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As all successful business, to start up you need a good idea, as simple as that, as difficult to find too. What it could mainly be reduced to: a profitable, viable and robust plan.
All businesses are about trust and engagement. But when we are talking about Peer Production Business Models, we are referring to an entirely new perspective of commitment, involving the firm itself, its CEOs, managers, employees, partners, suppliers and costumers.
(For the most traditional audience, is the kind of the spirit of the government of the Caixas in Spain or Germany, which is constituted by its founders, advisers, executive managers, employees, and costumers)
This will represent a step forward, taking advantage of all the positive externalities of an networked and cooperative environment. To be more specific, this organizational form, where hierarchies are diluted, provides more fluency to the communication, information, knowledge and workflows. And it is also more efficient allocating resources related to human capital such as skills, motivation and incentives, professional experience, etc. Apart from more efficiency in Continuous Improvement procedures. Implicitly, this is defining a consistent and qualified source for new ideas to deploy, and at the same time helps to create the perfect frame to see new business opportunities. Moreover, it could represent a significant reduction of operative costs due to the risk sharing given by the implication of all interested parts and less need of buying licenses among others.
With all this, I am not saying that I see there will be rivalry between the traditional hierarchical firm and this new organizational form. Furthermore, I believe both may coexist and even merge on a somekind of natural selection. Firms with best aptitudes to absorb strengths from both: the Peer Production and the old-fashioned model, will have a competitive advantage over the rest, incapable of imitating them.
In the near future, I will continue discusing on this subject.
By Laura M. Gonzalez
