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Published on January 7, 2008

During the past decade, most of us have become familiar with search engines such as Google, which have helped us obtain information on almost anything.

Invariably, when we "google" something, Wikipedia, the people's encyclopaedia, is one of the sites where we can find the information we are looking for.

In their book "Wikinomics, How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything", Don Tapscott and Anthony D Williams borrow from the Wikipedia concept of mass collaboration to describe what successful organisations must do to succeed in this "Wikinomics" Internet-driven era.

"Smart firms can harness collective capability and genius to spur innovation, growth and success," they write.

Wikipedia is an Internet-based encyclopaedia that derives the bulk of its information from anyone in the world who wants to add new information to its current entries.

In today's 'Wikinomics" world, the authors say, everyone must develop new operating mindsets and paradigms. "Four principles - openness, peering, sharing and acting globally - increasingly define how 21st century corporations compete," they write.

As in the past, winning organisations (and societies) are still those that tap the torrent of human knowledge and translate it into new and useful applications. "The difference today is that the organisational values, skills, tools, processes and architectures of the ebbing command-and-control economy are not simply outdated. They are handicaps on the value creation process," the authors declare.

In an age where mass collaboration can reshape an industry overnight, the old hierarchical ways of organising work and innovation do not afford the level of agility, creativity and connectivity that companies require to remain competitive in today's environment.

"Every individual now has a role to play in the economy, and every company has a choice - commoditise or get connected," they write.

Consequently, during the past decade we have seen many companies in developed countries outsource many of their critical processes oversees to lower-cost countries such as India and China, often by taking advantage of the Internet.

"The new Web - which is really an inter-networked constellation of disruptive technologies - is the most robust platform yet for facilitating and accelerating new creative disruptions."

Suppliers in today's environment become integrated partners. "Everybody shares information," they write.

Open-ness is critical in the new fast-changing environment, because the new Web is fundamentally different in both its architecture and applications.

"Instead of a digital newspaper, think of a shared canvas where every splash of paint contributed by one user provides a rich tapestry for the next user to modify or build on."

Increasingly, companies should assume that the best minds are outside your own corporate walls. "The world is your R&D department," they write.

They also emphasise that the next generation's modus operandi is networking. Social websites such as Facebook and MySpace are fast spawning other more specific Internet-based communities that are capable of sharing and "changing the world - one peer at a time".

Acting globally means abandoning the view that outsourcing is just a way to off-load costs. "Outsourcing is increasingly a way to gain speed, innovation and knowledge."

Increasingly, 21st century corporations are very different from the hierarchical, closed, secretive and insular multinational that dominated the previous century.

"Old hierarchical ways of organising work and innovation do not afford the level of agility, creativity and connectivity that companies require to remain competitive in today's environment."

Companies should not concentrate too long on setting up overall agendas.

"They should try to discover the agenda and serve it," the authors write. "Perhaps more importantly, everyone must realise that all businesses will inevitably be disrupted by technology. Blacksmiths weeping into their beer during the era of railroads didn't make horseshoes more popular."

The old "hard-wired plan and push" mentality is rapidly giving way to a new, dynamic "engage and co-create" economy. "The speed of change is intensifying," they write.

Knowledge management theorists such as David Snowden think we should throw away detailed plans. "Effective leaders manage chaos the way kindergarten teachers manage students - they must allow a degree of freedom at the start, then intervene to stabilise desirable patterns and destabilise undesirable ones."

The key to thriving in the new Wikinomics environment is developing an organisation that has the flexibility to recognise and respond to new opportunities. Collaboration and openness are more art then science.

"Capabilities to develop new kinds of relationships, sense important developments, add value and turn nascent networked knowledge into compelling value are becoming the bread and butter of wealth creation and success," the authors conclude.

KI Woo 

Nation