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255 Don Tapscott: Wikinomics

Collaboration and openness facilitated by technology are disrupting traditional business models and creating new ways to innovate and create value.

Duration: 13 hours
39 minutes
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Don Tapscott: Wikinomics

Summary

In "Wikinomics," authors Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams argue that the digital age has created an environment where collaboration and openness are disrupting traditional business models. They illustrate how organizations that embrace these values are creating value in new and innovative ways. The authors outline the four principles of wikinomics: openness, peering, sharing, and acting globally. The book presents numerous examples of companies, both large and small, that are utilizing these principles to successfully innovate and stay ahead of their competitors.

About

Title: Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything

Author: Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams

Publishing Year: 2007

Publisher: Portfolio

Length in hours: 13 hours and 39 minutes 

5 main ideas

  1. Collaboration and openness are driving innovation and creating new value.
  2. The four principles of wikinomics are: openness, peering, sharing, and acting globally.
  3. Traditional business models are being disrupted by these principles.
  4. Successful companies are those that are embracing these values and using them to innovate.
  5. Technology is a key enabler of the new, collaborative approach to innovation.
Don Tapscott: Wikinomics

5 funny quotes

  1. "Don't let the 'wiki' in 'wikinomics' scare you off. It's just a Greek word that means 'quick'."
  2. "In the future, the CTO will be as important as the CEO, the CFO, and the COO. And the CIO will probably become the COO."
  3. "The information age is over. We are now in the era of intelligence."
  4. "If you want to know what the future of business looks like, don't look to Wall Street – look to Wikipedia."
  5. "Collaboration is like sex – everyone talks about it, but not everyone is doing it right."

5 thought-provoking quotes​

  1. "The era of the mass-produced automobile, which helped create Detroit and the middle class it spawned, is coming to an end. Detroit needs to recognize this and build its future on different principles."
  2. "The challenge for companies in the digital age is not to be able to use technology – it is to embrace new models of collaboration and innovation."
  3. "Openness is not anarchy. It is a structured approach to collaboration that can be harnessed for competitive advantage."
  4. "In a wikinomic world, companies don't just compete on products and services, they compete on how well they enable customers to co-create value."
  5. "Innovation is not about creating something from nothing. It is about combining and recombining existing resources in new ways."

5 dilemmas

  1. How can organizations balance the benefits of openness and collaboration with the risks of intellectual property theft and loss of competitive advantage?
  2. How can companies effectively manage and leverage the wisdom of crowds while avoiding groupthink and other pitfalls of group decision-making?
  3. How can organizations create a culture of openness and collaboration while still maintaining necessary hierarchies and decision-making structures?
  4. How can companies effectively engage customers in co-creating value without sacrificing quality or consistency in their products and services?
  5. How can traditional companies successfully adapt to the new, collaborative business models without losing sight of their core values and mission?

5 examples

  1. Procter & Gamble and their Connect & Develop program that leverages external ideas and partnerships to drive innovation.
  2. IBM and their collaboration with Linux programmers to develop an operating system that would compete with Microsoft.
  3. Wikipedia and their use of mass collaboration to create an online encyclopedia.
  4. Google and their PageRank algorithm that ranks search results based on popularity and relevance.
  5. Barack Obama and his use of social media to mobilize supporters during his presidential campaign.

Referenced books

  1. "The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More" by Chris Anderson
  2. "Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations" by Clay Shirky
  3. "The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies, and Nations" by James Surowiecki
  4. "The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail" by Clayton M. Christensen
  5. "The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary" by Eric S. Raymond

 

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"The information age is over. We are now in the era of intelligence."

Don Tapscott: Wikinomics

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