Old tech firms could be poised to make a comeback

A new study reveals that many senior executives think large, long-standing tech firms will be the ones that shake up the status quo in the near future.

The old innovators: Researchers at IBM and Oxford Economics surveyed 12,854 C-level executives. Of those, 72 percent saw incumbents as the leading cause of disruption in their industry. Only 22 percent saw startups as a disruption threat.

Slow-mover advantage: “People that go slower and build the culture that is needed can build value,” said one of the authors, Joerg Niessing, in a panel discussion about the study. Incumbents have had longer to devise a culture and collect data—and may soon use it to their advantage.