What is a Tech Bubble Anyway?

This week, we’re publishing a whopper of a case: The Rise and Fall of Data General (members only). This took some time to put together, because the first half summarises the development of the computer business from the 40s through to the 50s.

There are many concept instantiations in this case. To call out a few:

• Counter-Positioning — Data General counter-positioned themselves successfully against DEC, the most dominant leader of the minicomputer market. Note that this competitive advantage did not last, as might be expected of a counter-positioning moat. (How long it did last is left as an exercise for the alert reader).
• Technological Windows — Notice how the early minicomputer entrants all died. It was only when DEC released a computer under the price of $20,000 that the category became viable ... nearly a decade after the initial wave of entrants.
• Idea Maze — And then notice how Data General did not face the same level of uncertainty that the DEC folks did, since the product configuration that worked had been proven out by DEC’s PDP-8, and the shape of the demand that existed in the market was more certain by the point Edson de Castro quit