An “economy” is the way people use resources to fulfill their desires.  The specific ways they do this have changed several times throughout history, and are shifting yet again- this time driven by three forces- Connectivity, Speed, and the growth of Intangible value. 

Speed x Connectivity x Intangibles = Blur

Human needs have changed little throughout our economic history, and are unlikely to change now.  But ways in which needs were traditionally fulfilled in the Industrial era trained most of us to think in terms of products and services and buyers and sellers.  This is no way to think about the future. 

No Product without Service.

No Service without Product.

Winners provide an offer that is both product and service simultaneously.

Design Best offers are designed to "learn" so that they evolve over time in line with their ongoing use.  When you are following your customer for the lifetime of the need your fulfilling, it can be the one with the greatest potential for payback.		Questions to think about... Is your business prepared to organize it's customers or are you going to wait for the "outside agitators" to arrive?  How could your value exchange be more continual, interactive any time, any place? Would you treat your customers any differently if you thought of them as a functional group?
Exchange Exchanges take all forms, economic, informational and emotional - but the bottom line has to be value. In the industrial model, the economic benefits of the mass production created a one-way relationship, in which the manufacturer define the product, set the price and established the time and place of purchase. The Internet provides consumers with a means to combine power.  Before long, there will be enough organizations of consumers wielding enough market sway that it will be the time for someone to create a new list that will reflect the accumulation of desires not sales. (example: Value 500 verses Fortune 500)		Are you prepared to run your business by the rules of the financial market? Are you ready for your customers to have equal information you have? What would happen if your customers knew instantly when your component supplier dropped prices? What if your customers speculated in your product, changing prices and demand when they changed their minds? Are you ready for your prices to float?
Establishing an Organization Learn how to build an organization that adapts to the economy as fast as the economy changes. (117) If it's unconnected, it's unhealthy to your organization. (119) Organizational structures must be designed for adaptability not efficiency.  (121)		Are your colleagues and/or employees encouraged to exchange information with counterparts outside your organization, to cultivate knowledgeable networks, to seek solutions from disciplines not represented in your organization?
The offers at your organization should be shorter-lived than ever before and more of your offer should be new. One of the key tools for creating an adaptive organization is churn - of product, of knowledge, of people.		What's the half-life of your offers? How often have they churned in the past five years? Are you viewing the encounters between your offers and the markets as a chance to gain knowledge?  What knowledge is crucial to diffuse? Have you created the connections you need? How long does the average person stay in your organization? Is the number shrinking? (140)
People Connectivity enables you to seize more independence, while interdependence motivates you to become more connected. Accumulated knowledge can be profitably shared and most be managed as a valuable asset carefully. The "work you" and the "home you" have to meld. Your not only a customer for a firm's offer on the resource side, your also a customer on the desire side. In a blurred economy where knowledge is a greater source of value than land or capital equipment, where what you know is more important than what you own, and where the reputation of the offer your dealing with is in an open Powerbook.		Are you and your employees listening to market signals and adapting? Are you investing in a way the market can value? Am I adding value to the business?  Is the business adding value to me?
Capital Capital in the traditional sense may no longer be the basis of enterprise value.  What's of value is not what's standing still (assets) but what is in motion. (182) Focus is shifting to your knowledge and relationships. (175) The most precious productive resource isn't even connected yet: attention. Our most enduring means of production are knowledge, talent, and experience. (180) Real capital is intangible. (184) Basic advice about capital in a blurred world: Use it, don't own it unless it is absolutely your core competence. If you do own it, use it up. Design to throw away. Design to reconfigure. Three types of capital are: 1. Intellectual capital 2. Human capital 3. Structured capital (knowledge that does not go home at night)		How much productive capacity- ideas, skills, innovations is your business flowing through it's systems every week? How much capital does your business own?  Would you be better served by letting someone else provide some of these capabilities? How is your organization allocating, measuring and valuing attention? What could a reallocation of your time capital -attention- have the greatest impact? How could you make more attention?

50 Ways to Blur Your Business

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