Joseph Schumpeter

"The late Joseph Schumpeter said, “The capitalist achievement does not typically consist in providing more silk stockings for queens but in bringing them within the reach of factory girls in return for steadily decreasing amounts of effort.”14 Weaving silk stockings equals ‘snaring the turtle’ because a love of silk stockings is no longer the monopoly of queens when every female worker will be able to afford them. Looking at a business from this perspective, that is grasping the moon."

"From the perspective of economic history, Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950) was a great economist who, as early as the first half of the twentieth century, placed the greatest emphasis on “innovation” and the “entrepreneur.” He believed that “clusters of innovations” (such as the automobile) would bring enormous changes to ways of life; entrepreneurs who discover investment opportunities and bear risks are the driving force behind economic growth."

"The economist Joseph Schumpeter characterized the psychology of the entrepreneur with these words: The one who wants to do something "new and unfamiliar" not only has to expect external resistance, "but also has to overcome such within themselves". The type of entrepreneur described by Schumpeter swims "against the current". "The fact that something has not been done yet, he does not perceive as a counter-reason. He does not feel those inhibitions that otherwise form firm barriers to the behavior of economic subjects.""

"The time has come for Luxottica to take another leap forward. Being a parts supplier is not enough for Del Vecchio; others are reaping the benefits of the quality of his work in their finished products. He is ready to produce glasses, he wants to dance alone. This is his moment of "creative destruction," as the Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter would define it. Del Vecchio creates that "storm" that allows the industry an evolutionary leap, that process of mutation that revolutionizes the corporate structure from within. He takes no prisoners. He represents the new wave advancing in a rigid sector, breaking patterns and balances. In some way, a natural choice; after years of apprenticeship in the industry, he realized that he could directly produce quality products at a competitive price. He has technical skills honed over the years as a supplier thanks to constant technological innovation, often implemented directly by Del Vecchio himself on the machinery he has available to streamline the production process. An obsession with perfection, convinced of the fact that the only way to grow in a world of giants, from the German company Melzer to the Austrian Carrera, is to offer the best products. It is the first approach to a process of vertical integration that represents for Leonardo a true fixation."

"The economist, Joseph Schumpeter, was absolutely right: Innovation is less an act of intellect than an act of will. —Michael Schrage, former technology editor for the Los Angeles Times, June 15, 1995"