Comment by edf13

5 years ago

Incorrect (Or have you sources?).... the issue is old legacy based companies. No matter where they are based.

Legacy as in business systems, business thought process, legacy IT, etc.

TC is a very old company

31 comments

edf13

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mcv  5 years ago

There are also old companies who manage to keep up and innovate, and care about competence. Not as much as tiny startups, but enough to survive and do well.

One problem with the British upperclass, is that they tend to be educated at private schools like Eton, where they primarily learn confidence. So tons of British politicians and managers know how to appear to know what they're doing, without actually knowing what they're doing. As long as things are going well, this works fine, especially since the people they do business with come from the same schools. But when the shit hits the fan, it turns into a fumbling circus. Like it did with Tories and Brexit.

  • DebtDeflation  5 years ago

    >One problem with the British upperclass, is that they tend to be educated at private schools like Eton, where they primarily learn confidence.

    Not limited to the British upper class. It's astounding how far someone can go in life by simply being confident, charismatic, and articulate (and tall) despite being completely full of shit.

    • mcv  5 years ago

      And from what I understand, those are exactly the skills they teach you at schools like Eton. Well, maybe not being tall, but certainly the other ones.

      I think the world would do well to try to inoculate itself against this sort of superficial confidence. It's way too effective, with frequently harmful results.

      6 replies →

    • shantly  5 years ago

      > Not limited to the British upper class. It's astounding how far someone can go in life by simply being confident, charismatic, and articulate (and tall) despite being completely full of shit.

      I've gotten a similar vibe from a lot of graduates of prestigious US schools. Very confident, fairly confrontational style of conversation. I'd actually kinda like it if I hadn't learned through feedback and midwesterness to do basically the exact opposite. I'd guess it's especially strong in those who've been through seminar-style prep schools (which is most of the "good" ones, as I understand it) before going to university.

    • baud147258  5 years ago

      > It's astounding how far someone can go in life by simply being confident, charismatic, and articulate (and tall)

      That's funny how much it describe my brother, even if he's not upper class and went to a not particularly prestigious school (called ESTP). In his case, he was already quite confident and charismatic before leaving high school.

      > despite being completely full of shit

      he's not completely full of shit, but I wouldn't in a thousand years work for him.

  • celticninja  5 years ago

    I dont even know where to start with this comment.

    • sverige  5 years ago

      > One problem with the British upperclass, is that they tend to be educated at private schools like Eton, where they primarily learn confidence. So tons of British politicians and managers know how to appear to know what they're doing, without actually knowing what they're doing.

      Having worked with certain interested underwriters from Lloyd's, it was an easy upvote for me.

      2 replies →

vesinisa  5 years ago

Company being old certainly does not mean it needs to be full of legacy systems and business processes. It only means that the company's management is not competent at evolving the company's processes and systems, which means it will eventually fail regardless of being a fresh startup or centuries old going concern.

Bosch, Siemens, Bayer, BASF and Carl-Zeiss are all examples of over hundred year-old German companies that continue to innovate at the cutting edge of their industries and are massively profitable.

  • usrusr  5 years ago

    Minor nitpick: Volkswagen isn't over a hundred years old at all.

    It might not be entirely inaccurate to say that they have survived a thousand years, but those were the shortest thousand years in history.

    • vesinisa  5 years ago

      Hah! Thanks, edited.

      It might be also said that their innovation most recently has focused on some less-than legal technologies. But innovation it is, nonetheless.

  • ChuckNorris89  5 years ago

    Those companies innovate and do well but they're not online businesses. They sell specialized niche high tech physical goods not digital services.

    • vesinisa  5 years ago

      What about IBM? Founded in 1911, $13B profit in 2018. Most successful company in several online business sectors.

      What about Nokia? Founded originally in 1865 as a paper mill, re-invented itself multiple times in countless different industries, before becoming the leading mobile phone manufacturer in 1990s and 2000s. They did eventually indeed succumb to their failure to evolve, but a more competent management post 2006 would have likely saved the company.

      2 replies →

lexicondrivel  5 years ago

Bank of England, arguably the ultimate in legacy business at the heart of all business types, are investigating the benefits of the most recent tech developments, namely cryptocurrency. Is it a legacy business issue or simply and ultimately a multitude of factors including bad management with ego's getting in the way which doesnt make a nice easy to read story or account of events?

I'm not suggesting the original poster is incorrect with their account of events, lack of the right investment is something many people can identify in their own line of work, its just timescales to a point of failure can be variable. Likewise bleeding edge technology is not always beneficial for all, but holding back or testing the water and constant monitoring is required to avoid expensive mistakes.

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/research/digital-currencies http://www0.cs.ucl.ac.uk/staff/G.Danezis/papers/ndss16curren... https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/12/30/bank-england-plo...