The Starfish and the Spider

"The Starfish and the Spider" takes a look at how big corporations continue to go after those who illegally download their products. It compares the situation to that of the Apaches fighting the Spanish and how organization plays a role.

In the seventeenth century, why were the Spaniards unable to defeat the Apaches? What implications does this have concerning current, or future organizational competition?

The Spaniards could not defeat the Apaches because the Apaches had no leader and were disorganized. Since the Apaches had no leader, the Spaniards could not scare them the way they did with the Aztecs. The implications this could have today could be that if a group is more disorganized and has no leader, the harder they are to defeat.

Briefly compare and contrast centralized and decentralized organizations.

Centralized and decentralized are both structures for how organizations operate. In centralized organizations, there is usually a pyramid of leadership with groups answering to those above them until you get to the top. In decentralized organizations, there is no leadership. Nobody answers to anyone else and there are no rules governing how they operate.

List a few of the traits of a decentralized organization.

Decentralized organizations have no chain of command. They do not have executives who answer to a CEO. There are no rules telling them what is right and what is wrong.

From a technical perspective, what is the primary difference between Napster and Kazza?

Napster had a central server that housed the files people would download. Kazza used peer-2-peer (P2P) software where instead of downloading files from a server, you downloaded them from someone else’s computer remotely.

Is this reading relevant to the current competition between new organizations such as Uber and Lyft and existing taxi companies? Why or why not?

There are similarities between the examples in this reading and the rise of companies like Uber and Lyft. People who become drivers for Uber and Lyft do not have to answer to a boss. They are free to drive as much as they want and are able to make money doing so. This makes Uber and Lyft more decentralized compared to regular taxi companies.