Virtue of Independence for Businesses

[Saurabh]

Guys,

OPAR states that Independence is a Virtue of Primary orientation towards Reality, rather than towards other Men.

I want to explore the validity of a similar conclusion for the Business world.

So, Independence for Businesses would be a Primary orientation towards Reality (i.e. the value-creation opportunity that the Reality holds), rather than towards other Businesses.

This, if established convincingly, would have profound implications for the Business world. Currently, many businesses are oriented towards Competition. This often takes their focus away from Reality. Blue Ocean Strategy recognizes this (though it does not use this language) - and focuses on creating new market spaces, rather than on making the 'ocean' 'red' by unnecessary competition.

My question to you is: Have you seen this idea (i.e. Virtue of Independence for Businesses) captured anywhere in Objectivist literature. If yes, I would start wondering what took me so long to get to this realization! !

Edited April 8, 2011 by Saurabh

[softwareNerd]

If rationality is a valuable tool in dealing with reality, then anything that hinders it is a disvalue. Independence of thought is one aspect of thought. If one considers the thoughts of other people, and evaluates their truth, then one is still independent. If one considers the thought of other people, and judges them as false, one can still take them into account as a guide to the actions/reactions of those people. In many situations, one is trying to figure out how someone else will act, and this does not stop one being independent. However, thought is not independent when it takes other people's thoughts into account, not because those thoughts are true or false, and not as a way to figure out how they will act, but simply because they exist. So, it acts as "friction" in the process of rational thought.