Techdirt Podcast Episode 180: Do Short-Term Profits Hurt Long-Term Innovation?

from the near-and-far dept

Tue, Aug 28th 2018 1:30pm — Leigh Beadon

Is the way companies are currently structured and operated conducive to long-term innovation? It's a tough question, but there are plenty of reasons to consider that short-term profit incentives might be getting in the way of better overall innovation strategies — and lots of possibilities for how we might rethink companies to change this. This week, the regular crew of Mike, Hersh and Dennis discuss how this problem could be addressed, and whether there's truly a problem at all.

Follow the Techdirt Podcast on Soundcloud, subscribe via iTunes or Google Play, or grab the RSS feed. You can also keep up with all the latest episodes right here on Techdirt.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: innovation, long term, podcast, short term

6 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it

X.Trak.TER, 28 Aug 2018 @ 3:46pm

Impossible to out-parody! Can't decide whether problem exists!

This week, the regular crew of Mike, Hersh and Dennis discuss how this problem could be addressed, and whether there's truly a problem at all.

Here's advice, you uncerain kids: IGNORE any problem that you CAN ignore. Only weenies sit around discussing WHETHER. Sheesh.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
  
  Anonymous Coward, 28 Aug 2018 @ 3:47pm
  
  Re: Impossible to out-parody! Can't decide whether problem exists!
  2nd time confirmed can no longer use "TOR" in
  the name! Man, you ARE a parody! HOOTS NEVER STOP!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 28 Aug 2018 @ 5:00pm
  
  Re: Impossible to out-parody! Can't decide whether problem exists!
  If people discussing complex issues are weenies, what does that make people who simply cannot ignore posting inane complaints on every single post on a blog they hate?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymouse, 28 Aug 2018 @ 6:43pm

Of Course It Does!
I just quit a job where the head of the company is making short term decisions that have basically destroyed the companys future. All of the top staff have left in a complete brain drain and there is now a 60% drop in revenue in 2 years. 50 person company, market leader in our niche, we were on magazine covers just 3-4 years ago. There is still nothing out there better than our product. But you know, head of the company needs his bonus still. Its not like its going to hurt anything if letting another tenured developer go if it means the extra $100 grand at the end of the year is the difference between bonus and no bonus? Right?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 29 Aug 2018 @ 12:35am

Considering, that most crucial inventions needed for the smartphone and Internet are government funded (Internet was funded by DARPA, http protocol was funded by EU, 3G was funded by state-owned NTT, touch screen was invented by Royal Radar Establishment and was first developed in CERN, IC - idea came from Royal Radar Establishment, US Army paid for the development) - yeah. No company would do it if government didn't either pay for it, or gave them idea on a silver platter, as no company thinks long-term (like 50 years ahead) at all.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
jamaktravel, 29 Aug 2018 @ 3:10pm

The big companies never wants the small one can go out and compite, yha is always the same thing
[ link to this | view in chronology ]