[TMC] Why ?

[Jim Haynes]

A related question is why when the older companies like TMC went down the
newcomers arose, like Sunair, Hughes and Harris.  This could be extended
to broadcasting equipment.  Did RCA and Gates and the broadcast operations
of Collins all go down when the newer companies came up?

It almost seems like the companies that were successful in the vacuum tube
era were unable to make the switch to solid state.

Collins is a special case.  We know Art Collins had pretty much sole 
control of the company, and he had a vision of communications and 
computing that was correct but ahead of the technology to pull it off. And 
he was able to run the company into the ground trying.  And the company 
that resulted after the Rockwell purchase has a very different orientation 
and product line from that of the earlier company.

We could talk about companies that go down after the death or retirement
of the founder, and those that are able to continue under new leadership.
Collins after Art Collins, Hallicrafters after Bill Halligan, RCA after
David Sarnoff.  Others that outlive their founders, but maybe with
extreme changes or eventual death: G.E., AT&T, Western Union, IBM.

And there is the effect of what is going on in the world.  After WW-II
the U.S. pretty much had the technology business to itself; But when
Europe and especially Japan recovered from the war their industries
had effectively a fresh start.

jhhaynes at earthlink dot net