Money is not wealth, production of something of value is - how Spain lost its empire despite gold and silver horde

Every generation needs a revolution - an entrepreneurial revolution

This example is about Spain which discovered hordes of silver, and silver flowing into their country contributing to 400% inflation.  Money flowed from Spain to say France where goods were cheaper.  Spaniards became populated by Hidalgos, who had plenty of money but did not work.  They had plenty of silver coming from Peru and Mexico  This wrong belief led to the demise of Spanish empire.

Many think and even in our family that money in the bank is wealth.  It is just a medium of exchange to produce more goods and services.   Not an end in itself

What went wrong with Philips? They gave up.

Every generation needs a revolution - an entrepreneurial revolution

Well, competition had something to do with this.  But they gave up.

Initially they became arrogant with their successes. And practiced monopolistic strategies rather than pushing innovation in technology,   Eg concentrating on tape rather than going along with DVD

This may be the trajectory for most successful companies.  The top execs who are old become crusty and short sighted.  They lose vision and enthusiasm and get tired and the best thing they could do is liquify the assets.   May be we can expect the same from say Apple or Samsung?

One of their mistakes was giving up on AMSL (formerly a backyard firm -  now a leader in chipmaking ) and TMSC.   TMSC is a $700 billion company.    They did as the commentator said a Xerox.

Sayang.  

Due to overspending on investment on chips.   Samsung in DRAM,  Samsong lost much on chip business.