Here’s a fascinating comment by Doc Searls, in response to a post by VC Fred Wilson. First, Doc’s reaction:
What he is saying is that he (and his colleagues christina et al) are seeing an “un-coupling” of the aggregated work model – the internet is presenting ways for people to be less and less inclined to seek commercial shelter in groups – and more and more inclined to stand alone, and claim their own commercial territory and all that comes with that.
Here’s the original post.
I see signs of this everywhere. Innovation is coming from app developers, high school kids, retirees. Innocentive says one of its “open innovation” challenges can produce all of the potential solutions a firm has generated internally over a decade, plus a better solution, all for a tiny fraction of the internal development costs.
Meanwhile, as outlined in our forthcoming book Smart Customers, Stupid Companies, lots of established firms are moving just as slowly as ever. They’re not getting dumber, it just seems that way, because individuals are able to act smarter than ever.