Technology has made it easier for different firms to coordinate

Erik Brynjolfsson, scholar of the digital age, once declared with great clarity: “Technology has made it easier for different firms to coordinate their activities with one another, and they don’t have to be part of one company. They can get the benefits of scale without the inertia of scale.” These words are not merely an observation of economics, but a revelation of how the very fabric of cooperation has been rewoven in our time. In them lies the truth that technology has broken the walls that once bound organizations, giving humanity the power to achieve unity without chains, strength without stagnation, growth without the weight of immovable stone.

In the past, the road to greatness required vast empires and sprawling companies. To achieve scale, one had to gather armies of workers under one banner, amass capital, and build towering structures of management. But such giants, though mighty, often grew slow. Their greatness was matched by their inertia — the heaviness of decision-making, the burden of bureaucracy, the sluggishness of turning when the winds of change shifted. What once gave them strength also became their weakness.

Brynjolfsson’s wisdom reveals the transformation of this ancient pattern. For technology — through networks, digital platforms, and instant communication — allows many smaller firms to move as one without surrendering their independence. Just as in nature, where birds fly in formation, each free yet aligned, so too can companies today share knowledge, coordinate efforts, and reap the benefits of scale without being bound into a single body. The new strength is not in size alone, but in connection.

History too has foreshadowed this truth. In the Renaissance, the city-states of Italy — Florence, Venice, Milan — were small compared to empires, yet they flourished through trade, alliances, and the sharing of ideas. They did not need to be united under one crown to achieve greatness. Instead, their loose coordination birthed art, commerce, and invention that still shapes the world today. What trade routes once did for the city-states, technology now does for firms: weaving them together into a tapestry of shared strength without forced unity.

This new power demands wisdom. For coordination without purpose is chaos, and freedom without discipline dissolves into noise. The lesson is not merely that companies can be smaller, but that they must learn to cooperate, to build trust, and to wield the tools of communication with honor. Otherwise, the gift of technology becomes only another form of confusion. The difference between scattered voices and a chorus lies in vision — in knowing when to move together, when to stand apart, and how to balance freedom with unity.

The teaching of Brynjolfsson is clear: do not seek greatness only through size. Seek it through connection. Do not build towers so tall that they cannot bend; build networks flexible as branches, strong as roots. For in this new age, those who master collaboration will outpace even the largest of giants. Just as a flock can turn swifter than a single beast, so too can allied firms move more wisely than a monolith weighed down by its own mass.

Therefore, let the listener act: embrace technology as the bridge between people and firms. Cultivate alliances rather than empires. Share knowledge freely, and trust in the strength that comes from many working as one. Shun the pride that seeks only size, and instead seek the wisdom that builds harmony without chains. For the future belongs not to the slow-moving giants of yesterday, but to the nimble networks of today — those who understand that scale without inertia is the true path to lasting greatness.