Micro Economics: Room for a thousand flowers to bloom

Market value for nascent goods and services cannot be discovered in a laboratory. Scientists in lab coats cannot distill it from interviewing potential customers and vendors. It can be discovered only through market experience. Does concentrated commercial leadership or dispersed commercial leadership more efficaciously explore value? Concentrated or dispersed commercial leadership describes whether a small or large range of firms, respectively, can commercialize potential services and products for a similar, though uncertain, technological opportunity. This is both a philosophical and a practical question. The philosophical viewpoint questions whether there’s merit to letting a thousand flowers bloom. The practical viewpoint questions what happens when the market lacks room for such variety. The details of this debate lie at the heart of competitive analysis in venture capital firms and Wall Street offices.