- Beyond the industrial logic
We are rapidly entering a new economy, which is based on the opportunities of digital technology and networks. The upheaval is comparable to the transition from the agrarian to the industrial society. Like then, the development creates tremendous growth opportunities as well as posing a seriously challenge to existing jobs and skills, and the way the gains of the economy are distributed.
It’s a move from internal to external value creation.
Today, a company will typically create a finished product or service using its own facilities and employees and then sell it to consumers.
In the next economy, a company will organize a process that allows a network of participants – often including the end-user – to co-create a solution that’s suitable for the end-user’s current context.
The world is connecting ever closer, the solutions that are needed are becoming more complex, and each of us have been empowered by tools that enable us to participate and interact more directly with companies.
The We-economy, the title of this book, is meant to describe a different approach to business in which participants realize that the next level of value, and the type of solutions, which can deliver it, are so complex and dynamic that a single person or company cannot create them alone. We need each other.
In an intensely connected and interdependent economy, the success of companies depends on how well they are able to connect and collaborate with others.
The We-economy is not only a guide for companies on how to adjust their business model, but also an overview for anyone with an interest in societal development. The book lays out and examines a number of very powerful trends that are transforming the labor market, skills, equality and inequality, as well as the conventional rights and obligations in business.
Old roles and categories are dissolving, and the social contract between society and business, and between what we knew as "employers" and "employees" will be re-negotiated as the sharing economy, co-creation and digital platforms turn fundamental concepts in the economy upside down.
The We-economy is a also a proposal for how the coming years of change can become a positive scenario for most of us.
The We-economy is easy to read and filled with concrete and current examples. A very useful little book.