Re: [tlug] Looking for Summer Internship in Japan

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Raymond Wan writes:

 > But, I think there should be a saturation point for IT companies,
 > just as there is one for car manufacturers, tv stations, etc.
 > (i.e., How many can you have in the market or on air?)  I think
 > that's what I was trying to say.

That's a good point, and there might be a saturation point.  I happen
to disagree, but that's just my expert opinion, I can't claim
scientific backing for it.

The reason for my feeling is easy to explain, though.  I can't
identify where diminishing returns to diversification comes in for
software.  In the case of TV stations, there's a physics reason:
bandwidth and interference.  Two TV stations at the same frequency
within a small distance of each other is equivalent to no TV stations,
and the number of usable frequencies is limited.  (But the 'net
changes the equation: voila, YouTube!)

For cars, there's a minimum efficient scale.  A firm that makes one
car per year probably can't achieve an average cost for which Toyota
can build 50 cars.

For beer in Japan, there used to be a law: if you don't serve 1
million liters per year, you aren't allowed to make beer, let alone
sell it.  (This was allegedly for health reasons.)

For software, though, although there are projects that require
"Chinese armies" of programmers, there are lots of valuable products
that don't.  I don't see why we can't have an indefinitely large
number of IT firms, just as we have an indefinitely large number of
noodle shops.