Much like Lemmings (arctic mice) which are said to sometimes follow a leader and jump off a cliff, many companies blindly follow a successful inventor or entrepreneur and try to copy, or try to market a given "hot" product.
Some succeed in such undertakings, but many fail. Here are some examples:
Around 1900 the first motor car was invented and sold.
The immediate acceptance by the people, spanned over a dozen competitors, over the next 30 years. Alas in 1970 only three major U.S. companies survived, of which two went later bankrupt and had to be rescued (Chrysler and GM respectively).
In 1910 we saw first airplanes, the success of which brought a number of companies to build airplanes, yet, as of this writing, only the Boeing Aircraft Company builds passenger planes in America.
What happened to McDonnell Douglas and Lockheed ?
The same could be said about airlines (remember Pan Am, TWA, National, and Eastern?)
Then the (PC) personal computer age started when "micro-computers" devolved through cost reductions and technical advancements became the what we now all call personal computers.
Begun in 1957 by IBM, then after 1990 joined by, Hewlett-Packard (HP), Macintosh, Lenovo, Dell, Xerox, ARM, and others in the U.S.
Some of these companies gave the business up when the U.S. market got too crowded, leaving only, Dell, Lenovo, HP, and Apple to control the market (HP has the largest market share with 23%).
In 1973 Motorola introduced its mobile phone; this ushered in the age of cellphones.
Thereafter, the market became rather crowded, with companies like Canter, Firefly, Garmin, Lenovo, and Google. Later, when cellphones morphed into smartphones, Apple became the un-crowned king of the U.S. mobile phone market.
Motorola would lose billions, then split into two companies.
Motorola found itself left behind and was later acquired by Lenovo, in order to be saved from bankruptcy.
While speaking of companies, their histories and their innovations, we must not forget to mention electric cars.
While, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, "it’s hard to pinpoint the invention of the electric car to one inventor or country," the first electric cars appeared 100-plus years ago.
An appreciable trend in electric cars was fostered by Elon Musk's Tesla Company.
Electric vehicles have been enthusiastically and financially supported by the federal government, as a means to eliminate global warming.
It took some time until other car companies caught on, by which time Tesla dominated the electric car market. Now, every major global automobile manufacturer has jumped on the bandwagon, trying to produce electric cars even though electric cars have a larger carbon footprint than gasoline fueled vehicles.
However, nobody wants to be left out on a market trend, despite higher cost and lower drivable mileage. It's too early to tell which of these "Johnny come lately" companies will survive the coming battery crunch.
It will likely be the one able to corner the market on Lithium
Unlike lemming followers, the original pioneers of new technologies like Ford, Boeing, Apple, HP, and Tesla deservedly survived. The lesson: It behooves any company to do thorough market research before committing their shareholder’s money on a tempting "we can do it too" project.
Author's note: Readers of my last blog asked me: "Can inflation be reversed?" Not really, once prices are up, they typically stay up, unless there is a sale, or you have price fluctuations at the pump due to oil price changes. What can be done though to prevent future increases in the rate of inflation is to follow the suggested actions in my last blog.
Dr. Hans Baumann, a former Corporate Vice President and founder of his company, is a well known inventor, economist, and author having published books on scientific, economic, and historical subjects. Read Dr. Hans Baumann's Reports — More Here.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.