SAMI MAHROUM
DUBAI – Almost everywhere, debates about AI remain narrowly focused, indeed almost fixated, on its impact on employment and return on investment. Which jobs will disappear? Which skills will endure? Are current valuations justified? These questions, while important, overlook a deeper issue: whether firms – the institutions that have organized economic life for the past two centuries – will themselves survive in their current form in the wake of AI.
It’s worth remembering that the firm is not a natural feature of economic life. It emerged in the 16th century, as merchants sought new ways to manage the vast distances and uncertainties of global trade. To meet those challenges, the Muscovy Company was formed in 1555 under Britain’s Queen Mary, to be followed by the more famous British and Dutch East India Companies. These joint stock companies pioneered a new model: pooling capital from hundreds of investors and building bureaucracies capable of managing years-long projects. Through accounting, auditing, and hierarchy, they created an architecture of trust that made large-scale collaboration among strangers possible.
No comments:
Post a Comment