Creative Destruction

I first heard about "creative destruction" in an economics course.

Fascinatinated, and of a curious nature, I began to read Joseph Schumpeter's Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy.

Anyway, the book was an amazing insight into business cycles and how innovation contributes to these cycles. Essentially, by "creative destruction," Schumpeter means that innovations destroy equilibrium in business cycles, thus promoting social progress. (If you're in equilibrium, you are stuck in equilibrium; you cannot progress - not much fun).

On a different topic (and much more dire), Schumpeter believed that entrepreneurs will eventually disappear, as companies are consolidated to benefit from economies of scale. Does this mean that intrapreneurship (i.e. entrepreneurship within companies) is going to take centre stage? Where will these innovations emerge?

Tested and true, Wired provides a biography and overview of Schumpeter's work. Ah, Schumpeter: Europe's greatest horseman and economist... . (That's all I can vouch for...).