Question

As we know, Apple Computer did not invent the "mouse," which was one of the big features on the Macintosh computer that debuted in 1984. (Yes, I saw the famous Mac add that showed only once -- during the 1984 Super Bowl.) The original PARC GUI used a mouse and it was invented by Xerox in the mid-1970s. As we also know, Xerox did not do much with the computer and Apple (and Steve Jobs) ultimately took the idea for its own. (No, Jobs did not "steal" the device from Xerox.)

Some people have said that if Xerox had recognized the potential of its machine, the history of that company might have been much different. Given what we have studied about the firm and about entrepreneurship, is this observation accurate? Why or why not?

Answer 1

This is a correct observation because even though the idea of mouse was invented by Xerox, it was apple which realized the full potential of the mouse device and made it a part of all future computing devices.

Entrepreneurship is not just about developing ideas and leaving the idea unused because when ideas are left unused without commercializing it, then someone else will use the same idea and develop products of their own based on the original idea. The same happened to Xerox which first developed the idea of a mouse but the idea did not take shape and Xerox did not commercialize the idea. Apple which was producing computer at the same time found this device to be useful for its personal computers and incorporated mouse as part of the personal computing system.