Large Companies and the Possibility of Real Innovation

Large companies have unique issues when it comes to being innovative. Unlike small companies that have the luxury of finding a niche market for unusual and out of the ordinary products and services, relying as they do on their core group of customers, large companies must appeal to the broadest common denominator in order to remain viable. In other words, large companies must find a way to reach the largest number of customers possible in order to remain financially viable. Being a large company is an expensive proposition, and so the products and services a large company offers must be appealing to enough people to bring in the large amounts of money that the company needs to keep its operations going and still turn a profit. Large companies do not have the luxury of being too experimental or of being too innovative, as that might scare away the majority of the buying public. Even if large companies could afford to be more experimental, it is difficult for a large company to create something that is truly innovative. This paper explores why it is impossible for a large company to be truly innovative.…