company = the opposite.

So... how does a large monolith renew itself? One solution with a reasonable track record is to 'replace from within', much as a cuckoo replaces its host.

1. Set up a small unit within your (monolith) company.

2. Staff it with your best and brightest.

3. Physically separate this unit from the rest of the company, but not so much that they forget 'who they belong to'.

4. Establish a line of direct communication between this unit and a high-level manager, bypassing middle managers.

5. XXXX

6. Profit!

XXXX is the problem part. How to graft the young onto the old? Failure to capitalize = Kodak (invented the digital camera but could not make it 'happen'), Palm and its development of WebOS (could have been a contender, but let down by poor hardware and other stuff), Palo Alto and Xerox ('nuff said).

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Philips and the Death of Europe's Last Electronics Giant ... by RcouF1uZ4gsC on Monday March 13, 2023 @08:06AM (#35134537)
This was actually the play that IBM did when it created the PC. They opened a facility in Florida far from their corporate headquarters in New York.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Philips and the Death of Europe's Last Electronics Giant ... by seanmcdirmid on Monday March 13, 2023 @10:45AM (#35136384)
In Boca Raton. I think they moved the whole facility to Austin by now, but it was a very interesting campus when I did an internship there in 1995. The office I had used to be occupied on Microsoft who just stopped working with IBM on OS/2. Also, it being Florida and me being only 20, no one carded us when we went out for drinks.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Philips and the Death of Europe's Last Electronics Giant ... by pirate787 on Monday March 13, 2023 @10:40AM (#35136298)
This is how Sony launched Playstation over the resistance of traditionalists in Tokyo not interested in making "toys" -- they set up an independent company in Europe.
[ Parent | on HN ]