textbooks at management schools teach you that the market is a "first come, first served" kind of place for companies. that innovators and pioneers will rise to success above all others.
reality reads differently. steve jobs (/apple) announced the iPod to the market at a time when mp3 players had long tried to drive the discman (or its 1990's equivalent, the walkman) out of the market. a similar story could be told about the iPad and the myriad of tablets that preceded it.
oliver samwer, founder & ceo of rocket internet, has built an entire company on the premise that the textbooks are wrong, and backs his strategy with the fact that a number of the largest companies in the world did not invent their business models. by believing that if a business model has never been attempted before then it is unlikely to succeed, rocket has built a strength in optimizing risk to drive serial success. the modus operandi is hence to take good ideas and leverage on the company's execution capabilities and impressive access to capital.
the list is endless - which makes one wonder how library-based education stacks up to the cliché-d school of life. as we rethink the way that content is delivered to students, might be worthwhile allocating some headspace to the discussion around the content itself and how we can move that closer to real life.
