MARK BARNES: Maligned innovators who start value chain with new products deserve their rewards
The spark of discovery or invention is motivated by things more virtuous and pure than money, but you’ve got to eat
Some time back I was wandering around on a guided tour of an art exhibition when I remarked, "Oh come on, I could’ve done that!" about a Matisse cutout. "But you didn’t," responded my girlfriend. She was right, of course. I hadn’t. So, where do you stand in the debate? For copyright or for the right to copy? In business it’s always enlightening to decompose the participating economics down the value chain created by a new idea or product, from initial idea to mass consumption. The technology and healthcare industries are perhaps the most tempting examples. It is almost common cause that iPhones are designed by Apple in the US but produced in China, even if that’s not universally true. Significant industries have emerged in cellphones and all the related clones, copies, accessories and … whatever. So, who makes the money? Everybody does. Who should make the money? Of course, cellphones aren’t just phones anymore. They are serious computers, put in our hands and handbags by the wondro...
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