A recent article by an Austrian newspaper stated that the growth in sales of the ‘Christkindlmarkt’ Vienna exceeds the turnover growth of online shops by 30%. At the first instant, I was quite surprised by this fact. Why are traditional business models like of the Christkindlmarkt still competitive? Why are companies of the old economy still around even if not having radically transformed to innovative business models?

A good answer is given by the German philosopher Odo Marquard. His famous essay “Zukunft braucht Herkunft” (“Future needs history”) discusses why every innovation must be based on the capabilities that have evolved over centuries. In other words – if you are an elephant even years of training cannot make you a zebra. If you are the Vienna Opera even hundreds of Agile coaches cannot make you Spotify. If you are a big bank even thousands of consultants cannot make you a fintec.

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