If you want to see how the Internet is disrupting publishing, just look at the paper producers, trade publishers, printing companies, postal providers, and the like. They are being dropped from the value chain, and the carnage is pretty significant.

Another aspect to consider for a future disruptive technology article is the human aspect of a companies survival. Changing technologies create much human emotion such as of energy, excitement, change, comfort, uncomfort, fear, overload, embracing, and a bunch of human emotion. All of these effect the production and thought of a company. Some employees can embrace the change, others get trampled.

Change is good for the consumer in theory, but the costs to get there are rarely discussed. How much is spent on training? Or did the employee do it all the learning on his own? Are hiring another new expert or outside consultant making existing faithful employees less comfortable and productive? Is the stress an employee endures to maintain effectiveness killing a companies quality?

I agree that disruptive technology is a major force. I have seen many articles and TV shows on how the steel industries and car manufacturers got pounded by the lack of change. But I have yet to see the costs paid financially and with the human cost in stress and emotion even for just the last 5 years of technology disruption. Or do we have to wait for all the hindsight articles after this tech industry is killed too? Maybe that is the real hidden cost.

I don’t think the companies that don’t change or change quickly are all that bad. They just need to be able to downsize gracefully without all the whining.