CorporateNature Metaphor Series, No 89
Disrupters in business are the ploughmen of farming: they do the heavy lifting by ploughing up the fields. Ironically, it is often the consolidators after them who sow the seeds and reap a rich harvest.
In the Wild West of America these roles were known as "the pioneers" and "the settlers". One would think that the pioneers, being the first to reach an area, would have had the first pick of the most fertile land. However, the first-mover in many cases (and industries) does not necessarily benefit from the proverbial "first-mover advantage": it is a well-known tenet that "the pioneers get the arrows, while the settlers get the land."
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| Ploughman (Source: Wikipedia) |
