Fake Innovation is Used as an Excuse by Companies for Excess Profits

Executive Summary

• The book The Value of Everything describes fake innovation by companies used to obtain excessive profits.

Introduction

We often hear businesses, entrepreneurs or sectors talking about themselves as ‘wealth-creating’. The contexts may differ – finance, big pharma or small start-ups – but the self-descriptions are similar: I am a particularly productive member of the economy, my activities create wealth, I take big ‘risks’, and so I deserve a higher income than people who simply benefit from the spillovers of this activity. But what if, in the end, these descriptions are simply just stories? Narratives created in order to justify inequalities of wealth and income, massively rewarding the few who are able to convince governments and society that they deserve high rewards, while the rest of us make do with the leftovers. – The Value of Everything

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Conclusion

Claims of innovation by companies are nearly always exaggerated. Companies ranging from SAP to Oracle to Pfizer enormously overstate their innovation. Innovation has become the modern way to justify excessive and monopolistic profits that have little to do with innovation.