What is not being taken seriously enough, however, is that economies and companies that attempt to create but don't have the guts to destroy what doesn't work anymore are doomed at best to tepid performance, putting themselves at risk of failure. Stock markets are continually adding new companies and casting off losers. Companies, Foster says, need to add and subtract at a pace close to the stock markets'. CorningWare is one example. Any executive at any company, large or small, can learn something from Corning.
Cisco is a different story.
It drew deserved praise for moving at Internet speed to create networking innovations, in large part by acquiring small companies with the best technology, instead of trying to create everything in-house. But now the market has turned on Cisco. Its sales and profits can no longer support its superstructure. As Kim notes, Cisco has yet to prove it's equipped for the long haul. Russ Mitchell is executive editor for Business 2.0 .