Make magazine, the movement’s bible, has a circulation of only 125,000, whereas RadioShack’s instructional manuals, sold in every store, were printed by the millions when America’s population was about two-thirds what it is now.
RadioShack could have been the home for the makers, but even if they doubled the size of the maker community, they would have to shrink by at least 90%. The maker market exists but it's not big enough to support 5000 stores across the country.
Shrinking that much might as well be death. All the stakeholders inside the company who are going to get squashed are going to fight back, refusing to believe the inevitable.
Sometimes you just can't win. Kodak invented the digital camera and was destroyed by it. They could have survived, but only as a much smaller company, because their entire film division was going to be destroyed.
RS management did a lot of stuff wrong, but that doesn't mean there was a right answer.
Make magazine, the movement’s bible, has a circulation of only 125,000, whereas RadioShack’s instructional manuals, sold in every store, were printed by the millions when America’s population was about two-thirds what it is now.
RadioShack could have been the home for the makers, but even if they doubled the size of the maker community, they would have to shrink by at least 90%. The maker market exists but it's not big enough to support 5000 stores across the country.
Shrinking that much might as well be death. All the stakeholders inside the company who are going to get squashed are going to fight back, refusing to believe the inevitable.
Sometimes you just can't win. Kodak invented the digital camera and was destroyed by it. They could have survived, but only as a much smaller company, because their entire film division was going to be destroyed.
RS management did a lot of stuff wrong, but that doesn't mean there was a right answer.