“ In a famous 1960 article called “Marketing Myopia,” Theodore Levitt held up the railroads as a quintessential example of companies’ inability to adapt to changing circumstances. Levitt argued that a focus on products rather than on customers led the companies to misunderstand their core business. Had the bosses realized that they were in the transportation business, rather than the railroad business, they could have moved into trucking and air transport, rather than letting other companies dominate. By extension, many argue that if newspapers had understood they were in the information business, rather than the print business, they would have adapted more quickly and more successfully to the Net.
James Surowiecki, “News You Can Lose” (via seantice)
Yes.
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This is an excellent point. My mom and I were discussing this idea the other day. If newspapers had gotten that they were information arbitragers, rather than just newsmen, they could have been Craigslist before Craigslist happened.
