Since Adam Smith wrote his classic, in 1776, the Wealth of Nations, to upend the mercantilist system and set forward the basic foundations for modern classical economics, we have seen corporations come and go. The core pillars of productivity, and division of labour, have remained the tenets in the organization of firms which have succeeded in their missions of fixing market frictions. Across industrial sectors and market geographies, a free market system has provided the cement mortars for firms and nations.
Andrew Carnegie lived. John D. Rockefeller lived. Aliko Dangote is living. Bill Gates is living. Jeff Bezos is living.
These men are icons of their generations, pursuing the noble cause of entrepreneurial capitalism – aligning assets and knowledge to provide services where market fictions exist, between those that want products and those selling what they have. Corporations exist to simplify that interplay of demand and supply, and these entrepreneurs and others, thrived in providing solutions that eliminate frictions. They pursued different levels of innovations at scale, improving productivity, advancing specialization and deploying uncommon vision.
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