The Rise and Fall of Silicon Graphics

Whenever this topic comes up there are always comments saying that SGI was taken by surprise by cheap hardware and if only they had seen it coming they could have prepared for it and managed it.

I was there around 97 (?) and remember everyone in the company being asked to read the book "The Innovator's Dilemma", which described exactly this situation - a high end company being overtaken by worse but cheaper competitors that improved year by year until they take the entire market. The point being that the company was extremely aware of what was happening. It was not taken by surprise. But in spite of that, it was still unable to respond.

I remember reading how Andy Grove, IIRC, spent two years trying to exit the DRAM business. He would flat out order people to stop working on it and they wouldn’t listen, believe or understand. The amount of inertia for large bodies is remarkable.

And yet there are stories of people ignoring the company direction, continuing work, and saving the company.

See: The Blue LED https://youtu.be/AF8d72mA41M?feature=shared

So it’s not clear that the company knows better. Feels like educated guesses but a lof of luck involved.