![]() Instead of ceding the electric-vehicle market to the Silicon Valley-based interloper, they have responded aggressively to the e-threat. Other carmakers, perhaps having learned a lesson from watching Apple and Amazon destroy competitors, have switched rather than fight. What’s interesting is that Tesla has forced the rest of the automotive industry to go along with it. Many other companies have produced either electric-only or electric-hybrid cars. But its core product - an all-electric car with self-driving capabilities - is far from unique. So too is the company’s auto-upgrading software a first for a mainstream vehicle. Yes, it sells cars direct to consumers, without the need for middlemen dealers, a fairly unique arrangement. There is a counter-argument that Tesla isn't truly a paradigm-shifter. I am a big fan of the company, and its fast, beautiful rides. Still, no one can say Uber hasn’t changed the rules of the transportation industry. ![]() Whether it deserves to be the world’s most valuable closely held company is another question entirely. As of today, Uber completes 10 million trips every day. Ignore for the moment the company’s numerous scandals and the trending #DeleteUber campaign on Twitter, and consider what the company has accomplished in less than a decade: 2 million Uber drivers have taken 40 million riders on 5 billion trips in 77 countries and 616 cities worldwide. Perhaps the most interesting paradigm shift the past few years has been Uber’s ride-hailing app. Calling this a paradigm shift may be understating it. It has had a devastating effect on traditional media companies and advertising firms. In 2017, Alphabet’s revenue was more than $100 billion almost all of that came from advertising, the majority of which was AdWords. But what set Google apart was AdWords, its revolutionary method of automated search monetization. Most people have the wrong idea about what makes Alphabet’s Google core search engine product such a game-changer: Yes, Google’s search is good, better than most. Despite only modest and not very consistent profits, Amazon is now the third-most valuable company, and is headed by the world’s wealthiest person. The unique patience that Amazon investors have shown during the past 20-plus years has been rewarded. companies mentioned Amazon thousands of times during investor calls last year, according to transcripts - more than President Trump and almost as often as taxes.” My Bloomberg Gadfly colleague Shira Ovide, writing in Businessweek, observed that “executives at the biggest U.S. This is what Amazon founder and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos meant when he said, “Your margin is my opportunity.” This minimal cost of capital has allowed Amazon the disruptor to identify and exploit market inefficiencies that form the basis for other businesses’ profits. What really makes Amazon unique is its virtually unlimited access to capital at almost no cost. Amazonĭelighting customers? Free delivery? Cloud computing? Rethinking retail? Logistical efficiencies? None of these are paradigm-shifting. The only other company close to Apple in terms of this disruptive paradigm-shifting destruction is. The list of companies damaged by Apple is astonishing. ![]() In a challenging era for retail stores, Apple stores have higher revenue per square foot than just about anyone else. Co-founder Steve Jobs remade entire industries - creating the first successful digital music store turning mobile phones into portable computers and most recently smart watches, which seem to be devastating Swiss watch manufacturers. The world’s most valuable company - and my bet for first with a trillion-dollar market capitalization - has revolutionized so many businesses that it is difficult to keep track. Perhaps we might discern a pattern that investors might find useful. Other companies, such as Netflix Inc., Tesla Inc. ![]() Beyond mere iterations or gradual progress, these companies completely change how they and their competitors do business, from what they sell, to how they generate a profit.Īpple Inc., Inc., Alphabet Inc. Every so often, a business totally upends its industry and the phrase is wholly applicable. That is a shame because, despite its well-worn status, it is still a very useful construct. His concept of nonlinear evolution became so widely adopted by popular culture and business that today the phrase he coined has become a cliche. Thomas Kuhn, the American physicist and philosopher, is perhaps best known to the public for the phrase “paradigm shift.” In his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, he describes the differences between ordinary scientific problem solving - what he termed “normal science” - and scientific revolutions.
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