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Showing posts with the label Next-generation Electricity

Teachable Moments in Next-generation Electricity

Seldom in industrial evolution do momentous changes occur rapidly, especially in industries like electricity that have been stable for decades. In electricity, we are at the brink of just such an inflection point. For students of industrial mutation, this is ‘whoopee’ time. Curiously, business schools and the economics profession appear to ignore the tectonic shifts. Creative Construction Joseph Schumpeter, in his classic  The Theory of Economic Development  (1934), noted that at the beginning of a new industry curve, there occur “a cluster of innovations.” New entrepreneurial businesses are formed based on them. Naturally, not all innovations take root; some startups flourish, others are abandoned, and yet others combine with complementary startups to give coherence to the emerging industry. Beyond the early phase of somewhat slow growth — the so-called latent market stage — at a critical point the industry growth rate accelerates, represented by an inflection point in the eme