Smaller companies pushing their way past the big guys

By Medicine Hat News Opinon on July 12, 2017.

When the dinosaurs died, frogs began to thrive. According to a study released by the National Academy of Sciences this week, the reason for this, they surmise, “is that while the extinction event was devastating to forests, frogs are incredibly adaptable and able to exist in smaller microhabitats.” These findings may be about natural history, but it seems the same lesson could also apply to today’s world economy.

Dinosaurs were big, dominant, fierce creatures who walked the earth as lords within their own domain, and took up the most massive share of the planet’s resources. Like the dinosaurs, the technology and industrial giants of the late 20th century thrived under the conditions of their day. Governments bowed before them and they employed hundreds of thousands of workers worldwide.

Microsoft, for example, was the undoubted T-rex among the technocratic brotherhood of the early 1990s, but has fallen on hard times since, announcing thousands of more layoffs worldwide this week. Apple had a good run, and is still in the hunt, but continues to lose marketshare as new beasts arise and outcompete them in the technology sector. Blackberry once controlled the business telecommunications market, as the ultimate, high-end, niche predator of the technology world. They are having a hard time giving away their phones these days.

On the industrial side, anyone remember Pacific Exploration and Production? Dune Energy? Or Ultra Petroleum?

What we are seeing more and more of now is the era of massive, monolithic companies is coming to an end, and smaller, more adept and versatile start-ups coming up in their place. Like the proliferation of frog species which followed the dinosaur era, these companies are focused on extreme specialization in a smaller micro-marketplace. And they are thriving because they don’t have to feed the beast; as it were, the can make do with less and thrive under the difficult conditions of today’s world economy.

Alberta too has had its share of economic dinosaurs go under the past few years. It’s been rough, but, on a more positive note, these larger beasts are no longer taking up the lion’s share of our province’s manpower, resources and government considerations. Many smaller niche companies have begun, froglike, to come on the scene. These companies are more agile, adaptive, and do not need as many resources to thrive. They will slither their way forward and find ways to open new markets for Alberta business.

While the age of the economic dinosaur appears to be coming to an end, it’s not necessarily cause for heartbreak, torment and sorrow. The Alberta economy is badly in need of new innovation and reinvention.

Bring on the frogs!