Posts

Showing posts with the label radio industry

Decision Making as Output and Bounded Rationality

  The classical economics theories proceed on the assumption of rational agents. Rationality implies the economic agents undertake actions or exercise choices based on the cost-benefit analysis they undertake. The assumption further posits that there exists no information asymmetry and thus the agent is aware of all the costs and benefits associated with the choice he or she has exercised. The behavioral school contested the decision stating the decisions in practice are often irrational. Implied there is a continuous departure from rationality. Rationality in the views of the behavioral school is more an exception to the norm rather a rule. The past posts have discussed the limitations of this view by the behavioral school. Economics has often posited rationality in the context in which the choices are exercised rather than theoretical abstract view of rational action. Rational action in theory seems to be grounded in zero restraint situation yet in practice, there are numerous restra

David vs Goliath, Big Tech and Schumpeter

In technology industries, often the incumbent seeks to see off the challenges through an attempted blockage of technological progress. The radio industry led the top down development of television industry as visual extension of radio rather than an alternate medium thus hindering its progress for more than half a century. FM radio was literally crushed before it re-emerged in different context at a very different point of time. The crime of FM radio was given its inherent advantage over AM radio, it would have cannibalized the later. The AM radio industry had made significant legacy investment which would have gone begging. To protect their legacy investment against a raging Schumpeter they killed the FM industry or almost so.   The history of such technological battles for supremacy is replete with instances. In 1876, Western Union, ‘misused’ its monopoly in telegraphy, to ensure its candidate Rutherford Hayes get elected as President of United States of America. In fact, one