Wikinomics explores how some companies in the early 21st century used mass collaboration also referred to as peer production and open-source technology such as wikis to be successful. Don Tapscott says that "The new art and science of wikinomics is based on four powerful new ideas: openness, peering, sharing, and acting globally."
Openness/transparency is the openness of an organization with regard to sharing information about how it operates. Transparency is enhanced by using a process of two-way, responsive dialogue. Corporate openness may create opportunities to better understand and respond to the needs and concerns of stakeholders, as well as increase stakeholders’ understanding of the business.
About 25 years ago, seven people died after ingesting TYLENOL® capsules that had been poisoned with cyanide by an unknown criminal. Overnight, Johnson & Johnson was faced with a crisis of overwhelming proportions. Public trust in the company and its products was obviously hanging in the balance. The first critical decision was to adopt a policy of full disclosure. The public were immediately alerted and TYLENOL® capsules were removed from the marketplace. Throughout the crisis, Johnson & Johnson worked closely with news media, and in addition, the chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, as well as other top executives made themselves personally available to answer questions. Johnson & Johnson’s approach to dealing with these events has been cited by many as setting the standard for crisis management. The company has been widely recognized for its openness throughout the crisis and for putting the interests of the public before its own. Consumers eventually went back to TYLENOL®, and the product regained its superiority in the marketplace.
Peering refers to what happens when masses of people and firms collaborate openly to drive innovation and growth in their industries. In peering, the individual is valued based on their ability to contribute to the greater good. People often equate this to socialism but in reality it is something much different. It has more to do with removing barriers and letting ideas form in a more natural way through collaboration. What might this look like inside the classroom? At the elementary levels how willing are teachers to relinquish the reins and allow students to drive their own education? Can this be meshed with standards? This idea has taken root and is evolving in the field of education. Teachers are being taught to guide, facilitate and support learning. Collaborative teams replace individual projects and students are encouraged to discover, share and present understanding in many different ways.
Sharing opens the corporate door to external stakeholders and embraces their interactions. It is less to do with proprietary approach to products, intellectual property, bandwidth and scientific knowledge. Traditional wisdom holds that you protect your own, hold your cards close to the vest, and maintain company secrets. In this instance, all that goes out the door. If you own a MP3 player you may participate in music sharing in one way or another. Popular companies include “C/net - Download.com”, “Yahoo - Yahoo! Music” and “Apple- iTune”. All these applications allow us to share music (legally) without boundaries.
Acting globally involves embracing globalization and ignoring "physical and geographical boundaries" at both the corporate and individual level. Acting globally is bringing a new meaning to the international corporation that traditionally pushes its messaging around the world, recognizing that business is borderless. Global competition includes using the innovative thinking from talent in all corners of the world to create what the market demands. In the 1950s, the two main type of music in Jamaica were called ska and rocksteady. Reggae was born from this in the 1960s. Reggae moved global in the 1970s. Since then Reggae music is one of the most played music genre in the world. Since then there has been many variations (Dancehall, Reggaeton and hip hop) you can certainly tell the difference. Globalization of Reggae music has added to the recognition of Jamaica and added to marketability of the country in general.
The use of mass collaboration in a business environment, in recent history, can be seen as an extension of the trend in business to outsource: externalize formerly internal business functions to other business entities. The difference however is that instead of an organized business body brought into being specifically for a unique function, mass collaboration relies on free individual agents to come together and cooperate to improve a given operation or solve a problem.
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