An Underutilized Competitive Advantage?

[The IbanezerScrooge]

I had a thought, which I am not claiming to be completely original, but that I have not heard articulated in a discussion, which I am also not claiming to not have simply forgotten, and I thought it might make for interesting discussion.

I think most people would agree that corporations, in the absence of strong individual steering philosophies, tend to become to a great degree focused on profits to the exclusion or at least at the expense of other more humane, noble purposes. "It's all about the bottom line." If there were an advantage to be had over competitors companies would spend good chunks of profits to gain that advantage, whatever it may be.

There is no doubt that in the world are believers and practitioners of all sorts of "magic", spiritual guidance, religion, and myriad other "supernatural" beliefs. Over 80% of the world population is religious and so, at least in poll questions, believe in supernatural things to some degree. I know there are users on this forum who believe in spirits, demons, prayer, etc. that can affect the natural world bringing about blessings or curses.

With those 2 things in mind I would fully expect the largest corporations, say Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Oracle, Apple, etc, to have entire departments of people researching and utilizing these supernatural forces for the benefit of the company, to gain a competitive advantage in the market. Yet, I am unaware of any such departments or teams working in any company today.

Thoughts?

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Oh they're probably using the law of attraction at the very least. That's the impression I get anyway.

 

[Radagast]

XKCD has pointed this out:

 

[Cearbhall]

I would fully expect the largest corporations, say Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Oracle, Apple, etc, to have entire departments of people researching and utilizing these supernatural forces for the benefit of the company, to gain a competitive advantage in the market. Yet, I am unaware of any such departments or teams working in any company today.

If they had reason to believe that supernatural forces could help them, they would do so.

 

[The IbanezerScrooge]

If they had reason to believe that supernatural forces could help them, they would do so.

Yeah, that's kind of the point.

 

[The IbanezerScrooge]

XKCD has pointed this out:

View attachment 210932

That's a perfect summation! Thanks for linking to that.

 

[Ana the Ist]

I had a thought, which I am not claiming to be completely original, but that I have not heard articulated in a discussion, which I am also not claiming to not have simply forgotten, and I thought it might make for interesting discussion.

I think most people would agree that corporations, in the absence of strong individual steering philosophies, tend to become to a great degree focused on profits to the exclusion or at least at the expense of other more humane, noble purposes. "It's all about the bottom line." If there were an advantage to be had over competitors companies would spend good chunks of profits to gain that advantage, whatever it may be.

There is no doubt that in the world are believers and practitioners of all sorts of "magic", spiritual guidance, religion, and myriad other "supernatural" beliefs. Over 80% of the world population is religious and so, at least in poll questions, believe in supernatural things to some degree. I know there are users on this forum who believe in spirits, demons, prayer, etc. that can affect the natural world bringing about blessings or curses.

With those 2 things in mind I would fully expect the largest corporations, say Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Oracle, Apple, etc, to have entire departments of people researching and utilizing these supernatural forces for the benefit of the company, to gain a competitive advantage in the market. Yet, I am unaware of any such departments or teams working in any company today.

Thoughts?

If supernatural powers or magic of any kind were real...and profitable...yeah, I think they would have such departments. They don't though...the reason why is obvious.