Journal#4

In Jon Gertner’s(Feb.25,2012) article ”True Innovation,” he states that today’s innovation in America is not the true innovation. Firstly he introduces some of those great contributions Bell Labs made to the whole world. Then he tells the reason why Bell Labs could make these achievements. Finally he says that people today in America should learn from history and make a real innovation.

It is hard to judge if the way Bell Labs works is good or bad for a business, because it somewhat depends on what the business is and what goals the runners want to achieve. Let us focus on time, one specific part of Kelly’s philosophy. Is it an essential element in a business? Probably. If we roughly divide all the business into two groups based on their history, we have the olds one that people have been doing for decades or even longer, such as restaurants and car wash, as well as the new ones that have a history of ten years or less, such as smartphones. For the former ones, I do not think lots of time would make sense. Considering their relatively long history, what could have been done have been done, so it is unnecessary to spend plenty of time trying to have something new. However, as for the latter ones that are so young that you can even feel the beating heart of them, people have to donate time to discover the numerous potential possibilities hidden beneath them. Another kind of business I can think of that acquires time is medical industry, as it takes plenty of time to do experiments to get those important statistics.