The Wikinomics of Social Enterprises

Wiki + Economics = Wikinomics
Wikinomics is a term that describes the effects of extensive collaboration and user-participation on the marketplace and corporate world. Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams popularized the term in their book, Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, first published in December 2006. The word itself is constructed from wiki, a server program that allows users to collaborate on a web site, and from the science of economics. According to Tapscott and Williams, there are four principles are the central concepts of Wikinomics in the enterprise:

Openness
Openness includes not only open standards and content but also financial transparency and an open attitude towards external ideas and resources.

Peering
Peering replaces hierarchical models with a more collaborative forum. Tapscott and Williams cite the development of Linux as the "quintessential example of peering."

Sharing
Sharing is a less proprietary approach to products, intellectual property, bandwidth, scientific knowledge.

Acting Globally
Acting globally involves embracing globalization and ignoring "physical and geographical boundaries" at both the corporate and individual level.

Although Wikinomics is, essentially, a Web 2.0 phenomenon, the authors insist that Wikinomics' reach extends beyond to the broader culture: "This is more than open source , social networking, crowd-sourcing, smart mobs, crowd wisdom, or other ideas that touch upon the subject. Rather it is a deep change in the structure and modus operandi of the corporation and our economy, based on new competitive principles such as openness, peering, sharing and acting globally." The Hierarchical theory is a dialect of general systems theory. It has emerged as part of a movement toward a general science of complexity. Rooted in the work of economist, Herbert Simon, chemist, Ilya Prigogine, and psychologist, Jean Piaget, hierarchy theory focuses upon levels of organization and issues of scale. There is significant emphasis upon the observer in the system.

While hierarchies are not instantaneous, profound changes in the cosmos of technology, demographics and the global economy are shaping powerful new integral models of production based on self-organization, community, and collaboration. These new developments provide opposition to the traditional forms of modeling methods based on hierarchy and control. Smart companies are encouraging and enjoying the rewards of user inputs that can be gained from the heaving growth of massive online communities. Mass collaboration is leading the way as the predominant form of wealth creation in this economy's current business climate. This contemporary form of corporate structuring is an ingenious apparatus use to ensure that only the best technology is derived per user specifications, comments, and participation. Thus, this method of organization is quickly out-pacing the traditional approach business formation as it provides a proven mode of supplying customers with the qualities of user demands as they participate in social networks that may offer exclusive insight on the latest developments. The growing accessibility of information technologies places the tools required to collaborate and create value in the grasps of individuals who prefer active participation.

The early and moderate adopters of technology are basking in the kaleidoscope of new products and information that is readily available in a 24/7/365 live environment of informational transfer bequeathed in this new Internet era. In this new mode of innovation called peer production or peering, value creation is generously collected from the interaction of interested parties. In this collaborative infrastructure, a form of rapid prototyping is used to introduce open source software and global outsourcing platforms, as external users are able co-create products and access markets. We the people is not just a collective slogan for the U.S. constitution but now it is transformed in this informational society to apply to the unison of contribution to the "digital commons" linking a global technological push to high-computing environments. As a power shift is unfolding to usher regions and nations towards the economical advantages of collaboration and peer production, a tough new business rule has spouted: "Harness the new collaboration or perish".