What Is Creative Destruction?
Creative Destruction, a term coined by the economist Joseph Schumpeter in 1942, is a crucial process to the understanding of world development, growth and innovation. It’s basically the constant creation of technologies and ideas that make other technologies obsolete, useless. It’s a process initially with winners and losers.
Still Not Clear? An Example To Help!
The Industrial Revolution is a classic example of Creative Destruction. Starting in England in the mid 18th Century, the Industrial Revolution was basically the replacement of man-made production by machine-made production. The Losers? Landowners, aristocracy and craftsmen.
Now Let’s Find Out The World’s Most Creative Destructive Companies!
10) Spotify
The Swedish company revolutionized the world of music. With over 140 million users, it made music cheap and of good quality. The easy accessibility provided by Spotify left behind expensive or even pirate companies, such as Napster, Pandora, and iTunes.
Headquarters: Stockholm, Sweden
CEO: Daniel Ek
2016 Revenue: US$3.3 billion
9) FedEx
When we say that the world has got smaller, FedEx is one of the companies that made it possible. FedEx simply redefined the market, with a pioneering shipping system and package tracking, leaving behind countless other companies of the shipping sector.
Headquarters: Memphis, USA
CEO: Frederick W. Smith
2016 Revenue: US$50.3 billion
8) Visa
The American multinational financial services corporation is responsible for a 50% market share of global card payments outside of China, with over 100 billion transactions processed, accounting for a total of US$6.8 trillion. Leading the use of credit and debit cards worldwide, Visa outplays many competitors and is making money currency each time more obsolete.
Headquarters: Foster City, USA
CEO: Alfred F. Kelly Jr.
2016 Revenue: US$6.7 billion
7) Waze
This Israeli navigation software revolutionized the navigation business forever. The company’s differential is its real-time traffic updates based on information collected on other users, therefore providing the fastest routes available. Waze made the regular GPS an antiquity.
Headquarters: Raanana, Israel and Palo Alto, USA
CEO: Noam Bardin
2016 Revenue: The company was acquired by Google in 2013, for US$1.3 billion
6) Airbnb
This company allows homeowners around the world to rent out their spare rooms, and it has had a seismic impact on the travel market, with already over 150 million users. With Airbnb rising, the hotels might have their days counted.
Headquarters: San Francisco, USA
CEO: Brian Chesky
2016 Revenue: US$1.7 billion
5) Uber
This car transportation industry is distinguished for the affordability and the good and efficient service. Uber is a pioneer in the sharing economy, also called Uberification. Acting in over 600 Cities, Uber has also been the subject of protests and legal actions, many of them coming from taxi drivers. This is Creative Destruction at it’s finest.
Headquarters: San Francisco, USA
CEO: Dara Khosrowshahi
2016 Revenue: US$6.5 billion
4) Netflix
The American entertainment company is a great success, and one of the best examples of Creative Destruction. With over 100 million users, Netflix has almost driven the videotape/disc rental business, along with companies like Blockbuster, into extinction.
Headquarters: Los Gatos, USA
CEO: Reed Hastings
2016 Revenue: US$8.8 billion
3) Amazon
The giant of online retailing, Amazon is one of the reasons why over 1,400 traditional retailers are going bankrupt, since the consumers are going through a remarkable switch to online services, such as Amazon’s. The company breaks records, being the most valuable retailer in the United States by market capitalization, and the largest Internet company by revenue in the world.
Headquarters: Seattle, USA
CEO: Jeff Bezos
2016 Revenue: US$135.9 billion
2) Apple
The pride of the Silicon Valley, Apple is an iconic example of Creative Destruction. Its story needs no retelling; Steve Jobs unified the worlds of computers, internet, phones, photography, and music by bringing them all together in a single device, firstly introduced in 2007, the revolutionary iPhone.
Headquarters: Cupertino, USA
CEO: Tim Cook
2016 Revenue: US$215.6 billion
1) Tesla
The American automaker, energy storage company and solar panel manufacturer represents the beginning of a revolution in the world’s largest market: the automobiles market. Tesla leads the world in electric car making, and puts at risk of extinction the entire multi-billionaire dollar market of fossil fuels automobiles. It’s definitely the company of the future.
Headquarters: Palo Alto, California
CEO: Elon Musk
2016 Revenue: US$7 billion
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