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If being the biggest company was a guarantee of success, we'd all be using IBM computers and driving GM cars.

- James Surowiecki
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Author:
James Surowiecki
Tags:
Success
Business
Computers
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The challenge for capitalism is that the things that breed trust also breed the environment for fraud.

As technology improves, on-screen avatars look more and more like real people. When they start looking too real, though, we pull away. These almost-humans aren't quite right; they look creepy, like zombies.

There are certainly valid reasons for taking a company private, and it's also possible that C.E.O.s perform better when monitored by a small number of owners in a private company rather than by the dispersed and often uninterested shareholders of a public corporation.

The fundamental problem with banks is what it's always been: they're in the business of banking, and banking, whether plain vanilla or incredibly sophisticated, is inherently risky.

Nike used to be known as Blue Ribbon Sports. What's now Sara Lee used to be Consolidated Foods. And Exxon was once Standard Oil Company of New Jersey. These were name changes that worked. But for all the ones that do, there are 10 or 20 that don't.

Real politics is messy and morally ambiguous and doesn't make for a compelling thriller.

Developing countries often have hypertrophied bureaucracies, requiring businesses to deal with enormous amounts of red tape.

Linux is a complex example of the wisdom of crowds. It's a good example in the sense that it shows you can set people to work in a decentralized way - that is, without anyone really directing their efforts in a particular direction - and still trust that they're going to come up with good answers.

In order to work well, markets need a basic level of trust.

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If being the biggest company was a guarantee of success, we'd all be using IBM computers and driving GM cars.

If being the biggest company was a guarantee of success, we'd all be using IBM computers and driving GM cars.

If being the biggest company was a guarantee of success, we'd all be using IBM computers and driving GM cars.

If being the biggest company was a guarantee of success, we'd all be using IBM computers and driving GM cars.

If being the biggest company was a guarantee of success, we'd all be using IBM computers and driving GM cars.

If being the biggest company was a guarantee of success, we'd all be using IBM computers and driving GM cars.

If being the biggest company was a guarantee of success, we'd all be using IBM computers and driving GM cars.

If being the biggest company was a guarantee of success, we'd all be using IBM computers and driving GM cars.

If being the biggest company was a guarantee of success, we'd all be using IBM computers and driving GM cars.

If being the biggest company was a guarantee of success, we'd all be using IBM computers and driving GM cars.

If being the biggest company was a guarantee of success, we'd all be using IBM computers and driving GM cars.

If being the biggest company was a guarantee of success, we'd all be using IBM computers and driving GM cars.

If being the biggest company was a guarantee of success, we'd all be using IBM computers and driving GM cars.

If being the biggest company was a guarantee of success, we'd all be using IBM computers and driving GM cars.

If being the biggest company was a guarantee of success, we'd all be using IBM computers and driving GM cars.