# Relevancy

`kaal:entity:relevancy`

**Status.** derived

This node is assembled mechanically from the 10 claims that carry the concept tag `relevancy`. It is a roster of what the corpus says under this term. It is **not** an adjudicated definition: no single statement here has been ruled canonical, and no first-appearance call has been made. Read the claims and judge for yourself.

## Every claim under this term

10 claims across 2 works, 2017 to 2019.

**2017**

- [2922176-001](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/2922176-001) [mechanism/argued] -- The extent to which a company uses data and algorithms will separate the winning companies of the future from the rest, because algorithmically driven firms gather consumer behavior data and instantaneously feed it back into an improved consumer experience.
  > The use of data and algorithms will distinguish the successful companies of the future. Algorithmically-driven companies use new and emerging technologies to gather data from their consumers about their behavior and then instantaneously utilize this information to improve the consumer experience.
  Mark Fenwick, Wulf A. Kaal, Erik P. M. Vermeulen, The ‘Unmediated’ and ‘Tech-Driven’ Corporate Governance of Today's Winning Companies (2017). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2922176
- [2922176-004](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/2922176-004) [failure/argued] *(failure mode)* -- A focus on quarterly earnings and short-term stock price performance distracts an organization from identifying the strategies that would keep the firm relevant, which is why financially successful companies can still lose their market.
  > can easily distract an organization from the important business task of identifying strategies that can help a firm remain relevant in the future.
  Mark Fenwick, Wulf A. Kaal, Erik P. M. Vermeulen, The ‘Unmediated’ and ‘Tech-Driven’ Corporate Governance of Today's Winning Companies (2017). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2922176
- [2922176-005](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/2922176-005) [failure/argued] *(failure mode)* -- In companies that concentrate on established products, the executives who understand innovation and consumer experience, the very people responsible for the firm's initial success, are pushed to the margins of core decision making.
  > innovation and consumer experience — i.e., those individuals responsible for the initial success of a company and best placed to deliver relevancy — often find themselves marginalized from core decision-making processes in companies that focus on established products.
  Mark Fenwick, Wulf A. Kaal, Erik P. M. Vermeulen, The ‘Unmediated’ and ‘Tech-Driven’ Corporate Governance of Today's Winning Companies (2017). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2922176
- [2922176-006](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/2922176-006) [failure/evidenced] *(failure mode)* -- Microsoft lost relevance under Steve Ballmer because it optimized for short-term financial metrics instead of designing products for the next generation of consumers, even while sales tripled and profits doubled.
  > Microsoft missed these developments because it focused on short-term financial metrics, rather than on designing products relevant for the next generation of consumers.
  Mark Fenwick, Wulf A. Kaal, Erik P. M. Vermeulen, The ‘Unmediated’ and ‘Tech-Driven’ Corporate Governance of Today's Winning Companies (2017). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2922176
- [2922176-015](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/2922176-015) [mechanism/evidenced] -- A focus on dividends and share buybacks makes it extremely difficult for a company to fund the innovation investment on which long-term relevancy depends.
  > Figure 2 illustrates that a focus on dividends and share buybacks makes it extremely difficult for a company to invest in innovations that are critical to maintaining relevancy
  Mark Fenwick, Wulf A. Kaal, Erik P. M. Vermeulen, The ‘Unmediated’ and ‘Tech-Driven’ Corporate Governance of Today's Winning Companies (2017). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2922176
- [2922176-031](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/2922176-031) [definitional/argued] -- The authors stipulate a category of director, the feedback provider, defined as a director appointed to supply management with unmediated and relevant input from the market, which is what a firm needs in order to plan for continued relevancy.
  > Successful companies have included a diverse range of individuals who are expected to assist management by providing unmediated and relevant input from the market. Such market feedback is highly necessary to identify a plan to remain relevant in the future.
  Mark Fenwick, Wulf A. Kaal, Erik P. M. Vermeulen, The ‘Unmediated’ and ‘Tech-Driven’ Corporate Governance of Today's Winning Companies (2017). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2922176
- [2922176-040](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/2922176-040) [predictive/argued] -- Companies that adopt unmediated and technology-driven governance gain a competitive advantage in attracting talent, raising capital, finding partners, and above all in remaining relevant in hyper-competitive global markets.
  > Today's successful companies embrace these insights and therefore have a competitive advantage in attracting talent, raising capital, finding suitable partners, and, perhaps most importantly, in remaining relevant in hyper-competitive global markets.
  Mark Fenwick, Wulf A. Kaal, Erik P. M. Vermeulen, The ‘Unmediated’ and ‘Tech-Driven’ Corporate Governance of Today's Winning Companies (2017). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2922176

**2019**

- [3411897-012](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3411897-012) [failure/evidenced] *(failure mode)* -- Nokia, Kodak, and Blackberry all collapsed after fast changes in their markets rendered their products and services irrelevant, illustrating that successful companies drift into obscurity when they fail to embrace change.
  > examples of successful companies that drifted into obscurity after failing to embrace change. Nokia, Kodak, and Blackberry are prominent examples. All these firms collapsed after fast changes in their respective markets rendered their products/services irrelevant.
  Wulf A. Kaal, Decentralization - Past, Present, and Future (2019). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3411897
- [3411897-013](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3411897-013) [failure/argued] *(failure mode)* -- Less successful companies share a myopic short term focus on shareholder value maximization, which produces an unhealthy emphasis on share price, market valuations, and financial metrics that obscure issues of relevancy.
  > Less successful companies often share a myopic and short-term focus on shareholder value maximization that has led to an unhealthy emphasis on firm share price, market valuations, and financial metrics that obscure issues of relevancy.
  Wulf A. Kaal, Decentralization - Past, Present, and Future (2019). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3411897
- [3411897-014](https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3411897-014) [failure/evidenced] *(failure mode)* -- Microsoft under Steve Ballmer missed the shift to networked technologies and mobile consumption because it focused on short term financial metrics rather than on designing products relevant to the next generation of consumers, and so ceased to be relevant despite excellent traditional metrics.
  > Microsoft missed these developments because it focused on short-term financial metrics, rather than on designing products relevant for the next generation of consumers.
  Wulf A. Kaal, Decentralization - Past, Present, and Future (2019). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3411897

## Verify

Every claim above resolves to a record carrying a verbatim source quote, the sha256 of the source PDF, and a preformatted citation. Nothing here asks to be taken on trust.

    curl -s https://wulfkaal.github.io/entities/relevancy.md | sha256sum

**Canonical form.** This markdown file is the canonical hashed representation of this entity node. Its sha256 is the content hash.