Wall Street Journal (May 7)
As its economy slows, China is taking “tentative steps toward crucial financial reform.” These steps may leave some firms without the comfortable support of the Government’s safety net. “A few bankruptcies and defaults in recent months suggest that the bailout culture may give way to creative destruction. The year ahead should show whether China has reached a reform turning point.”
Tags: Bailouts, Bankruptcies, China, Creative destruction, Default, Economy, Financial Reform, Government, Turning-point
USA Today (May 28)
“Despite what politicians say,” entrepreneurs don’t create many jobs. “Successful entrepreneurs almost always create real value in the economy and grow the economic pie for all of us,” but they “do not always create enormous numbers of jobs, particularly for the middle class.” In fact, “the creative destruction that accompanies entrepreneurship today often destroys middle-class jobs.”
Tags: Creative destruction, Economy, Entrepreneurs, Jobs, Middle class, Politicians, Value
The Economist (September 21)
“Nine of the world’s ten most valuable firms are American.” A rising stock market and the euro crisis are partly responsible, but the reasons go deeper. “First, America’s mix of resilience and renewal. Three of its nine biggest firms have their roots in a 16-year period in the late 19th century—Exxon, General Electric and Johnson & Johnson. Their durability reflects their powerful corporate cultures. But the country still does creative destruction, too. IBM and Intel have slid down the rankings to be replaced by Apple and Google. Chevron, an energy firm, has gone from a laggard to a world-beater. Success has been anything but parochial. Six of the nine biggest firms sell more abroad than at home.”
Tags: Apple, Chevron, Corporate culture, Creative destruction, Durability, Euro crisis, Exxon, General electric, Google, IBM, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Rankings, Stock market, Success, U.S., Value
Wall Street Journal (August 7)
“The most striking fact about the recently announced sale of the Boston Globe and Washington Post is their low prices…. The prices reflect the decline of newspapers as a business in the Internet age, which is the kind of creative destruction millions of Americans have experienced. Disruption is the price a capitalist economy pays for innovation, and the news business is merely the latest example.” The new owners should be welcomed as they provide “an opportunity for new ideas and perhaps a turnaround.”
Tags: Boston Globe, Capitalism, Creative destruction, Decline, Disruption, Ideas, Innovation, Internet, Newspapers, Opportunity, Owners, Prices, Turnaround, Washington Post
Financial Times (January 15)
”Britain’s high streets are in mourning. Another chapter of retail history seems set to close after the collapse of HMV, the UK’s last national music chain. It is the latest in a series of household names to shut up shop. But instead of mourning past glories (Sir Edward Elgar opened the first HMV store in 1921), there are good reasons to welcome the process of creative destruction that is finally taking its toll on UK retailing – however agonising it is for those affected.” Killing off zombie companie frees up capital for more productive enterprises. Though some may see the passing of HMV and other worn out retailers as “the end of the high street,” it’s really just “a new beginning.”
Tags: Capital, Creative destruction, High streets, HMV, Retail, UK, Zombies