Bundle and Unbundle
“There are two ways to make money in business: You can unbundle, or you can bundle.
Jim Barksdale, cofounder of Netscape
(Jim Barksdale covers the topic in a HBR article here)
The same is true in energy and industrials.
The 20th century was all about bundling:
- Centralized generation assets
- Regulated utilities
- Industrial conglomerates and energy consolidations
- Massive warehouses and mega factories
- Centralized distribution
- Mega-scale refineries
- Corporate campuses
The 21st century will be about unbundling
- Decentralized power generation
- Hybrid power / energy companies
- Microfactories, additive manufacturing
- Robotics and real-time logistics
- Distributed workforce
- Distributed battery systems
The natural counter to all of this?
Tesla, an EV manufacturer then re-bundling the entire stack in about a decade
What else is bundling/unbundling in the energy & industrial markets?