Category: General

The role of technology on our society has been discussed widely. But is technological advancement the single, most important factor shaping our future? There is a very good article over the Neuromarketing blog titled “Futurehype: The Myths of Technological Change”. The article reviews a recent book with the same title by Bob Seidensticker.

There are many controversies regarding executive salaries within companies. Over the years different people have proposed different theories to solve the problem. How much should they earn? Upon what variables should the salary be based?

In my opinion those two theories are not mutually exclusive but rather complementary. Innovations do start with the observation and understanding of customer needs, and the fact that customers will not always know what they need until they see it will only reinforce the idea that a company needs to “observe” the customers and not “ask directly” to them.

There are many interesting issues being explored, even if not all of them are necessarily novelties. The report mentions for example, confirming what we have already discussed here, that according to CEOs the main obstacle to innovation is the corporate culture.

In 1975 electronics giant Sony Corporation introduced the Betamax, the first consumer video cassette recorder. It packed state-of-the-art technology and represented Sony’s bet to dominate the segment. Late in 1976 Victor Company of Japan, also known as JVC, brought to the market a rival technology called VHS, inferior to Betamax under most technical parameters. Ten years later, 1988, Betamax is out of the market, VHS becomes the winning standard for video recording. Sony Corporation decides to start producing its own VCRs using VHS technology.