Macro Assignment 1

In Amy Shuen’s Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide and William and Tapscott’s Wikinomics the issue of organizations and companies not having the brain power to keep up with societies expectations is a significant dilemma mentioned in both books. Big and small corporations do not have enough internal knowledge to satisfy customer demands. Time and creativity are limited within competitive businesses and just a few partners are not capable of keeping up with other competing organizations. As a result of growing customer demands, a collectivist approach has been considered as an effective solution. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate Shuen’s monetizing collaborating strategies and William and Tapscott’s more innovative approach.
Both authors agree that collaboration is crucial in the evolution of organizations and businesses, however, Shuen favors collaborative innovation for it’s opportunities to monetize. In Chapter 2 of Web 2.0, Shuen emphasizes that when social networks grow, the value of the network increases, therefore, willingness to pay to join the network will also increase, otherwise known as a direct network effect. The growth of social networking or online collaboration will bring in money just with the amount of participants that want to join. Before these social networks even share ideas for new business innovations Shuen is considering the money making possibilities.
Another way in which Shuen sees an opportunity to monetize a collaborative social network is by making the network original. If such a network separates itself from other networks by providing rare features that users cant find elsewhere, people will be more likely to contribute and pay for it’s services (p. 65, Shuen). Here we see again Shuen’s monetizing strategies stemming from collaborative networking.
The traditional ideas of competition have been a force behind companies for decades. Big and small businesses are too focused on how they can beat out their competitors when they should focus on how they might be able to benefit from competitors. Businesses are too accustomed to protecting their ideas and money making strategies and miss the benefits of collaboration. Shuen agrees with this point when she says, “Even when industry leaders recognize a potential network partner or ecosystem player, they will sometimes turn down the opportunity in order to protect their own cash cows or maintain control of their walled garden,”(p.133). Her statement emphasizes that companies should let their guard down, collaborate, and make more money by sharing their “garden.” Businesses are actually losing money by not collaborating with other companies.
Tapscott and William’s agree with Shuen on the idea that companies, big or small, must consider collaboration. Wikinomics, is much less focused on the money making of collaboration and centers in on the growth of innovation. Companies solely relying on themselves cannot turn out inventive ideas fast enough to keep up with consumers. It is described best by Tapscott and William’s when they state:

“The pace of change and evolving demands of customers are such that firms can no
longer depend only on internal capabilities to meet external needs. Nor can they
depend only on tightly coupled relationships with a handful of business partners to
keep up with customer desires for speed, innovation, and control,”
(p.19, Tapscott and William).

Again, we see the need for collaboration because the more business partners available, the faster the production of new ideas. Tapscott and William stress the need for change within businesses from an exclusive staff to an all-welcoming, collaborative community.
Wikinomics does not just focus collaborative efforts within the workplace, but it also emphasizes its importance within society. With today’s technology we are able to connect with people across the globe, therefore the globalizing of ideas is in our hands. People now have the ability to feed off of each other, reformulating and expanding knowledge. Tapscott and William’s agree by commenting that the “future lies in collaborations across borders, cultures, companies, and disciplines,” (p.61) highlighting the importance of expanding knowledge. It is not only companies that must collaborate with foreign areas, but all people must consider globalizing their ideas.
Although Tapscott and William’s ideas of collaboration provide a solution for companies to keep up with new demands, it differs greatly from Shuen’s goals because it does not focus as much on monetizing. The primary focus of collaborative efforts is to jump start innovations. This is emphasized when Wikinomics reads, “the real advantage of global sourcing is not cost savings, but the endless possibilities for growth, innovation, and diversity”(p.62). The “fusion” of resources is predicted to launch products and services quicker with the ability to reach more people. Global collaboration is not about the opportunities of money making, but the accelerated production of ideas, services, or products.
Web 2.0 and Wikinomics both focus on the benefits stemming from collaborative efforts, but while Shuen is money hungry William and Tapscott are not. Collaborative success should not be based on how much money it can reel in but by the innovations and ideas it creates. The William and Tapscott approach is much more realistic in that they apply the need for globalizing ideas to culture and society and not just businesses. It is important with the internet access and capabilities that we have today to stretch our knowledge across continents with the hopes of expanding, connecting, and growing globally.
Wikinomics illustrates that people will collaborate within communities “because they want to and because they can,” not necessarily for economic gains (p.67). Participants within these communities will broaden their horizons, giving and taking information from other participants across the globe. Collaboration is a benefit in itself and many participants within communities see this advantage for what it’s worth. Nonmonetary gains can be just as rewarding in many ways that William and Tapscott recognize and Shuen fails to. As a society, if we only depend on monetary gains for success we will be cheating ourselves of a knowledge that was once unattainable. Today we have access to share our ideas with people we will never meet and countries we will never see, why not take advantage of this ability?