The Seventh Sense: Power, Fortune, and Survival in the Age of Networks - A review

If a country’s leaders singularly focus on the goals set by the founding fathers ignoring the nature of the age,  resort to actions forgetting the mastery and guidance needed by visionaries, there can be dire consequences in the evolving new world order. The tension arises when leaders of nations resort to achieving short-term which could be their own term in office with goals based on popular beliefs and pleasing the electorate. Leaders and citizens have equal responsibilities to mend their ways recognizing the complexities of the times. This time is clearly for setting the political direction with policies for the digital age for every country. There is no space for politically outdated thinking. Old methods of fixing structural, geographical boundaries do not solve the behavioral impulses of the networked age. Leaders may be accustomed to dealing with complicated issues, but the complex is different from complicated. Why - several reasons. First, let's get to the book review.

Joshua Cooper Ramo’s “The Seventh Sense” theme is to highlight the importance of planning and preparing with long-term strategies using indisputable methods suitable for the connected age – before materializing them to action. Ramo warns the most powerful country of the industrial era - the USA to prepare once again like a master not ignoring the winds of change of the networked age.  If connection brought only benefits, a gatekeeper (country) by nature with a system of values such as choice of democracy, freedom of thought and expression, and privacy has nothing much to worry about. But, the times are proving this belief is shaken already.

Ramo cites the history of an ancient country like China, how protection of their values is inbuilt in their political system, how their leaders take the guidance of their spiritual masters for their political moves. The country has a history of a mix of power and art, the author writes about its leaders. This approach suits the nature of the country’s problems and the culture it has imbibed over thousands of years. This vast country too had its handful of dilemmas when transitioning from the Mao regime to open its borders to trade and development, to stand firmly in a new age.  Ramo resorts to both European and Chinese histories to bring to the table the main point that the dynamism of changing scene of international politics is based on the patterns of histories of nations and conditions that lead to war or peace. As a person of Indian origin, I can see this mix of dilemmas which prevailed, contributing to the prosperous, ancient India from my knowledge of ancient Indian history quite clearly.  I will not divulge on how I lament when I learn how India too succumbed to lures of unsuitable choices time and again. 

In the connected age, a great nation which laid the foundations for institutions such as the United Nations and a mission for globalization faces the consequences of allowing seamless penetration into a country’s markets, its technologies, and it's educational systems to serve the causes it stood for. Openness requires assessment of risks, threats along with understanding opportunities. If risks are not mitigated in a timely manner, the systems can be easily manipulated by unforeseen sources – giving way to extreme behaviors including terrorism. The mission of global order might be shaken from its roots if there is no established vision to realize it. Securing and strengthening oneself will result in cooperation and coevolution at a different level beyond the threats and risks of interdependencies.  This is the timeless truth for a nation, a business, and an individual - face the immense gaps tracing the paradoxes which arise with the complexities and trends.  

For the purpose of comparison, I see this book similar to Scott Snyder’s  ”New world of wireless”. Snyder's book is a decade old and was written for the purpose of understanding the swarm effect, implications of mobility for businesses and peoples. The book had a lasting impression as a  thoughtful work on possible future scenarios for different regions and industries on the effect of mobility. As a norm, expert analysts from the technology world try to bridge the gaps of communication to convey the potential of technologies for business decisions. Business leaders are advised not to leave their strategic decisions on technologies (for that matter on those areas that have a lasting impact) solely on a singular group to avoid bias and heuristics. The power vested in the leaders of a nation is being tested as the impact and implications on future scenarios as technologies are becoming pervasive more than ever before. The biggest threat is the networks themselves which leaders have to come to terms with.      

Ramo asks serious questions throughout the three parts of the book. He sets out to expand on the thought process to reach conclusions resorting to examples from the past politics and history, present developments – social, technological, and political systems in a masterful yet enmeshed way. The enmeshment of the discussions makes sense to the very nature of the complex problems with no easy solutions. Every nation must feel its own pulse and pave its own path to prosperity in this networked age, whether leading or being led, whether being gated or gating. His narrative is spread in three parts – first to establish the importance to understand the deeper ambitions, culture, and the soul of the countries, their politics, and their actions to participate in the networked world. Threats can arise from the evolution of the networks themselves in new ways. Envisioning the problems with new insights and seventh sense is necessary to lead and thrive here. The author visualizes a world tuned to AI and reflects the machine age where decisions will be mingled and relied on the intelligence of the machine. Yet, man represents the gatekeeper so far in spite of the superstitions and ignorance. To let machines gate-keep man for reasons not understood by him is a possibility to worry about. In order to get the best of rules and regimes, the key, age-old question is whether to "let kings who become philosophers rule or hope for philosophers to somehow become kings". Now, the author says that it is to decide on the ways the current gaps can be filled leading to a stable era is with the quality of citizenship, the balance of technological kingships along with wise leadership. Hope is to rely on the peoples at all levels, everywhere.

Ramo observes deeply on the nature of protests and the patterns of resistance around the world. Part II of the book starts with themes of rebellion around the world and fruitless resistance from political leaders in power. He explains the dynamism of power shifts in networks. He warns that slow reactions due to political inertia and a struggle to give up power have always been detrimental. The business of spiritual control is an example in many nations which struggle with the power of middlemen between man and his God. Speaking of middlemen, there are distributed, yet concentrations of data and network power with technologies as the facilitating middlemen in the platform companies GAFA. Science and technology advances with computing power are taking mankind to new horizons.  Ignoring, ridiculing, resisting, and then accepting need not be an approach of the people in position for handling trends.  The author emphasizes how strange things happen because of connections – “connection means systems take on new forms”. The conventional tools and available models don’t come of use in the face of crisis. Don't miss reading the chapter "MapReduce" for glimpses into those tinkerers, thinkers, and scientists who made the networks possible as we see them today.

Contrary to the narrative that the established may be losing their grip on the systems of the world, tremendous opportunities exist for the masters to orchestrate the loosened threads to weave a new story of mastery. Time is ripe to find mindful ways to lead the seemingly waiting, yet eager to grab the low hanging fruit with hunger and enthusiasm all around the geography of the globe. At times, the author seems to get circumlocutory on the power of networks. Ramo understands his wide range of audience than I do - he satisfies the need for breadth at a level that only a master of history, philosophy, politics, and technology can cover - everything merging with the themes of network science, computing, as well as hacking and fuzzing. But the purpose of the book is not the science itself – it is how leaders can sway the people dooming their nations’ future and foundations for security and prosperity by lack of clarity on the power and potential of the network themes and science. Popular and massive educational efforts to make every citizen of the world be clear of the choices and vulnerabilities with networks is crucial. None of the topics of computing is just for the enthusiasts and hobbyists of the '70s or the '80s. There is a clear tendency towards obsession which everyone has to guard themselves more than ever before.

It is important to preserve the soul of every country with methods suitable for the age. What seemed an asset is becoming a liability - the openness, the generosity, and the innocuous ways of perception are put to test every day. 

Needless to say, the needs of the hour are so many, to summarize it is the mastery of design that can save, not a mere engineering effort in every sphere of life. No country’s leaders or its citizens can spare time for luring themselves with the masks of manipulations without paying attention to where they are driving themselves.  To err is human - it is this human tendency we have to guard against the power of new machines and old politics in the network world.      

What is Systemic thinking and why is it important?

Globalization and the technology revolution have become the catalysts and the means to research the offerings on the leadership and management education and practices in the world. Global trends in higher education for the convenience of student advocate and promote simplicity of the principles behind complex systems at work. This can lead to the dangerous possibility of the students losing focus applying the seemingly simple theoretical concepts in real life and work situations which reflect the universal systems which are much larger and complex than they confronted in the classroom.  

With the advent of the web, it is clear that the path to educating the masses is by allowing easy access to knowledge resources and adopting learning tools and technologies for more reach and effectiveness in learning.

Yet, questions arise as to why certain individuals and institutions consistently perform beyond expectations and make decisions that reflect disciplined vigilance and timely action? What could be the methods that work to fill the gap between ordinary and extra ordinary performers in growing, complex organizations? What could be the practices, tool set that these performers adopt in unforeseen, uncertain situations making decisions, solving problems where no amount of prior experience is of use.  How can higher education help with the practices and thinking that individuals can be trained and educated in the context under discussion?

Learning to adapt and survive is necessary for everyone. There is no denial of the basic survival learning principles. The fast changing world is doing away with old practices of the industrial world that no longer work as we enter the new digital economies preparing for the future. The ever changing dynamic systems of the world require entrepreneurial education where the individual learns, unlearns and relearns at a rapid pace. The individual should be capable of learning for achieving excellence and utilizing one’s fullest potential. This requires a different toolset from the tools for survival and adaptable learning to do the situational jobs in the new digital economies.

It is recognized that collaboration, team work, openness that promotes discussions and debates to assimilate various perspectives need to take center stage in the educational systems everywhere in the world. As for the thinking processes, students are trained to think and apply critical and analytical thinking processes to solve existing, well defined and structured problems.

Systems thinking is a unique tool that stands out among the rest of the approaches and processes adopted to promote higher learning that leads to exemplary leadership practices. Systemic thinking gifts the individual with the capacity to unlearn and relearn at a rapid pace to handle unforeseen complex situation irrespective of the magnitude of the challenge. The guiding principle behind systems thinking is the universal thinking required to be able to see the whole as well as the parts simultaneously for achieving the needed balance in the decisions made.

We can overcome the limitations inherent in the thinking and practices adopted by those in decision making authority by applying systemic thinking tools and techniques.

Learning and knowledge need not be confined to the world’s top schools and scholars. If the systemic thinking practices are understood and unleashed to ordinary schools and colleges, putting knowledge to effective use will become a common practice amongst everyone who attends college education.

Insights on the leadership practices for decision making to sustain business competitive advantage with varying emphasis depending on the organization culture are crucial in the context of global, complex, uncertain and dynamic social and organizational systems.

In order to educate the majority of students who are not exposed directly or indirectly to management experience and practices in public and private sector industries, new experiments and approaches for education are necessary on a continuous basis.

We must be clear on the competence of the application of systemic thinking principles in the leadership paradigm. This is a crucial factor for educators as well as organizational leaders in order to direct efforts towards developing new applications and approaches.

We will interpret the definition, scope and context of systemic thinking based on the viewpoints of scholars of past and present.  We will understand and evaluate contemporary knowledge environments and organizational thought leadership practices for decision making with systemic thinking.

Dawidowicz, P. (2012) elaborates on the concept of “hard” and “soft” systems thinking described by Checkland (1981). The essential difference between the two types of systems thinking is how each type of thinking is used depending on the problems to be solved. The problems and the related factors that are solved applying hard systems thinking are simpler, predictable and well defined. Researchers indicate that the soft systems thinking is applied when the “nature of systems, relationships of its parts are less defined” and the “problem involves conflicting or multiple perspectives that must be reconciled or understood”. Soft systems thinking often requires “analysis, synthesis and evaluation of factors and actions at multiple levels of interaction among potentially multiple related systems all of which can be in flux” requiring high order thinking and is a “high level taxonomic skill”.

Dawidowicz, P. (2012) claims that the “functioning of social and organizational systems remains a matter of some debate” and they work based on “balance and feedback loops” with limited control over the achievement of balance as well as an understanding of the feedback loops.  They state that “debate over the nature of systems thinking itself has also proven heated”.

Skaržauskienė, A. (2008) recognizes the need to view organizations as systems in the current times of uncertainty and changes as “organizational problem is actions that do not correspond to the whole” attributing the root cause to management problems. Sensing and responding to situations orienting the management and leadership practices to the dynamic nature and structure of the systems are the key guiding principles to address these problems. Transformational measures and decisions can be taken only when leadership practices are not only inspirational seeking vision but also demonstrate the ability to plan “the whole politics, strategy and structure of the organization”.

There are enormous studies and resources on systems thinking concepts and methodologies from ancient to current times. From these studies, it is possible that systems thinking can be viewed as a “magic pill or mantra” to relieve organizations and leaders from the burden of the complexities of decision making in today’s world. However, it appears to be similar to any other system life cycle methodology. Although this thinking has the potential to address some of the conceptual problems of today’s complex systems, there is no certainty in achieving desired outcomes. The perception and awareness for confronting the complex problems and situations with this powerful thought process paves the path to redefining, reviewing and reflecting towards achieving the desired outcomes.

Skaržauskienė, A. (2008) discuss the essence of systems thinking suggesting to view it as interrelations and processes of changes. The authors compare systems thinking with traditional thinking in detail. They explain that systems thinking skills comprise “dynamic, system-as-cause, forest, operational, closed-loop, quantitative and scientific thinking” based on Richmond, B (1997).

It is crucial to assimilate and distill the learning and lessons from ancient and contemporary scholars about systemic thinking. New experiments with education cannot afford to forget the tradition and the roots of learning.

Evolution of the Systems Perspective

Systems thinking has similarities to the ideas behind the high-order, evolved consciousness, big picture, divine plan thinking. This thinking has its roots in ancient philosophies and civilizations of the world. Contemporary systems authors recognize this aspect in their studies. Using systems thinking compared to linear thinking, we can understand and recognize broader, large and small scale perspectives on the problems at hand.  Systems thinking offers the potential to achieve the harmony and balance necessary for decision making affecting long-term, aligning with nature, and complexities of the systems.

Studies conducted on the evolution of human consciousness suggests that the systems thinking is closely aligned with the highly refined conscious, evolved behaviors of human beings.

Jere Lazanski, T. (2010) “presents Mayan calendar systems to contemporary systems

thinking principles and explains the answer to the Ackoff’s judgment on four hundred years of analytical thinking as the dominant mode of society”.

Nair, D., & Gopal, R. (2011) remind the readers about Dr. Deming of Columbia school of business and Peter Senge’s elaborate discussions about Systems Thinking in his Book “The Fifth Discipline”. The authors advocate Dr. Deming’s teachings about management education that promotes system thinking that utilizes people’s original thinking, motivation, curiosity and joy to learn rather than “survival and adaptive” learning which is temporary and transient.

Elements of Systemic Thinking

There are abundant resources for defining and describing the elements of systems thinking, viewpoints on leadership and organizations applying the principles. From these similar yet varied interpretations, it is clear that awareness of the unlimited possibilities for the paradoxical practices is based on the underlying nature of conscious perception and philosophy of systems. 

Jere Lazanski, T. (2010) presents five principles of systems thinking viz., big picture, long and short term perspectives, measurable and no measurable data, dynamic, complex, interdependent and being part of the whole.

Skaržauskienė, A. (2008) describes the systems thinking principles comprising of “openness, holism, interdependency, feedback, purposefulness, multidimensionality, equifinality and counter-intuitiveness” and that the methodology is based on the R L Ackoff’s tradition “enriched” with contributions for several years. The author highlights the viewpoints of S G Haines (1998) that “system thinking is a platform for designing business architecture”. In addition the author explains that “principles and methods lose their value if they are used separately from a paradigm”. Applying the systems thinking principles to leadership practices to achieve operational competence and viewing organizations as systems is the premise for this.

References:

Dawidowicz, P. (2012). The Person on the Street's Understanding of Systems Thinking. Systems Research & Behavioral Science, 29(1), 2-13. doi:10.1002/sres.1094

Jere Lazanski, T. (2010). Systems Thinking: Ancient Maya's Evolution of Consciousness and Contemporary Systems Thinking. AIP Conference Proceedings, 1303(1), 289-296. doi:10.1063/1.3527166

Skaržauskienė, A. (2009). SYSTEMS THINKING AS A COMPETENCE IN THE LEADERSHIP PARADIGM. Management Theory & Studies For Rural Business & Infrastructure Development, 16(1), 97-105.

Skaržauskienė, A. (2008). Theoretical Insights to Leadership Based on Systems Thinking Principles. Management Of Organizations: Systematic Research, (48), 105-120.

Chun, M. S., Sohn, K., Arling, P., & Granados, N. (2009). APPLYING SYSTEMS THINKING TO KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS: THE CASE OF PRATT-WHITNEY ROCKETDYNE. Journal Of Information Technology Case & Application Research, 11(3), 43-67.

Nair, D., & Gopal, R. (2011). Application of Systems Thinking to Management Education in India. Indian Journal Of Higher Education, 2(2), 21-25.

M. Kljajić, Significance of simulation and systems approach methodology in development of complex systems. V: Symposium on Engineering and Management of IT-based organizational systems, Baden-Baden, Germany, 2008.

Engineering and management of IT-based organizational systems: a system approach. Tecumseh, Ontario: The International Institute for Advanced Studies in Systems Research and Cybernetics, 2008, pp. 34-38 (to be deleted, not valid, secondary reference from the

R. Ackoff, Ackoff's Best: His Classic Writings on Management. New York: Wiley& Sons. 1999.

Checkland P. 1981. Systems Thinking, Systems Practice.

Wiley: Hoboken, NJ.

Platform Strategy for Business - MOOCS course on edX

I took the course – Platform Strategy for Business (audit option, followed the discussions regularly and did all the homework!) the first time it was offered on edX. This post is not for advertising for the course, but I must mention that I was very satisfied and motivated by the syllabus (for a 6 week introductory course) and content delivery.

The course draws attention to the topics largely from the work of the teachers  – Platform Revolution: How networked markets are tranforming the economy and how to make them work for you. Platform revolution is a thorough introductory work on all the major topics necessary to learn about the economic shifts caused by platforms. The other book that comes close to this book is MatchMakers: The new economics of Multi-sided platforms.

The class engaged the students with carefully chosen weekly readings, short videos, discussion questions, and quizzes. The peer review and feedback mechanisms are commendable for a MOOCS course. This course motivates anyone preparing to work with some high order thinking, academic, and theoretical foundations on not only the basics of platforms, but also on serious topics such as design and development issues and paradoxes, launching strategies,  pricing models, special topics on freemiums and openness, competitive strategies and traps for failure. I believe that learning begins after taking a course. There is so much to understand about platforms and their role in shaping the future of firms. This course is a pre-requisite for gaining insights and some of the necessary tools on serious topics on platforms.

Interactions in the Sharing Economy

Interactions/ Services in the Sharing Economy:

The digital consumer platforms are laying the foundations for a leveling ground for trade and transactions where both haves and have nots benefit from services in all walks of life as never before. In this decade, significant changes are happening in the way services are envisioned and delivered in every part of the world. The consumer platform businesses and the sharing ecosystems have initiated this trend. The fluctuating financial conditions and uncertain employment affecting the mindset of the middle-income group consumers of the developed countries are catalysts to this trend. There is a significant difference in their affordability for owning one-time use goods. Corporations and businesses have not been able to keep their promises of steady employment due to complexities that arise with changing global trade and national taxation policies. As a result, they have become larger consumers and suppliers of short and long term services.

   Sharing assets is not new for people or businesses; the underlying motivation could be as varied as purely economic or purely humanitarian.  What has made this prevalent, is the convenience of availability of services, and people being able to locate the services through the mobile web platforms that are just a touch away – the app on their tablet or smartphone. Considering the history of web platforms, eBay probably comes first for connecting consumers and producers. So, what is new about sharing or peer production? The web as the hub (digital platforms) coupled with smartphone apps (call them cloud services) has become a trend and is no longer limited or contained for the wide variety of daily needs of consumers of all walks of life. The young are attracted to convenience; the regulators recognize the outdated laws and regulations, those in the middle are observing services expand from the trading spare time (Time Banks such as Greater Boston Time Trade Circle (TTC)) to accommodations away from home such as Airbnb.

Consumer platform businesses are mostly web platforms, serving communities in different walks of life. Outwardly, all the services are catering to the needs of the consumers and appear to be similar. There are subtle differences though. Consider the often heard Airbnb and Uber platforms. Home owners and travelers (Airbnb) have come together starting a new trend of finding avenues to stay away from home. Drivers or vehicle owners, and riders (Uber) have come together starting a new trend of finding quick rides at any time in the busy streets of cities everywhere, finding convenient and affordable transportation. The service ecosystems of the sharing economy distinguish themselves from the rest of the services with their unique characteristics. These services are from individuals or businesses who utilize their not frequently used assets or services for a fee or provide for free.

Therefore, an Uber driver, driving his car for a living, is not a participant in the sharing economy if viewed as someone co-partnering with riders on the Uber platform. His car is not just parked for days, becoming an asset which can be rented otherwise to make some money. An Uber driver uses his car to drive and make a living in this context. But a vehicle owner who may be using his vehicle as part of Turo  (formerly RelayRides) is clearly participating in the sharing economy. The car would be just parked in an airport or on the road side, if not part of the Turo system. One can argue if a shared Uber (one car with several independent riders) is a participant in the sharing economy or not. In this context, every seat in the Uber driver’s car is an asset and is under-utilized if there are not enough riders. Services around sharing ecosystems can be analyzed further to differentiate.  What about Uber drivers who earn their basic living in some other jobs? While the definitions of the economies of sharing and collaboration are still being debated and understood, the sharing ecosystems are making their way into the mainstream of all sections of societies. New business models are evolving as the  communities of the sharing economy are sharing under-utilized assets and are challenging the established and traditional businesses and regulations that govern them. 

The motivation behind these services is economic, social, technological, as well as environmental. Compared to hiring a regular maid service, calling a one- time helper is more economical and easier. The “help user” and “help taker” can be co-partners in the system (for example, TaskRabbit). They can still enjoy the luxury of hiring services with just some trust on the people that are contributing to these services. Compared to leaving the car in a parking garage at an airport, Turo (formerly RelayRides) helps to rent those cars to be of service minimizing the economic burden on the traveler – the one traveling in/out.

 Some of the services add new capabilities to existing businesses. The old and new are teaming up to deliver niche services for the convenience of the customer.  For example, Walgreens’ flu medicines are delivered home by TaskRabbit during the flu season, a home service that is reliable for the needy who is sick at home. TaskRabbit is a participant in the sharing economy where people with skills or time, help out each other in errands that are hard to get on a temporary basis. Anyone with some spare change can enjoy services that they can’t afford on a permanent basis. Walgreens is an established business. Taking advantage of a sharing economy participant – TaskRabbit (the worker him/herself is the asset making himself available), Walgreens added the service of delivery of the flu medicine.

The consumer platform businesses are not limited to physical goods business services. They include social services, banking and retail services, time banks, asset sharing and rentals.  Services are becoming more granular with expanding boundaries for those who are interacting in the platform ecosystem. The reach of an asset is permeating via different channels - using the web as the platform for service delivery directly to the consumer who makes a personal decision to participate in the ecosystem. The solution is a real-time pull, personalized solution using a mobile app.  The interactions on these apps are real-time, personalized, and have a built-in feedback system.

Dubois, E., Schor, J., & Carfagna, L. (2014) elaborate on the time banking concept in their article highlighting the members’ opinions on the motivation behind their social services. They clarify that the gaps they are filling and the services they render are not possible by the current global or capitalistic ways of running businesses and marketplaces. There is a local need for collaborative sharing, and they are doing that voluntarily. Time is the currency with equal value to all skills where the assets are social relationships in time banking.

The mobile app services tap into the power of mobility, user-centeredness, personalization, context awareness, sensing, embedding technologies such as search engines, GPS, RFID, NFC chips, device interaction, and many possible unique mobile web platform capabilities in addition to integrating with the traditional media. Mobile Apps don’t require software license; they connect people and business processes to wherever you are. It does not matter where the worker is; the technology comes in handy to manage the workflow connecting with colleagues, customers, and suppliers.

In the case of business services, the business processes are undergoing closer scrutiny to attain efficient access to service delivery, promote assets (tangible and intangible), and filling the gaps from both outsiders and insiders of the industry. Adjustments and re-thinking for conducting business are required to value the trends. Businesses will benefit paying attention to the “weak signals” of the acts of collaboration taking different shapes and sizes by the societies of the world. GOVINDARAJAN, V. (2016) calls the idea of paying attention to the weak signals as “Planned Opportunism.” He explains “The idea starts with recognizing that the future is unpredictable, shaped by nonlinear changes and chance events—the “opportunism” part. How you as a leader respond to is the “planned” part. Planned opportunism requires sensitivity to weak signals.” A much broader view of the potential of the web for services needs to be taken to come up with models and standards to enable their larger role in the world societies and businesses.

For designing business services, delving deeper into the context of existing customers as well as listening to stories of new, potential customers of various cultures, and backgrounds from global settings is the first step. Empathy is about paying attention to the story with intense listening to the other.  Demonstrating empathy comes by practicing to understand deeper beliefs about problems and solutions.  Gathering information by interviewing the client places the problem solver/ analyst in the pre-planned questioning mode. Whereas, listening to the story told in open dialogue without judgment brings the underlying intentions and needs to the surface. The analyst can make sense of the problem by synthesizing the information collected and defining the problem. Next step would be to generate several ideas for potential solutions. Prototyping allows to quickly explore which ideas are worth pursuing to generate further conversations and to test possibilities with feedback.

For example, services in any housing community can include pet care services, tools for home repairs, listings to reach out for maintenance activities at a minimum. While an in-house service and maintenance unit in the housing complex can be expensive, sharing the assets (home improvement tools), services among the members of the community can’t be difficult. The services thrive when consumers don’t count everything as numbers. Deeper insights help build services to meet the needs of service seekers. Inquiring into the pet service seeker’s needs can unfold a different story altogether. It is possible the family may be in need of a one-time vacation gear as well. The rentals for vacation can then be offered at low prices to lure the service seeker into sharing a related item for the next seeker.

The scope of sharing and services around sharing is enormous. It is not just for those who are economically deprived. Anyone benefits from sharing.  The millennial consumers of designer fashions prefer to rent clothing, more so than their previous generations. Chic by choice, Rent the Runway business models cater to the needs of the consumers who seek expensive, designer brand clothing for onetime events,  with a willingness to rent rather than own to keep up with the fast pace of fashion trends.  

Student communities and college administration can come together to provide more avenues for making the student life in dorms even more friendly with attention to detail. While reputed schools like Harvard are known for their generous approach catering to the needs of students, it is not all that difficult for every school to step up. For example, any student juggling with time management, desires shared Uber and TaskRabbit services either free or with a minimal fee. Student fairs to share the rarely used assets of senior students with juniors is another area to explore.  Linking services with the student registration process instead of just leaving it to the student to handle it all would bring a welcome change to the not so friendly campuses. 

Owning assets does not make sense for many who would prefer to participate in the sharing ecosystems and benefit by them. The savvy web generation is beginning to enjoy the benefits of sharing. The web is enabling their freedom of choice with a fraction of the expenditure without missing the privileges of sought after assets and services. 

References

Amit Sheth, Kunal Verma, and Karthik Gomadam. 2006. Semantics to energize the full services spectrum. Commun. ACM 49, 7 (July 2006), 55-61. DOI=10.1145/1139922.1139949 http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1139922.1139949

Andrikopoulos, V., Binz, T., Leymann, F., & Strauch, S. (2013). How to adapt applications for the Cloud environment. Computing, 95(6), 493-535. doi:10.1007/s00607-012-0248-2

Banking in the Backwaters. (2010). Business Today, 19(11), 48-50.

Botsman, R. (2014). Sharing's Not Just for Start-Ups. Harvard Business Review, 92(9), 23-25.

Cook, S. (2008). THE CONTRIBUTION REVOLUTION. (cover story). Harvard Business Review, 86(10), 60-69.

Cusumano, M. A. (2015). How Traditional Firms Must Compete in the Sharing Economy. Communications Of The ACM, 58(1), 32-34. doi:10.1145/2688487

Delaney, Laurel J.( © 2013). Exporting: the definitive guide to selling abroad profitably

Dubois, E., Schor, J., & Carfagna, L. (2014). CONNECTED CONSUMPTION: A SHARING ECONOMY TAKES HOLD. Rotman Management, 50-55.

Geron, T. (2013). The Share Economy. (cover story). Forbes, 191(2), 58.

Gobble, M. M. (2015). Regulating Innovation in the New Economy. Research Technology Management, 58(2), 62-64. doi:10.5437/08956308X5802005

GOVINDARAJAN, V. (2016). Planned Opportunism. Harvard Business Review, 94(5), 54-61

HENWOOD, D. (2015). WHAT THE "SHARING ECONOMY" TAKES. (Cover story). Nation, 300(7), 12-15.

https://www.fastcompany.com/3046119/defining-the-sharing-economy-what-is-collaborative-consumption-and-what-isnt

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/filipa-neto-chic-by-choice-fashion-shopping

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/the-next-phase-for-the-sharing-economy/

http://www.mirror-project.eu

http://mylifesoftware.com

http://pwc.blogs.com/press_room/2014/08/five-key-sharing-economy-sectors-could-generate-9-billion-of-uk-revenues-by-2025.html

Lehrer, E., & Moylan, A. (2014). Embracing the Peer-Production Economy. National Affairs, 2151-63.

Malhotra, A., & Van Alstyne, M. (2014). The Dark Side of the Sharing Economy and How to Lighten It. Communications Of The ACM, 57(11), 24-27.

MANEY, K. (2014). YOU JUST GOT UBER-ED!. Newsweek Global, 163(19), 52-53.

Nafaâ Jabeur, Sherali Zeadally, and Biju Sayed. 2013. Mobile social networking applications. Commun. ACM 56, 3 (March 2013), 71-79. DOI=10.1145/2428556.2428573 http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2428556.2428573

Roland T. Rust and Carol Miu. 2006. What academic research tells us about service. Commun. ACM 49, 7 (July 2006), 49-54. DOI=10.1145/1139922.1139948 http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1139922.1139948

Villano, M. (2014). The sharing economy 2.0. (cover story). Entrepreneur, 42(12), 56-58.

Zingale, N. C. (2013). The phenomenology of sharing: social media networking, asserting, and telling. Journal Of Public Affairs (14723891), 13(3), 288-297. doi:10.1002/pa.1468

Tragedy of commons

Platforms thrive on positive externalities. Positive, abiding behaviors of the participants help create ecosystems that scale and expand their reach and capabilities. Interdependence is the dominant reason for participants to flock on platforms. As long as the need is fulfilled, the connections and ties are strengthened by the platform governance mechanisms and the social protection mechanisms.

What happens when the participants resort to unethical behaviors? Here is an instance that happened as narrated by a driver on an Uber ride at Hyderabad, India. I happened to be his last rider for the day. It was a rainy day, and soon after I started to leave for an evening appointment, was held in the evening traffic. I just happened to comment to the driver that if only the driver could take me faster to the destination by finding alternative routes, I would keep the appointment time. The driver patiently replied that he too wishes the same, and that it so happens that it is impossible to find an alternate route around that time in Hyderabad. He also said the he wishes for many other privileges for drivers like him. I said, I understand the drivers’ issues on busy streets such as the one we were stuck for the evening. I quickly added that I was sorry to make a quick comment on traffic conditions and drivers. He added that I would be surprised to know that I was just the most polite rider he had for the day as he had to deal with a rude rider as the day started.

“I am not just a driver, I own this car as well as I own a store for provisions in this city, registering with Uber makes it convenient for me to make a few extra rupees in my spare time. In short I am an Uberpreneur. Being ethical lands me in trouble with riders some times” – this is the way the driver introduced himself with the pride of entrepreneurship.

The proud driver was eager to get to the rude rider’s story. He started narrating the day’s experience in quite a calm tone for the frustrating traffic conditions for anyone who has been at Ameerpet, Hyderabad during the evening hours.  

The ride is from the airport to an address specified by the rider in the morning hours.  The driver notes the details of the address which seemed to be a business address. The rider notices midway that the address she specified has possibility of reaching two different locations. She decides to get down in the middle, finding a convenient stop. She complains that her address was misinterpreted by the driver and does not pay  – not even to the point she intends to get down. The driver insists that he was taking her to the location as per her instructions. The driver decides to take this on himself, finds a nearest police station and takes the rider to the police. The police sees the gravity of the situation, ask the rider to compromise and pay the driver until the point she has utilized the service. The driver would have been happy by solving the problem for the day. As far as driver was concerned, that was the best option for him as he finds that complaining to Uber would have resulted in delay as well as lose his ratings.

However, the saga of the driver and the rider does not end here. The lady in hurry, forgot her handbag while arguing with the driver and landing herself with the police. The ethical driver, goes back to the police station to hand over the rider’s handbag to the police hoping the lady would visit that police station as that is the only connection the driver and the rider formed during their short encounter. He also re-visits the police station during the short interval he gets to take a break from his driving assignments. To his pleasant surprise, the lady too re-visits the police station to inquire about her forgotten handbag and trace the whereabouts of the driver. The driver and the rider exchange greetings and find themselves relieved. The day ends well for both the rider and the driver with prime time wasted for the ethical driver and a lesson of a life time on ethics for the rude lady rider.

Questions to ponder:

If the driver complained to the platform owner Uber, would this problem be solved more efficiently?

How does the driver’s rating be affected when he has to confront such challenges?  

  

Big data for Machine Learning

There is much to unlearn about computer and information systems for understanding machine learning.

Traditionally, business intelligence using Information processing systems has been about data warehousing, online analytical processing, meta-data repositories. While all of them use past data and experience for knowledge and discovery – there are differences. The one thing in common is that they use sorting and searching algorithms with sequences of instructions which lead to definite responses from the systems. Machine learning is different.

Data mining models and applications come closest – except they use very large data bases. Typically, data mining tasks are grouping people or objects based on selected characteristics, estimating for inferring or guessing reasonably, predicting expecting behaviors as a consequence of previous actions. The list goes on with more statistical models with deeper selective techniques for evaluating relationships and associations. 

The talk about machine learning is around predictions using Big data.  A super market chain or Amazon would prefer to know the customer’s next choice of items based on previous purchases. Customer too prefers to get to the items he needs faster. These recommendations and matching systems work with recognizing behavioral patterns obtained from the data. What is derived from the pattern recognition is a response of likelihood of the behavior. Detecting frauds, stock market predictions with changing data and environment require learning and intelligence more than just depending on the system design using a large database. Applications recognizing speech and faces, robotics, biometrics use machine learning techniques. Machine learning broadly encompasses supervised learning (through association, regression, classification) and unsupervised learning for pattern recognition – an engineering term for classifying.  

     

Questions to ponder:

What can go right and wrong with machine learning systems?

What work is suitable for learning machines in platforms?

How does machine learning contribute to Platform Value (its feedback system, market places, data orchestration, network effects) ?

References:

Loshin, David. Business Intelligence, The Savvy Manager’s guide, Morgam Kauffman Publishers, 2003.

Alpaydin, Ethem. Introduction to Machine Learning, edited by Ethem Alpaydin, MIT Press, 2014.

 

Designing for Paradoxes - Balancing Trust and Mistrust

Strategies and expectations must be in place for defining the short term, long term as well as nature of work. The network life cycle must be clear to members of networks.  With fast cycles focused on meeting the financial (and strategic) goals of the organization, an often neglected area by leaders and executives is clarity on the expectations and life cycle of the member of the organization or network.

For example, trustworthiness of UPS/ Fedex delivery person/ or a TaskRabbit delivering the flu medicine from Walgreens is about delivery adhering to the values of the organization backing the person – external or internal. It is clearly short term and the nature of work is clear. The person is an entity or an object with a very standard, well defined identity.

Long term may be about 5 – 7 years for a researcher in a research team on a certain topic in a university. Plagiarism and other integrity checks are in place in school settings.

For a software engineer, technology cycles can be very fast if they are building apps, a range of two years to a decade if they were to work on delivering versions of large scale technologies. At the system level, many technologies are born and delivered with re-use and replication.

In knowledge based work environments – differences in capacities and talents of team members is expected. Knowledge transfer is part of the values and principles of the members to deliver where boundaries are blurred between the receiver/ member and the provider/ leader.  In such tightly coupled scenarios, protecting IP is a matter of definition. The expectations, principles, and values matter more.

Electronic copy of the research conducted by Prof Frank Piller, Germany  on the organizational factors influencing the balance between openness and closed ness (trust and mistrust) can be found at http://ssrn.com/abstract=2164766. The authors hypothesize on how the organization’s structural dimensions “specialization, formalization, and decentralization” affect the gains of openness. Several other factors not considered in the research are also mentioned. The firm’s environmental context, the nature of innovation tasks are some of those factors.

Customer in the digital world - Part IV

Interaction oriented design – model thinking, game theory, orchestration:

The interactions among the various communities of people are strategically planned and designed for decision making and governance in the large customer community scenarios. Game theory provides glimpses into the foundations for not just simple games such as chess or soccer, but also prepares for more complex scenarios such as trading and auctions. The foundations for customer behaviors and the economics are best explored from game theory and modeling techniques orchestrated to achieve suitable and adaptable plug and play structures for the convenience of the customers. 

 In these emerging community business models, there are rewards, pay offs, temptations and even punishments for cooperating and defecting. The life cycle and the complexity of the game rules can blur the meaning of benefits achieved by collaboration and parting. The granularity of details come into play as the players increase and more rules set in. 

The context or meaning is as varied as the variations to a prisoner’s dilemma game although on the onset there seem to be a simple set of rules. The state of equilibrium achieved may equal the theories stated to achieve Nash equilibrium. The terminology and their interpretation differs widely in each of the community involved in the business. The experiences, contexts, stories, and connections for a medical application community of customers is different from a customer community of retail. 

References:

Included in Part I 

Customer in the digital world - Part III

Data influences :
(real time, integrated operations, data products and services, analytics, collaboration tools)

The data oriented customer services offerings have gone thru several stages in terms of computer based analytics. In the pre-web era, the static organizational information on operations and sales aided in making better decisions and forecasts using enterprise data warehouses. The internet and mobile operating systems enabled capturing data from external sources – both machine and human trails giving rise to more privileges and offerings to the customer. Consider Amazon’s recommendation engine working with the customer to select books based on customer preferences and browsing history. LinkedIn’s customer profile based data services and products enables professionals of the world compare and connect with the skills and talents making it a dynamic, real time warehouse of world talent. The new age of data enabled companies reflects in the growth of new companies such as Netflix. Starting as an online provider of rental DVDs for customers, Netflix used the power of analytics and algorithm based strong selection and inventory management data for its internet based subscription based offerings with on demand, all-you-can-watch offerings at the convenience and comfort of the customer. Rebuilding at hundred year old, traditional company such as UPS is clear with its drivers equipped with data on truck metrics monitoring speed, direction and several route optimizations to reach the customer.

In facilitating environments, users co-create and collaborate routinely, participating in production. In learner centered education, students use various collaborative tools within team settings as well as leave trail using administration fostered collaboration. This trail is data for student performance, analytics for school monitoring and tracking purposes.

The facilitator in these learner centered environments, has overall control of the student outcomes in knowledge dissemination using the various tools and resources provided on the learning platform.  In simulation and gaming environments, the student (or player) is encouraged to contribute as per the rules and conditions of the game. Here the central collaborator is the game conductor – whether thru machine or human intervention.

Users contribute on Viki in its collaborative environment to contribute to writing subtitles to shows and movies.

References:

Included in Part I

Customer in the digital world - Part II

Social media community influences:

The digital customer is engaged in social media community settings. These settings have taken on in more than the brand and market push about the products they buy. This is evident by the Kodak social media ventures as a traditional business which was successful in pushing its products to customers in the earlier eras. The Kodak community is active with carefully planned social media strategy, listens to its customers and acts on the information with new versions of products addressing needs. Adopting the various social media to establish a ground for customer communication requires understanding the suitability of the media for the strategy.

IBM progressed with a focus on consumer behavioral tracking and economics with relevant, anticipating the needs of its consumer. For achieving this, IBM designs content with sharing as a primary focus, utilizing the tools intended to serve the purpose. Based on the consumer behaviors and consumption of the content, the company reaches out on a one on one basis personalizing the social engagement. Their optimal methods to reach the consumer allow for enabling their interaction as a service instead of creating noise for the consumer.    

The way Twitter is used is different from how Facebook is used by the digital communities. So is the case with YouTube channels and blogs. These social media and networks play the role of narrating to the customer a complete story of the products and services. Fear of overwhelming the customer with more than necessary information and connection points is the paradox faced by organizations.
Twitter is primarily used to post a tweet, the pre and post conditions for the tweet. Typically, an actor of Twitter does Login, post a tweet, search for people, search for words, follow trending topics and logs out. Facebook is used to earn fans with a pursuit to determine the “value of a fan” for marketing brands to the customer. The methods adopted to keep loyalty are through content and connection which is different from providing rewards to keep the customers loyal to the brand.

YouTube, blogs are popular channels for broadcasting content for consumers who can interact passively with the content creators. These have become catalysts in creating the consumer web as a platform of producers and consumers.    

References:

Included in Part I of the essays on customer in the digital world. 

Customer in the digital world - Part I

Customer in the digital world:

The past decade and half is not just about coming to terms with globalization and complexity that brings uncertainty and predictability challenges in societies and businesses.

The key themes and challenges center on convergence, context and connectivity for individuals, professionals and their businesses in virtual and real worlds.

In the mobile, social and cloud converged world, always on, always connected, always aware businesses are setting the stage for defining the new ways of interacting with customers – both current and future. Social interactions and experiences are rich with current devices and customer centric applications ranging from smart facilities to wearable technologies. They enable varied and multiple social contexts for the customer with local and personal data touch points. The business context augments the customer experience with models that enable collaboration and co-creation with partners, products and services. Unified approaches to provide omni-channel support and experiences to customers are leading to solutions that connect with the customer on demand.

In the pre-web era, it was recognized that customer comes first and her satisfaction is essential for surviving and thriving the tides of business. In the web era, there is continued emphasis and visible growth of the customer/ consumer demand chains. The customer participation at multiple levels of product development, marketing, sales, and shopping is visible across all channels of choice. With the power of the search engine geared towards consumers, businesses have the option for demonstrating the power of “consumer support systems” with sophisticated, intelligent agent systems (for recommendations, negotiation, advisory) in addition to customer relationship systems that match the production side offerings in the supply chain. Such consumer support systems on the web exhibit characteristics that are oriented towards the “task attributes” and not “product attributes”. For example, in order to buy a PC, a consumer approaches this process of searching with the tasks needed to be performed whether at school, work or home and not by the product attributes such as CPU and memory details. By this, the consumer experience is enhanced as the process is oriented towards her approaches to obtain information for making decisions. (Orman, Levent. V. 2007).

The customer is engaged at several touch points of his journey in the current environment recognizing him as a part of the whole system of life experiences. In learner centered, peer driven education environments, the student is the customer, the course and degree offerings are products in addition to the academic and other related learning resources. The student teams are engaged not only in the class room with topics that are relevant as well as within the prescribed curriculum and syllabus, but also outside the classroom with guidance on work life balance, alerts to keep up with the rigor or curriculum, and team buddies to support and enhance the student experience. It is a visible experience in these settings to observe clusters of students on certain topic areas and not much interest on some others. This behavior sets the stage for relevance and effectiveness in planned and well facilitated environments. When learning is continuous, the student cannot be bound and limited to one institutional governance. It is the community of students with similar interests that grow as individuals as valuable contributors to their societies.

Augmenting the whole personality of the consumer with techniques to immerse him in 3D experiences leading to informed decisions in taking shape in various forms. Architecting the experience is part of the AR (augment reality) design techniques gaining momentum. Medical Apps such as EyeDecide are promising the advantages of AR where the patient is able to visualize the simulated impact of the condition. This may not be the only advantage and there can be many disadvantages of an AR technique applied to patient education for awareness of his condition. However, it goes a long way in being able to explain some of the conditions to prepare the patient.

Consumers of the electronic commerce industry of the late ‘90s to the first decade of Y2K are experienced with the prominent B2B and B2C business models. The information age has emphasized migration of an array of back end and robust information systems to web based, global systems. The quest for utilizing the internet’s strength as a larger platform embedded by systems of platforms is taking shape in the form of consumer interaction platforms in the business world. In addition, very powerful business models are harnessed to address the new age global customer with experiences that are deeper in meaning, nurturing behaviors with every device that can augment human empathy. Pink, Daniel. ( © 2006) called this phenomenon attributing it to the dawn of “conceptual age”. He defines the conceptual age “animated by a different form of thinking” with aptitudes of “high concept” and “high touch”. He further clarifies that high concept “involves the capacity to detect patterns and opportunities, to create artistic and emotional beauty, to craft a satisfying narrative, and to combine seemingly unrelated ideas into something new. High touch involves the ability to empathize with others, to understand the subtleties of human interaction, to find joy in one’s self and to elicit it in others, and to stretch beyond the quotidian in pursuit of purpose and meaning”.    

The current trends in producer consumer interaction platforms are fundamentally different from the business models witnessed in the various stages of internet evolution so far. They combine the strength of internet as a platform along with the applications of the conceptual age as defined by Pink, Daniel. (2006). The connected world of industries and individuals have taken the platforms to become hubs of communities where producers and consumers interact more than ever before jointly creating new business models.  These consumer platforms operate with their foundations closer to social communities of customers whether they are public, industry specific, business created or those created by the customers themselves. These communities organized as platforms are setting the stage for new ways of designing interactive customer experiences in scenarios with behavioral complexity and relational control.

References:

Arend, R. J., & Seale, D. A. (2005). MODELING ALLIANCE ACTIVITY: AN ITERATED PRISONERS' DILEMMA WITH EXIT OPTION. Strategic Management Journal, 26(11), 1057-1074.

Binner, J. M., Fletcher, L. R., Kolokoltsov, V., & Ciardiello, F. (2013). External Pressure on Alliances: What Does the Prisoners' Dilemma Reveal?. Games (20734336), 4(4), 754-775. doi:10.3390/g4040754

Burke, Brian. ( © 2014). Gamify: how gamification motivates people to do extraordinary things. 

Canton, James. ( © 2015). Future smart: managing the game-changing trends that will transform your world.

Cennamo, C., & Santalo, J. (2013). Platform competition: Strategic trade-offs in platform markets. Strategic Management Journal, 34(11), 1331-1350. doi:10.1002/smj.2066

Chakravarty, A., Kumar, A., & Grewal, R. (2014). Customer Orientation Structure for Internet-Based Business-to-Business Platform Firms. Journal Of Marketing, 78(5), 1-23.

Chang, C., & Luh, D. (2012). User as Designer: A Design Model of User Creativity Platforms. Journal Of Integrated Design & Process Science, 16(4), 19-30.

Colgren, D. (2014). The Rise of Crowdfunding: Social Media, Big Data, Cloud Technologies. Strategic Finance, 96(4), 56-57.

Edelman, B. (2015). How to Launch Your Digital Platform. Harvard Business Review, 93(4), 90-97.

https://www.coursera.org/course/gametheory

https://www.coursera.org/learn/model-thinking

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/unmatched-business-research-laboratory-opens-in-shanghai-300149078.html

http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/why-social-engagement-may-be-more-important-than-marketing/

Joan Feigenbaum, David C. Parkes, and David M. Pennock. 2009. Computational challenges in e-commerce. Commun. ACM 52, 1 (January 2009), 70-74. DOI=http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/1435417.1435435

Joseph Pine II, B. & Korn, Kim C.. ( © 2011). Infinite possibility: creating customer value on the digital frontier.

Manuela Cruz-Cunha (ed), Maria. ( © 2012). Handbook of research on serious games as educational, business and research tools.

Orman, Levent. V. 2007, Consumer Support Systems. Communications of the ACM, Vol. 50 No. 4 (April 2007), Pages 49-54
10.1145/1232743.1232747

Paranjape, Raman & (eds), Asha Sadanand. ( © 2010). Multi-agent systems for healthcare simulation and modeling: applications for system improvement.

Prisoner's Dilemma (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

Burke, Brian. ( © 2014). Gamify: how gamification motivates people to do extraordinary things. 

Tetteh, V. A. (2015). Customer Relationship Management. Customer Relationship Management -- Research Starters Business, 1.

Tiwana, Amrit. ( © 2014). Platform ecosystems: aligning architecture, governance, and strategy. 

Wienclaw, R. A. (2015). Channel Management. Channel Management -- Research Starters Business, 1-6.