Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Big vs. Small

Books on Economic always tell about the agility of small corporation and the high inertia of big corporation. I've never really thought about that until recently. Simply said, I come to appreciate the difference between different sizes of a company. Small company equals to small number of employees. When there are few employees, they are all somehow forced to reach quite high efficiency and productivity. People would also be more resourceful. Hence, the cost of keeping them are pretty much similar.

However, in big company, there are lots of employees. Hence, there are far more people who work inefficiently and perhaps sit around doing nothing. These people who contribute not much still need cost to keep them and these huge cost when divided among the departments would definitely increase the cost to keep of all people across the board, including those competent, productive employee. This is also the main reason that the reason that big company can take in more people because the cost will be spread to many people. The bad news is that if one's hard work is also distributed to the same amount of people.

I believe, though, that the recent globalization and the pace at which the world moves will derail the big corporation who maintains their sluggishness. They either have reinvent themselves and seek for more efficient operation or face the risk of being perish within 5 to 10 years time. The world is no longer capable of waiting for anyone who sits tight. It's so dynamic and collaboration is everywhere. Innovation is pretty much alive with the concept of mass idea. The big corporation that works inefficiently will be soon taken over by other small agile companies that manage to harness the power of the crowd.

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