New business models

As I set out to write part two of «Visions of KM in practice«, I think I’ll start with the acknowledgements. This piece by JP Rangaswami (CIO and visionary) includes, together with many other sensible things, a nice sum-up of management principles that need to be taken into account in modern firms.

Two snips:

«As these changes come about, with individual capitalism and the subversion of institutions, we need new business models. What should these models do?

One, make a clear stance on values and ethics.

Two, allow relationships and collaboration to take place, rather than control the relationships.

Three, intermediate to enable trust and fulfilment rather than channel towards lock-in.

Four, recognise that the customer wants to create and co-create value rather than just receive.»

And:

«Connected, not channelled.»

Trying to fit that with the needs of a business organization, and the limits of a society that has not evolved all that much :-), is tricky at best. But it needs to be done.

By the bye, he also has two unrelated, more recent and very interesting contributions to make: a video of Cory Doctorow on the information age (30 productive minutes) and an extremely real issue for all intensive online workers. Disrespect for the needs of family life used to be the largest cause of moderator and volunteer burnout in the early days of Macuarium… and it still causes the largest number of disconnects. Blogging and networking may not be as engrossing, but they also draw blood.