How Companies Get Smarter

Companies are a lot like children - none of them is born knowing all that it needs to know, and relatively few are born really smart. Most acquire intelligence by learning basic tasks and skills, mastering them, and then moving on to learn more advanced skills that can be used on more difficult problems and tasks. It has become virtually axiomatic that to succeed over time, companies have to continuously innovate, learn, and improve how they do things. That's why there has been so much emphasis on innovation and learning in the management literature.