In my Openness book, I make the case for the many benefits of an economic system of innovative dynamism. One of the lesser, but still important, benefits was first identified by Joseph Schumpeter. He argued for a spillover effect of innovative dynamism. The skills, knowledge, and technologies created by innovative entrepreneurs in the for-profit sector of the economy, are also applied and imitated in the nonprofit and government sectors. So where there is innovative dynamism, not only is the market more creative and efficient, but both the nonprofit and the government sectors are more creative and efficient.
A good example may be Pete Correll who acted entrepreneurially as CEO of Georgia-Pacific to bring more stability to the business by acquiring the James River Corporation, maker of Quilted Northern, and guided the Georgia-Pacific firm through years of lawsuits over asbestos. He eventually sold Georgia-Pacific to Koch Industries, Inc. My impression is that Charles Koch then applied his market-based management system to make the Georgia-Pacific part of his business much more efficient and innovative. [Query: does Koch’s achievement undermine my claim that Pete Correll had acted entrepreneurially in his earlier management of Georgia-Pacific? Or can both Correll and Koch have been good manager/entrepreneurs, but in different ways at different times?]
But according to his obituary in the WSJ, his greatest achievement may have been in taking over a near-bankrupt Atlanta public (aka government) hospital, reorganizing it from government to nonprofit, and modernizing its management and technology.
Carrell’s obituary in the WSJ:
(Note: the online version of the WSJ obituary has the date June 2, 2021 [sic], and has the title “Retired CEO Saved an Atlanta Public Hospital.”)
For Charles Koch’s entrepreneurial market-based management system see:
Koch, Charles G. The Science of Success: How Market-Based Management Built the World’s Largest Private Company. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2007.
My book mentioned in my initial comments is:
Diamond, Arthur M., Jr. Openness to Creative Destruction: Sustaining Innovative Dynamism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.