‘New Business’ Paradigms, Part Seven — Reciprocated Business:
The closed-system, hierarchical business models of the middle of this century
are breaking open and reforming into distributed networks, or what I call
Reciprocated Business Models. Reciprocated Business is built on the metaphor
of a network. Networks are made up of connections of multiple points for
input/output such that each point is in direct communication with other
points on the network. This interconnection of equal points (rather than many
spokes dependent on one hub to hold them together) contributes to the
strength, stability and range of the system.
Attributes of the network which contribute to the metaphor of Reciprocated
Business are the following:
equality: no one would argue that a desktop computer is as powerful as a
network server; but conceptually, each point on the network is more or less
equal to others; or more accurately, there is a hierarchy within the network:
the internet is a series of interconnected networks.
identity fluidity: the related freedom you have to create your own handle,
persona, address,— the digital world cannot distinguish anything but binary
information, so using this digital medium you choose to reveal what you want
about yourself, i.e. no one knows you’re a dog on the internet. And since
your computer is a portal to the network, it can also be an input/output
filter that you control: how do you want to “export” yourself over the
network? what do you want to “import?”
input and output capacity: if you possess a computer you have the ability
to both create and distribute information (create your own webpage, broadcast
ideas to others) or to download (gather information from other points on the
network, buy products) or a combination of both (chat rooms are a give and
take of input and output); this levels the playing field in that it gives
most of us access to most of the information on the network.
accessibility: non-time bounded 24X7, non-geographic-specific globality.
Next week we’ll continue our discussion of how this Reciprocated Business
model is changing the corporate and consumer landscape.
