Conglomerates may not be as nimble and agile as single-focus companies, but they are uniquely more resilient to economic shock events, and branches being "unprofitable" for a time can be supported by others.
Unfortunately, MBA beancounter/neoliberal extremism aka "throw out everything not the core business" has become the norm... and so, with Covid, Ukraine and Trump's tariff and Iran wars, we got a ton of "single focus" companies that are struggling hard, and with everything deemed "not the core business" including internal IT, cleaning etc. sourced out, many a corporation has become internally enshittified.
Conglomerates aren't a strictly optimal form of organization. They are more resilient, but they are also massively bureaucratic and can lose their focus. They may also be able to exert a disproportionate amount of leverage on vendors and suppliers.
I'm not saying infinitely asset-light companies are strictly superior either.
I'm saying there's no silver bullet or free lunch here.
If you look at it from one layer above, capital markets that enable the continuous recycling of corporate structures into smaller or larger as needed are more resilient than those in which company structures are ossified.
Of course not every deal is for the better. But no M&A isn't good either. Speaking as a former Wall St M&A banker.
Honestly still one of the main reasons why I am actualy considering switching to iPhone. Atleast with Apple I know what to expect. And as a bonus I get amazing vertical integration and probably the best aftermarket there is.
Exactly this if I would not track it in my Calendar I would forget the birthday of my grandparents who I love dearly. It just cannot compute in the web of information that is in my brain. I need a crutch for it.
I feel seen. Yes. It’s the same fundamental reason to-do apps exist. “Do you really need an app to remember to pay the rent on the first of the month?” “Demonstrably yes.”
And there are events less personably important to me that matter to others, like “tell your son happy anniversary!” I barely know their kid, but it makes the person hearing it happy that someone thought of a nice happening in their life. Now their day is slightly brighter. Darned if I’d ever remember that without something to nudge me.
There has been quite some changes on the construction of IKEA furniture within the last 30 years. There was an interesting video that I cant remember the name anymore about this.
Ok so i have varied opinion on this. IKEA is great for getting some stuff quickly and you know what to expect.
The big problem I have with Ikea is it creates a sort of disposable Furniture Industry because quite often people will throw their Ikea Stuff away after the first or second moving. Or not even take it with them. Because it is so easy to get and so cheap.
What do you think Phone Cases are for? People love phone cases because it gives their devices a bit uniqueness. AirPods also have cases. Other than that for Obvious Reasons Phones all look similar. The shape of your phone is not self expression. However i would hazard a guess if you look into the phone on the home screen you will not find two alike.
YMMV obviously but when I see someone using a phone case it's usually one of those thick rubbery protective ones, or one of those with a flap over the screen that also holds credit cards and IDs. There is a clear utilitarian case for phone cases. Pun unintended.
Laptop stickers, too; I only entered circles where Macs were popular in about 2012 and it became apparent you should personalize it a bit else it gets lost in the other three dozen macbooks in the vicinity, especially at hackathons / conferences / etc.
I think he is saying this in reference to this:
"If you can reduce a problem to a clearly verifiable end state, provide the necessary context [...]"
Which for reference i am not an engineer but a Physicist is literally one of the things we make jokes about for engineers. Not that we are much better in that regard as a verfiable end state in Physics is like realy realy dificult to get so is the necessary context.
I don't mean to imply that was easy! I think it's hard, and a skill that needs active investment. It's one of the reasons I'm not afraid for my career.
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