Techdirt. Stories filed under "institutions" Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us Techdirt. Stories filed under "institutions"http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Fri, 9 Apr 2010 07:33:00 PDT Institutions Will Seek To Preserve The Problem For Which They Are The Solution Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100404/2112388868.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100404/2112388868.shtml detailed analysis of Clay Shirky's recent writeup on complex business models. However, a few of you have sent over Kevin Kelly's recent post about Shirky's piece that also compares it to Clayton Christensen's Innovator's Dilemma, but thankfully highlights the one key line in Shirky's piece that may have gotten lost in the original:
"Institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution."
Kelly calls this the "Shirky Principle." To me, it calls to mind Upton Sinclair's famous line:
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"
They are not the same point, but they are related. In both cases, these are situations where people will often seek to preserve a problem or a falsehood, rather than recognize that it doesn't need to be that way. There are lots of industries where this is a major issue.

But, of course, the real problem is in how they go about trying to preserve that problem. They will go to great lengths to demonize the solutions. This is why the newspaper industry has, at times, lashed out at Craigslist and Google News -- two operations that have essentially removed problems that the newspaper business used to solve. It's why old school video guys lash out at YouTube or Boxee -- because they have removed problems that television used to solve. And, yes, it's why the RIAA and the MPAA lash out at file sharing apps and services -- because they have removed problems in distribution and promotion, that they used to solve.

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]]> the-shirky-principle http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100404/2112388868 Thu, 17 Sep 2009 20:04:33 PDT Is It Possible For Newspapers To Save Themselves? Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090917/0244106221.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090917/0244106221.shtml newspaper companies are simply unable to adapt:
Because the news industry doesn't suffer from a shortage of ideas or possible revenue models, it suffers from a different but more acute malady: being an institution during a time of disruptive change.

While we have all been busy telling the newspaper institution what they should do differently we have missed one big point: Institutions are structured to precisely NOT do much of anything different.
I have to say, I don't find this convincing. While I think it's true that most newspapers won't do enough to change and will face more trouble because of it, claiming that they cannot change is questionable. Yes, it's quite difficult for companies in an industry being disrupted to make that shift, but there are cases where companies do make the shift. Intel switched from a memory business to a processor business. IBM has pretty much made the shift from a big tech company to a services company. Nokia used to make rubber boots. Companies with good and visionary management (and a healthy appetite for taking some big risks) can make, and have made, tectonic shifts. Yes, it's true that most don't do this, it does not mean that it's impossible. Claiming that they're structured not to make the change isn't true. They do have legacy issues, but it doesn't mean they can't make a big move to fix that.

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