Frans van der reep about analogue life in a digital world
1. University
About analogue life in a digital world
How Cyber Commotion impacts your
business’ and private life
Professor Frans van der Reep (ed) and
Peter van den Heuvel (eo)
2. The Ocean Fours…….roll, guts and enterprise!
Rolling waves on the River Meuse… can be towering waves on the North Sea and the Atlantic
ocean. Just imagine the courage it takes to brave those waves with four in a rowing boat!
With vision, guts and enterprise, a team of four former-Erasmus University students ventured the
crossing from New York to Rotterdam: after 60 days and 16 hours non-stop rowing, they arrived
safely on the rolling waves of the River Meuse…..
The Internet lets us surf happily, but also causes
waves and sometimes big rollers of change in
our lives and work. In this book physical waves
meet Cyber Commotion. This book offers you a
preview: beyond the waves and excitement the
perspectives of the good things that the waves
of change may bring about. Courage is neces-
sary, team spirit and personal enterprise to take
up these challenges. Sometimes against the
flow. Often riding on the waves. Like the rowers
of the Ocean Fours…..
3. About analogue life in a digital world
How Cyber Commotion impacts
your business’ and private life
E-business centre of excellence INHOLLAND University Rotterdam
“Impact of the Internet on life and work”
November 2005
5. 3
Contents
Page
Preface e-business centre of excellence INHOLLAND University
Rotterdam 5
Frans van der Reep
Preface Leonardo da Vinci project, E-business tools in SME
in agriculture and food processing industries 7
Lucas Vokurka
Structure of this book 8
Vision
1 Connected Future, What the Internet does with us 10
Frans van der Reep
Intermezzo-I The storyteller 26
Frans van der Reep
Research results
2 “Who’s my PAL?”, Cooperation as a core competence 30
Frans van der Reep
3 The new market segmentation: 3C, Holland “fit for the future”? 36
Peter van den Heuvel and Frans van der Reep
4 What you see is what you get, the Internet turns everyone
into a salesman 46
Peter van den Heuvel, Frans van der Reep and Jessica Loudon
Intermezzo-II
Cyber commotion in education, Internet and the personal age 60
Frans van der Reep
6. 4
5 A research into the impact of the Internet on the
(informal) ICT-communication in the business arena 62
Peter Lems
6 Youngsters choose their own preference channel,
Dutch Youngsters marketing through the Internet 77
Rigtje Bruinsma
7 Demand driven education and social service,
Two real-life cases 85
Piet Alblas and Rogier van Boxtel
Culture
Intermezzo-III Agenda dictatorship and sign management 99
Frans van der Reep
8 Chain reversal in your organization,
From schedule push towards reality pull 101
Frans van der Reep
9 Adequate entrepreneurship, Values give a perspective 108
Frans van der Reep
10 And further.... 112
Frans van der Reep
11 Literature 114
7. 5
Preface e-business centre of excellence
INHOLLAND University Rotterdam
What does the Internet have to do with entrepreneurship and with you and me? And why is
that an interesting question? This book comprises our Rotterdam reply why this is actually
a relevant and challenging question and formulates a beginning of an answer to that.
“Cyber commotion” in Rotterdam: no wave too high! Hopefully a daring impetus and there-
fore the Rotterdam way. If we send you barking up the wrong tree with that, it is alright.
There is no getting away from it. We come across the Internet in various capacities. As a
civilian who wants information from the government. As a tourist who wants to book a trip.
As a student searching for interesting subjects or wanting to do a remote study. As an
entrepreneur who wants to sell, buy, advise or produce through the Internet. As friends and
acquaintances, who, chatting or voiping keep contact. In all those identities, regardless of
your age, the Internet plays an increasingly large and increasingly compelling role for you.
This book deals with the way in which you come across the Internet in your various roles
and how it affects your work and life. It contains results from researches carried out about
this within INHOLLAND University Rotterdam‘s e-business centre of excellence. That is
about educational institutes, which more and more have to prove their values. That is
about students getting in touch with chain reversal and therefore also have to give much
more shape to their own study careers. That is very directly about the impact of the
Internet on marketing and sales within companies. About the way we communicate
through the Net.
The thread is formed by the conclusion that the Internet compels us to, much more than
we used to, shape our own lives. The Internet forces us all to “make the next move” and
to take up our own marketing and to think about how to bring out our values in the open
for other people, lifelong. The Internet compels, urges, forces individuals and companies
into stressing their distinct features and to take action. That creates a lot of commotion!
The books form the report of two years of centre of excellence e-business in Rotterdam.
It is not about technology but aims at the broad social, economical and personal impact
of the Internet. The way in which this book came into being is illustrative for its contents.
We created collaborations in many fields, to which everyone contributed from his own
strength and brought mutual benefits.
8. 6
We hope that the contents may inspire you and make its way to you, to the education and
to the politicians and the trade and industry.
Rotterdam, October 2005
Frans van der Reep
Professor in e-business, INHOLLAND University Rotterdam
9. 7
Preface Leonardo da Vinci project,
E-business tools in SME in agriculture
and food processing industries
It’s our pleasure to present to you the book “About analogue life in a digital world”
How Cyber Commotion impacts your business’ and private life.
This book was set up to give all participants in the Leonardo da Vinci project “E-business
tools in SME, in agriculture and food processing industries” and others an insight in the
state of the art of internet use.
Internet is all around us. Internet changes the way of communication. This affects making
business in supply chains. Due to the internet there’s a further change in demand- driven
entrepreneurship, we believe this impact to lead to new forms of sales and marketing.
Professor Frans van de Reep from INHOLLAND University, presents in this book a new
market segmentation model as a consequence of the E-reality. You will find examples of
“reality-pull” demand that show the acceleration of the chain reversal process. It supplies
us with ideas about organizing business for each of us.
With this book we hope to have contributed to an effective discussion on how people think
of and react on internet use in their daily lives and within their business opportunities.
We hope that you’ll find this book a big pleasure to read and to get inspired!!!
November 2005
Ing. Lucas Vokurka
INHOLLAND University Delft
Projectmanager Leonardo da Vinci project, E-business tools in SME in agriculture and
food processing industries
10. 8
Structure of this book
This book wants to link vision and entrepreneurship and to appeal to one’s imagination.
The image of the Jacob’s ladder ascending to heaven, which creates vistas and vision
but at the same time remains on firm ground. “Down to earth!”. Once again the image of
commotion, excitement, dynamics and nerve that forces to determine the course.
The book consists of three parts: vision, research results and culture.
The vision as formulated in chapter 1, “Connected Future”, is concretely examined and
checked on the basis of quantitative and qualitative research. In chapter 2 we deal with
the optimisation issue for the set-up of the management. “one-way” versus “un-must”.
The trick will be to choose a data processing principle or in other words process driven
that fits the nature of the management. “Who’s my PAL?”
The corresponding theoretical model proved to be a great basis for our research into 3C
segmentation. The results of this research can be found in the chapters 3 and 4. The results
of the researches about the importance of chatting and informal ICT communication on
the shop floor can be found in chapter 5. In chapter 6, the research results are described
about e-business and youngsters marketing. In chapter 7 you will find the results of
practical examples about demand driven education and health care.
We conclude with a contribution about culture, company values and we share with you
possible educational and research perspectives for the future.
11. 9
Vision
“where people only co-operate because of benefit and production,
homesickness for the origin will come up”
12. 10
1 Connected Future1, What the Internet does
with us
Frans van der Reep
This book is about you. Are you, as a customer, as an entrepreneur, as an individual, ready
for the Internet and e-business? Do you see the possibilities and do you actually use these?
Do you have an idea of where it will end? Did you ever list how the Internet changes your
life as an entrepreneur? And, do you make the next move or do you let it all happen to you?
About the fact that the Internet is much more than e-mail, shopping, chatting and searching.
About how the Internet as a driver of e-business changes the set-up of your company or
educational institution and maybe your very business in a very positive and still “e-secure”
way: marketing & sales, operations, purchasing, recruitment & selection, e-HRM. We go
through six related trends with you, without pretending to be complete.
New opportunities for market communication. Presence management: how do you want
to be reached by your customers and what do your customers themselves want? Phone,
mail, chat, sms? How do you make sure you are seen? As an entrepreneur, do you
choose your own broadband TV, pop-ups, contextual advertising, blogging?
Voice-over IP and mobile broadband internet with flat fee price structures for a few Euros
per month are on their way and ensure that your customer even physically compares prices
and offers with you in the shop. Are you going to help him by, as a service, putting a WiFi
hotspot at his disposal so that he comes off cheaper with you? By the way, how do you
provide the best supply and made-to-measure work without additional work? Formal process
descriptions (ISO) will be complemented, maybe replaced, by (external) links, communities,
portals and other forms of distributed teamworking. Especially knowledge workers will
organize themselves through communities and peer-to-peer systems and focused on “the
next practise” and will bring their offer to the market through a clever mix of online and
onsite service. Reality pull instead of schedule push will become the standard.
1 This chapter is an updated version of the speech Frans van der Reep as his contribution made, together
with fellow-professor e-business Vincent Kouwenhoven on 27 October 2004 when accepting the position
of professor e-business, INHOLLAND University. This speech has been included in Kouwenhoven,
V. and F. van der Reep (2004), Connected Future, E-business in Balans, INHOLLAND University
13. 11
It will cost your customers only a few seconds through the Internet to determine whether
or not you have the best offer for them. Now, they still do that at home. Soon mobile, with
you in your shop. Both the business customer and the consumer more and more determine
their shortlist through the Internet. Therefore you also should search through the Internet
for the best offer for yourself, just like all those others. If not, you will pay too much.
In this way, e-business forces you very clearly to define your offer. Literally work of
seconds. Much more than five years ago, the company has to compare itself with out
there (Hungary, Poland, China), reduce costs and restrict itself to whatever it makes it the
top. Insight into the own “A+’s” and the ability to drop activities in which the company
does not form the top, becomes a strategical competence and requires great leadership.
Offshoring, partnering and outsourcing are the visible results.
Companies hardly get the time to get their messages across in the real-time economy.
Seven seconds for your homepage for instance. Thus, attention is the new scarcity. This
put high demands on your market message. Branding, focus on own strength and winner’s
image with which customers and business partners also want to associate, are absolute
keys in that.
More competition hopefully will lead to a “compassionate capitalism” and not to a
“piranha-economy”. A tremendous political challenge! “Get in or get lost!”.
Therefore, this book is about you. Have you determined your position? That is what we
want to discuss in this book. Not only abstractly about e-business and what the papers say
about it. That is nice and safe. But about you and e-business. About how the Internet
brings you, as a breadwinner in the “real-time networked economy”, into the position of a
market vendor who has to make three decisions: where do I put my stall, what do I put in
it at which price and how do I make sure that people know where I am. About how the
Internet is the cause that you, as a customer, no longer want to be confined in the
complexity and regulations of big companies. How you are going to search, without
respect of persons, for the best offer for you. And, finally, how the Internet enables you to
become a member of a multitude of communities of like-minded people somewhere in the
world with the same target. That is to say, if you have something on offer for such a club.
14. 12
We come across the Internet from the various identities that we have. At home, as a friend
with friends, as a consumer, as a tourist, in our jobs. That is here to stay. The question is
how we, in all these capacities, can make proper use of the web. This book describes how
we come across the Internet in a number of roles.
In this chapter we outline, on the basis of examples, the individual, the business and the
social perspective of the internet. We show how far the Internet has already permeated
our private and public lives. By now, in almost all social roles you play, you come across
the Internet. That is exciting. Then, a new evolutionary process comes into being in which
he who has most adapted to the Internet will maximally benefit. That goes for individuals,
organizations and perhaps also whole countries. What we want to discuss with you is to
what exactly we will have to adapt. What does the Internet with us, with our identities,
with our companies, with our families, our jobs, with the Netherlands? In which does the
Internet have a role and in which absolutely not?
The Internet directly affects our personal lives, if only because of e-mail, electronic banking,
information supply, online shopping, chatting, the way in which we learn. An example:
How do you feel if the organization where you work, as a part of perfect recall, starts to
tally who is calling whom and who is e-mailing whom. In itself, that is a reasonably simple
exercise. Then, however, it will show in which networks you really are. And whether you
are really “partaking”. Do you feel up to that? Could this be the reason that very many
people, especially managers, keep reading and replying their e-mails during their holidays?
Would the Internet definitively put you on a par with the social relations you have? With a
Google-premium on popularity like in the search algorithms of search engines? Existing is
co-existing. Or is that too cynical?
Of course, we were a little pulped by the Internet after the hype. We are not really impressed
by it if we look at the budget and the resilience of, for instance, the Dutch Innovation
Platform, but it does happen and fast and at the same time a little bit under the skin.
The Internet converts our world at high speed. There is hardly any aspect of society in
the Netherlands and abroad that is not profoundly affected by the Internet and the digital
world. The Internet increasingly gives shape to our personal life, to objective and set-up
of profit and non-profit organizations, business-to-business communication, society, the
way in which decisions “arise” and to “politics”. The Internet has consequences for you,
whether or not you are online.
15. 13
To an increasing extent, social information supply, internal business communication, but
also the organization of family parties run through the Internet. The Internet is considered
as a social and relatively cheap information medium and in the communication between
you and companies, government, relatives and acquaintances it is impossible to imagine
life without it 2.
You have the possibility, but that goes for companies too, to be real time virtually present
everywhere and always: everyone can, if desired, start a broadband “TV channel” without
considerable costs, with live, worldwide broadcasts. If required with billing features and
combined with instant messaging, voice over IP and photo sharing. Do you opt for your own
broadband TV broadcast3? A technological possibility, by the way, requiring a short-term
recalibration of all governmental supervision of communication.
Many new words, such as “safety leak”, “identity theft” or “spam”, which ten years ago
were still unknown, both the word and its meaning, have by now been generally adopted
and become a mental category: these form part of your Sitz im Leben and certainly of
that of the kids. The words blog and scam are already much used. Just a bit longer and
countries, companies and individuals must realize: “Get in or get lost!”.
Much is possible. At the same time, this kind of things only happen if it has a concrete
value for the parties involved. Not everything possible also happens. We still read the
paper version of the newspaper and we do not sit behind our computers at home to do
that. As it is, we sit passively in front of the TV but interactively behind the computer.
A subtle, still existing difference in mental position, to be seen in our use of language
and choice of words. But not only online activity is growing4. We also do more and more
funshopping. Complicated.
A few examples: The use of all electronic means of communication is growing: at the
same time, the English fellow man, for instance, listens more to the radio, phones more,
is present on the Internet longer and longer and watches more (digital) TV5.
2 For an example, see chapter 5 of this book.
3 On 21 September 2005, The Dutch Prime Minister Balkenende presented an ambitious implementation
plan to take government communication in hand with digital means through an own chat, umts and digital
channel. The government commissions the design of an “internet-architecture” and starts to experiment
with new digital channels such as MSN, UMTS, i-mode and SMS-attention-drawing.
4 For instance, see chapter 6 with research results about channel choices by youngsters.
5 Source: Ofcom, The communications Market 2004 Overview, www.ofcom.org.uk
16. 14
In Japan, for example, nine out of ten households have access to the Internet. Phoning with
the Internet is very strongly increasing under the leadership of Yahoo! 90% of the cell
phones has Internet facilities6. Some practical matters as examples that go beyond an
done-up website. You can establish your office anywhere on the face of the world and
have the telephone answered there and the mail sent without taking one step outdoors,
for example via the site www.e-office.net.
Presence management or “swarming”, for who you do or do not want to be accessible
with which part of your identity, what you do or do not want to tell whom, and following
naturally from this, “personal opinion management”, stand out as an individual core
competence of the future and is on the brink of outgrowing the status of leisure activities7.
Consequently, Microsoft and Google (Blogger.com) see weblogging or blogging, keeping
personal diaries via the Internet and make these accessible for a selected public, as big
business8. A bit of reversed hide-and-seek: if you are not seen, you are off. By now, 65%
of the Dutch people sometimes visits a weblog9. Will weblogs, for instance, take over the
function of the local newspaper through “civil journalism”? With Google, you will not only
have an unlimited personal archive at your disposal through their mail, soon you will also
be able, through Google Talk, to phone free of charge. Google is going to include weblogs
in the register, currently there are 17,1 million of these worldwide! What do you do already
with James Burkes’ KnowledgeWeb project: “an interactive educational tool, the Knowledge
Web not only informs about the scientists, artists, innovators, and explorers of history, but
also reveals the connections between them”10. One more to finish: developments in the
sphere of context-bound knowledge management, with which you can educate your own
software, for instance with www.irion.nl, or contextual advertising à la Google reward those
who show a focused, consistent searching behaviour and obviously know what they are
looking for and what they want. Then does not only the number of hits and links to your
site will make you popular. Do you realize how much power the Googles actually have,
for that matter? Search engines increasingly determine what you find on the Internet.
With this, we are brought back to the contents.
6 See for example BusinessWeek online, “Where netphones are really ringing”, 20 October 2003,
www.businessweek.com
7 See for example www.eyebees.com and chapter 8 in this book.
8 A recent example of this is www.feedburner.com
9 Source: marketing online 05-09-2005.
10 www.k-web.org/. This web was created to stimulate the innovate use of education technology.
17. 15
Combinations of CRM and data mining either or not in combination with in-store marketing
in which this type of techniques is implemented, make nice offers especially for you possible,
moreover in your language and wording. Partly because of the enormous performance
improvement of technology11. Besides, with in-store marketing, companies get the
possibility within other companies to recommend their goods. Producers of A-brands
within supermarkets, for instance. You will soon experience this type of developments
personally as a customer of your supermarket.
We have only a limited idea of where this all is going to lead any company and where
society will lead us to in the longer term. What, for instance, does the development of
software mean that aims at steering individual social action. Software deriving information
from your individual wording, sentence structure, the power, speed and amount of
corrections with which you type on your keyboard, your voice intonation and your contact
list12. With which “Big Brother” also files all your digital and digitalisable correspondence
in a lifetime archive13. What does this mean for the idea of privacy with which we grew
up? What will it mean if maybe in due time the DNA profile of every baby is recorded in
view of issues such as social safety, personal responsibility for one’s own health and
determination of individual learning capacity. The first concrete initiatives, which it is true
do not have the ambition now but do have the potency to make this possible in principle
and to get to a national reference file, are already in progress14. What is the Internet going
to mean for our identity formation as human beings, for the meaning of role models in our
education? What will happen if our Internet identity and “real world identity” get more and
more mixed up and experimenting behaviour through the chat will actually lead to group
rape as it recently did in Rotterdam? What does it mean if we no longer learn to wait and
therefore almost everything needs to be interactive in the real-time society, and we no longer
know or appreciate the pleasure of postponed consumption?15 What will be its substitute?
Will there be a little pill for everything? If you know, just say so. It is exciting, though.
11 The introduction of the 20 Gigahertz “superchip”, making computers twice as fast, is scheduled for early
2007. WIMAX promises 70 megabit wireless connectivity over a range of 30 miles. See Gartner, (2004).
“Prepare for a world that links people, places and objects”, 9 April; P.M. Magazine (2003) March.
12 See for instance: www.blinkx.com
13 Google offers you free e-mail with a free and unlimited archive.
14 See for instance the Alter Ego project of the Telematica Instituut, Twente Technical University. A second
initiative, interesting in this connection, is E-Trax, stemming from the Next Generation Infrastructure
Group, www.nginfra.nl
15 See chapter 5, increase of speed in informal communication.
18. 16
McLuhan16 was convinced that the very rectangular shape of the book page influenced
the way in which we stored and understood the relevant information. The medieval
messenger or troubadour did different things with your brain than the book did afterwards.
In this respect, too, the Internet as a dominant source of information substantially affects
the way in which we are informed and what we consider important and not important.
Multimedial communication with sound and vision will no doubt become the standard,
with which in expressing ourselves, as a person or a company, we will have to realize
more and more strongly that we have disappeared with one click. You must have what it
takes to tempt others to wait for you.
To quote Jos de Mul - recently in the Dutch newspaper NRC - “Would the world really
turn into one big database with the Internet as central library in which historical notion has
no additional value, goes astray in data files and therefore disappears evolutionarily”?
And in which anything and anyone you come across is a scratch card for you: have a
quick glance to see if you are a winner and most of the time discard it? Einstein did not
accept that creation and development of the universe was a chance process no matter
how much logic pointed into that direction. Would the Internet turn our lives into a series
of scratch cards? More about that later.
Digital Trends
In the following pages, we go through six related trends with you, without pretending to
be complete.
Trend 1: back to the middle ages
Since, with the Internet, place and time, and to a large extent also costs, more or less
cease to be major factors in the process of information transfer, all kinds of parallels
come into being with medieval structures, organizations and methods of working.
More than that, drawing these parallels offers opportunities for trade and industry,
education but for instance also for policy makers, to understand, faster and more
thoroughly, new developments and to qualify these as important or unimportant in
their own policy choices.
16 McLuhan, M. (1967), “the Medium is the Message: an Inventory of Effects”, Hammondsworth.
19. 17
The small community of the Middle Ages, where everyone knew everything about everyone
(perfect recall) and rumours spread like wildfire, is replaced by large databases through
which we maybe know even more about each other. Webcams and Google as modern
manifestations of the “omnipresence” and “omniscience” that used to be attributed to church
and religion. Via e-mail, time and distance have been ruled out, even an anonymous
hacker somewhere in Germany or the Philippines is detected in no time, the world as
global village. Ebay as a staple place and goods-goods exchange! The pestilence is back.
In the present era, viruses spread with the same devastating speed, while also virus
scanners can only follow and not prevent. Possessions can no longer be protected, even
by copyright and the law, from border crossing pirates and gangs of robbers. City walls
come back as firewalls. The pillory, too, appears on the Internet: the police and civilians
publish photographs of “suspected persons” and blacklists of for example less safe aviation
companies and defaulter have been spotted in the meantime. By the way, do you also live
in a fortified castle with your own lancers on your forecourt, the gated community with its
own safety guards? We predict you an increasing number of crusades, a great future for
the liege, the franchisee and, I’m afraid, a strong guild of rummaging robbers. The Dutch
criminal justice in the year 2005 seems to get medieval features again with the extension
in the implementation of the conspiration ban and the period of custody. The Internet will
re-establish the respect for the craft. Since the customer has a choice, you, as a supplier,
just have to become good at your trade again. Old guild structures will revive again because
of that. It just has a different name (incrowd, virtual community, closed user group, certified
RC, RI, RA, MBA, Rotary, etc.).
Just like in the guilds, master-professionals educate trainee-professionals and settle, in spite
of everything, simply physically close to each other. Increasingly, trade and industry take over
the direction in education and the “baker street” comes back in the form of region-bound
economical activity (Silicon Valley). We experience a revival of the maecenate as a result
of a withdrawing government.
Another one, then. As, at the end of the Middle Ages, the rising citizenry pushed out the
reigning class of nobility that had reigned until then (for instance think of the Di Medici family),
in that way we are waiting for the citizenry to once again overtake the political class,
or even outstrip through political initiatives, through the rise of the direct referendum,
or through the elected burgomaster. Actually, behind this trend there is another one,
namely that with the acceleration in communication, story-telling experiences a revival.
20. 18
Trend 2: inside is outside
Via the Internet, customers have less and less trouble to establish whether or not you
have the best offer for them. And that is exactly what customers do, increasingly, for more
and more types of products and services. Market transparency and internationalisation of
competition necessitates the much sharper formulation of the offer than until recently was
required. And that may well be about cents17. Consequently, the Internet brings back the
cent.
The Internet dramatically reduces social transaction costs and the costs related to the
arranging of cooperation. Therefore, it compels the company to reduce its internal
transaction expenses and, much more than five years ago, to compare itself with outside.
Cooperating within the company should be realised more cheaply than that the market
outside is able to. If not, then the company does not have a competitive offer.
The Internet enables more and more parts of the market to quickly and firmly draw
this conclusion about a company. If a company does not take up these questions,
the customer will, if only because customers more and more determine their shortlists
through the Internet with a growing number of purchase types.
Companies hardly hold secrets anymore for the market and putting on a different
appearance than you really are is punished with lightning speed. That means that you,
as a company, as an entrepreneur, but also as an educational institute, should more and
more strongly ask yourself what your report marks with the customer look like and what
your “A’s” are. In short, where inside is at least as good as outside. With that, a core
competence for companies becomes the organization of the insight into one’s own A’s
and the ability to drop activities in which the company does not form the top. In order to
build up this ability, it is important that the leadership in the company keeps a sharp eye
on their own performances to keep abreast of interventions from the market in that way.
Here, the ability is also essential to build giants with other excelling companies on the
market, from one’s own power, from one’s own A’s, to enter a cooperation with companies
that are an A in their field. And by that I really mean cooperation and not parallel
self-interest or a temporary non-aggression pact of two competitors.
17 See for instance: www.unitedconsumers.com or the initiative of Athlon Car Lease on 10 August 2005 with
a summary of the cheapest and most expensive petrol pumps per region.
21. 19
Trend 3: if you are not seen, you are off
The company will get less and less time at the customer to submit his message in the
real-time economy. This puts high demands on the communication of the market message.
For instance, you get 3000 messages per day to deal with. That means that attention from
you as a consumer is the scarce factor for a company. Therefore, marketers will diligently
look for better ways to reach you as a consumer, and then preferably at the moment you
make the decision to buy.
The “Bond van Adverteerders” (Dutch Advertisers Association), concluded early 2005 that
the existing mass media rapidly loose effectiveness. On the one hand, consumers have
not started to spend more time on media consumption and within that, also spend less
and less time on commercial messages. A drastic rise in advertising budgets in the years
to come fit in this pattern. Branding, focus, repetition aimed at market reputation, think for
instance of the rise of city marketing, with many images, a winner’s image with which
customers and business partners are willing to associate, are absolute keys in that.
The increasing importance of collaborations among companies has a direct impact on
marketing. Winner’s image becomes even more important. People do not like losers.
You want to proudly show your new “capture” to your family and friends. The Internet
makes “unknown” even more unloved, as it were.
So, the Internet forces not only to an objective determination of market power of the
company. Both consumer-to-business and business-to-business marketing aimed at the
creation of a fitting winner’s image is a second requirement to get access to a successful
business community. The Internet makes your front yard and branding, with which you
determine how you want to be seen, and with that an association with popularity and
success, and your network capacity (even) more important. The classic desk research
marketing will therefore loose more and more territory in favour of smart, cheap and
interactive relation-oriented sales. The way in which the company styles interaction with
the customer seems to be more qualifying for market segmentation than the traditional
classification into branches or company scale18. In brief: “to be seen is to be seen19”.
A second point is that the digital world has a tendency to “the winner takes all”.
This means that the Internet, as part of a market strategy and setting the standard will be
present more dominantly.
18 See for instance Siebelink, J. (2005), “Opzij Kotler”, In: Tijdschrift voor Marketing, September 2005,
p. 22 a.f.
19 For the results of the research into this, see chapter 3 of this book.
22. 20
The frequently available free download through the Internet as an “amuse” for the real
stuff directly results from this. That does not only require consistence and focus of your
community, but also mass. At the same time, follower strategies are not successful if
“the winner takes all” applies: if you follow you will become second at the most.
Therefore you should not (only) strive for better on the market. In other words, the
successful incorporation of product renovation or a total shift of the course within the
available core competence is probably more successful. In brief, this is where a totally
new market lies for real innovators.
At a more subtle level lies the acceptation of organizations, companies and jobs as being
finite. They come and they go. Of course it had always been that way. But the Internet will
substantially magnify the creative destruction. Consequently, an interesting research topic
is the development in the marketing functions and marketing organization in a company,
with an increasing internal and external interest of that company20.
Trend 4: ”one-way“ becomes “all-ways”
If we look at the set-up of profit and non-profit organizations, then we see that practically
all business functions are affected and some even replaced by the Internet. E-marketing,
e-sales, e-procurement, e-HRM, including an annual statement of your income and a
digitalized resignation, to mention a few examples. The chief learning officer, too,
responsible for managed change and the corporate e-learning governance has already
been spotted. To a lesser and lesser extent, organizations need fixed organization structure
to get the right man at the right job. Thanks to the Internet, individuals, but also companies
with specific competences are able to find each other and demand and supply meet each
other at a far lower cost than they used to. In stead of a smart Taylor-inspired hierarchy and
ditto functional organization, comes the talent to spot talent and the ability of individuals and
companies to increasingly organize themselves through networks or communities, on a
concrete target or customer case. In this enumeration fit, for instance, the implementation
of competence management and demand steering or chain reversal. With for a visible
result reality pull, chain reduction and a strong decrease of overhead and related cost.
It is fascinating to find out, within this framework, whether an intranet of an organization is
actually used to this end. Or whether it is only used as a cheap medium now to exact the
use of prescribed process regulations in the company.
20 For the results of this research, see chapter 4 of this book.
23. 21
It is also interesting to analyse, in trade and industry, within which internal business activities
the communities and demand driven become the dominant organization form and where
the fixed organization structure remains implemented. Where organization acupuncture is
aimed at process-wise flowing and where departments are aimed at controllable clotting.
Among other things, that has to do with whether we have to do with information-controlled
or goods-controlled business processes. As far as that is concerned, a shift is going on
from “hardware”-based towards “software”-based solutions. Queue detection used to be
done with gantries and cameras, a hard infrastructure. In future, queues will be measured
and traffic flows managed through orientation (GPS, possibly RFID) via cellular phones in
cars. Then, it is true you still need things. But far less, mind you. The formal framework of
that activity also plays a role. Sarbanes Oxley and the necessity at e.g airline companies
maintenance department to separately account for each and every little screw, for instance,
still forces to a hierarchic organization structure. As always, it is about the balance, about
the optimal mixture. Furthermore, it is often a matter of view and portrayal of man, the old
theory X and theory Y21. You can send off your outdoor employees with GPS in their cars
with tight top down organized routes. Then you choose “one-way” communication aimed
at demand in control. You can also choose the concept of reality pull instead of scheduled
push, implement chain reversal and have the employee compose his own job and his
own routes. That is “all-ways” communication aimed at creating networks, the organising
principle implemented by Homecare Utrecht22. Time will tell which one is more productive,
choosing for “counter” or “encounter”, for demand and control or for finding your “PAL”,
your ability to pull, ally and link and find your own partners.
For companies, both cost reduction and customer focus are a topic. This challenge is
unprecedented, from an organizational point of view. Consequently, one of the core
assignments of every organization is to learn to really understand. Understand the market
and the customer, understand the colleague. Without understanding no connection and
without connection no cooperation and no giant. However, to really understand you’ve
got to have the nerve to re-stand, to take a different stand. Listen differently. As a pupil,
for instance, in stead of as a teacher. Re-stand should also be possible in the structure
of the organization.
21 Theory X and Theory Y are further explained in chapter 8.
22 The principle of chain reversal is discussed in chapter 8 and the practical situation Homecare Utrecht has
been described in chapter 7.
24. 22
Trend 5: inergy: the whole is more than the sum of the parts
One of the fascinating aspects of the Internet is that we do no longer need coordinating
action to find one another and to form a one-interest-community. More and more, the Internet
takes over the position of hierarchies and related top down control in this. Unbundling,
outsourcing, but also new forms of short cyclic capacity planning are the direct consequences.
The evaporating, for part of the business activity, of hierarchy in favour of virtual communities
is about all kinds of things and is an accelerating process. That may be about distribution
strategy: the 100 people who want to fly from Amsterdam to New York and who arrange a
plane together without intervention of a travel organization. The charter as a temporary
community and more customer-friendly successor of the scheduled flight. That may be
about scheduling of capacity-controlled organizations: customers who directly contact the
service mechanic without intervention of a back office or garage planning board, like KPN
realised this with their servicemen’s organization: a community of service mechanics.
That may be about demand-controlled education within INHOLLAND University. But that
can also be about driven innovation: software developers who find each other as peers
via the Internet and who together develop software as it originally went with Linux23.
Virtual communities have existed since the rise of mass media. A somewhat longer existing,
very practical community, for instance, is that of “Dutch celebrities”, who each continue the
value of their own community through clever PR. In that way, TV announcers and news-
readers generate a value. The Internet, however, creates far more quickly and far more
diverse communities.Travellers communities, mechanics communities, communities of
software developers, students, and one more current example, of investors in a certain share.
Other examples of Inergy can be found in many new verticals. I shall name some examples.
A typical “inergy vertical” for instance is the combination of branch fellow craftsmen, related
communication media and enterprise prizes that they award each other. Inergy aimed at
being seen and continuation. It is, I think, no coincidence that the coming of the Spinoza
prize as a vertical of the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research, NWO, universities,
communication media and scientists more or less coincides with the coming of the Internet.
“Idols” is something different from the Spinoza prize. The underlying mechanism is the
same. It is to be hoped that the political government of the Netherlands and adjoining
institutes and institutions manage to resist the tendency to become a vertical and thus to
be “seen”. Whether the Internet stimulates social networking or restricts verticals (“guilds”)
through Inergy being created is a thrilling issue of research.
23 See, for instance, Nonaka, Ikujiro and Hirotaka Takeuch (1997). “The knowledge-creating company”, Scriptum.
25. 23
In fact, your organization does already exist as a community. It is the informal organization
existing within the company, within the Netherlands or within an even wider context. If you
“want something with e-business and INHOLLAND University” and would reach one of
the members of that community, you will have access to the complete operational power
and creativity of that community. That requires little organization, only our website.
If companies use such a community as a regulating system, they could save very many
organization costs (“overhead”) in doing so and tacit knowledge could maximally be put at
the business’ disposal. If a company chooses community-controlled production of software
or an educational institution to develop in that way the minor “digital organization”, then
that has some more benefits. The most important benefit results from the fact that for
professionals, nothing works as motivating as a little compliment from his peers and the
access to the community (a big IT-player did not like his first contribution to Linux being
rejected. That did not happen a second time).
Peer-to-peer review as a core value for community driven producing is the best quality
guard and guarantees good results. Besides, professionals like that. How it works? Get to
work in the community automatically means that you are asked to do jobs at which you
are a real master. This way of working puts you in your power as a professional. And that
gives inergy, in our terms. Of course that does mean very tritely that you really have to be
good at something. Otherwise you will not be asked and you will certainly not become a
peer. You just have to be known as a real professional and first deserve your place as a
trainee. In that, it does not matter whether you have a broad or a narrow competence
profile. Value will find its way. No value, no member of the guild and no being asked for
contributions. Initiatives in this field are www.linkin.com, for instance, or the open business
club. Therefore, the Internet leads through the intermediate step of communities towards
the absolute necessity of being just good in your craft again: “back to basics”.
For the organization that dares to take the step towards back to basics, some interesting
business perspectives will come up. In the first place, that company may expect a
substantial cost reduction in double figures. After all, a large part of the overhead has
become superfluous. In the second place, the company organizes itself in this way much
closer to the customer or to the student, according to your organization. Direct contact
with the peers’ community brings the customer at the controls already in the company.
Therefore, the company will have more value to the customer and the customer more
value for the company. Customer inwards, overhead outwards. Do you recognize it?
26. 24
Trend 6: The Internet makes you entrepreneur
This may well be the most far-reaching trend for many. As organizations have to search
for “A’s” in their offer, the same goes for you and me, to an increasing extent. The Internet
turns you into the project manager of your own career. It is your move. Internet makes
you an entrepreneur. As companies should develop profiles to be seen and to be a winner,
the same way will go for you and me, to an increasing extent. It will become the trick to
find a connection with your peers from your own power and to set off together to make
your point. Here, you may think less and less in years or months. You will have to think in
weeks, days, and in some cases in seconds, have the guts to choose a position and to
make decisions. The good news, therefore, is that the Internet offers you the perspective
of a made-to-measure life. No beaten tracks but your own creation in connection with
who you are. You, not your boss, create your own perspective, as a steward of your own
talents. You become a self-employed person and you have to carry out your on personal
marketing. The bad news is that then you must have something on offer. You should have
an insight into your own offer and talent and to act with a focus on that. The “Let the
cobbler stick to his last” never was so relevant before.
For an educational programme about the consequences of the Internet and the digital world
or for the impact of the Internet on the business areas, these are important elements for
setting up the curriculum. Not only technology, marketing, e-learning tools and web design
belong here. But also communication, communication and communication. The Internet
compels companies and individuals, but also students, to take up their powers and to
increasingly shape their own lives24. Through the building of giants, each from his own power
set up a top performance. In that world there is no room for unnecessary ego-controlled
complexity and costly lack of cooperation that would immediately price a company out of
the market. This is the world of focus, implementation power, leadership and cooperation.
In that sense, the common reproach that society is individualizing further may still be out
of place and the Internet might also mean a stimulus for a new humanization of
organizations. Driven by economical reasons, that is about real-time connection of vision
and entrepreneurship.
24 See also Intermezzo II in which this topic is elaborated for education.
27. 25
Finally
The trends described here indicate the enormous business transformation lying ahead of
us. The trick will be to keep the worlds connected of one way and all-ways communication
with their difference in business rhythm and human characters, within companies and
between companies. Leadership should create the conditions on which these treat each
other respectfully and with business focus on their way towards a winning team to the
market, “from power struggle to armed force”. That goes for Europe, for organizations,
for you and for me. Only on that condition e-business produces more.
We started this chapter with the sentence “This book is about you”. Perhaps the above-
mentioned trends seem far away to you. In our opinion, you are in the thick of it!
28. Intermezzo I: The storyteller
Frans van der Reep
Good storytellers are people who can captivate their audience. Not only because of the
way in which they tell stories, but also because they can often put a number of seemingly
isolated topical facts and developments in a causal connection in a fascinating way.
And manage to weave a story around it. This creates an insight with the audience:
why is happening what is happening. A storyteller sees developments and trends and
with that sketches a picture of the future.
Successful business leaders are storytellers. They can paint a strategical perspective and
it matters less whether he is 100% right. Anyway, his picture sharpens your thinking,
compels the audience to choose a position of their own, to formulate concrete business
scenarios and helps the company to get a picture of important developments and patterns
more quickly.
You can see developments in this way: in the Netherlands, the number of accidents
because of toppled trucks is growing, the degree of loading of airplanes is decreasing,
Airbus tries to find it in larger airplanes than Boeing and TPG Mail does not really see a
substantial decrease of scale of the season’s greeting mail in spite of the e-mail.
Now the connections with the help of an example, like the group ticket the Dutch Railways
used to offer, a basic example of a purchase combination, which made it possible to
travel the same route cheaper with several travellers. Suppose you want to travel from
A to B tomorrow. Of course you can buy a ticket then at the ticket office. However, you
can also try, via the Internet, to find other people who want to travel the same route and
to rent a bus together with them or buy a group ticket. That will make the journey much
cheaper for everyone. It is essential that forming such a community of people has
become feasible because of the Internet. With the Internet, this is a matter of minutes.
Because it has become much easier is exactly why people with a common interest will
more and more manage to find each other via the Internet. They start to form purchase
combinations and force pinch-work solutions on the market that are interesting for them.
An example of this is the Dutch Internet community www.unitedconsumers.nl with currently
180,000 members who together fill up fuel cheaply: the Internet brings back the cent!
26
29. How could the image of the group ticket fit in with aviation and road transport? After all,
a charter is nothing but a community, a kind of group ticket in aviation transporting us
from point to point. Here lies the chance for charter companies to give customers the
opportunity to form a temporary community to arrange their own point-to-point transport.
In this way, flying more and more becomes “air-dating”. A kind of group ticket offered through
a fly-date site seems obvious. I predict to you that this will happen within three years and
that aviation will soon “charterize”, community-controlled. People will get used to it:
charters are made-to-measure, scheduled flights are bulk. A great future for the Easyjets
and Ryanairs and other low-cost operators who will actually and hopefully safely do this.
For airlines, it will therefore become more interesting to directly take travellers who organize
themselves in purchase combinations to their destination in stead of through “hubs”,
a modern word for staple places. Obviously, that has consequences for main port
strategies of airports.
To be able to implement that strategy, you, as an air carrier, do need mass for the necessary
point-to-point operational impetus. Obviously, this strategy is better practicable if you can
put in many somewhat smaller airplanes. Bigger airplanes will have a structurally lower
degree of loading and occupancy and become too expensive for many routes. Would the
difference in the plans for the future of Boeing (small airplanes) and Airbus (even bigger
airplanes) have anything to do with that? By now, the first supersonic business jets are in
production.
Even four years ago, storytellers foresaw that for flower and fruit auctions, communities
generating much road transport, that all activity will be dealt with through the Internet
using webcams and certification of producers involved. After which the goods are driven
straight from seller/producer to the purchaser. Now, it is indeed reality.
This makes the challenge for companies to identify the potential “group tickets” of their
customers, to get these operational as a community through clever marketing and to
integrate these as a form of Customer Relationship Management in their marketing and
distribution strategies in their management.
27
30. The nice thing about the auction example is that it makes clear why the Internet does not
reduce the physical mobility but even increases it. This paradox, virtual fosters physical,
can also be seen, for instance, with outwork, also a made-to-measure solution. Outwork
proves to not reduce the number of commuter kilometres – and therefore mobility – but
even increase it. Because of outworking, people involved often settle farther from their
work. It is true they will come less often to their work, but still they travel more kilometres:
the Internet makes made-to-measure living possible.
This paradox is a truth we often do not (want to) see. “Virtual fosters physical”, or the more
Internet, the more old economy through increased mobility and made-to-measure work.
The more physical goods we have on our desks and carry with us, the more physical
offices we build, the more PCs we install, the more paper we print... The more CDs you
sell the more audience visit your concert: the CD as a virtual carrier of the concert as a
physical event. Once you see this connection, you will see it everywhere!
And thus it could happen that the Internet as the driving force of the old economy did still
help TPG Mail get season’s greetings-mail again. It started with e-mail. Then it became
the e-card. And finally, we still want a handwritten card on our walls. And that is what will
happen once again next year.
Isn’t that true....
28
32. 2 “Who’s my PAL?”, Cooperation as a core
competence
Frans van der Reep
A company, seen as collaboration between people and means, derives its existential
right from the fact that it is faster & better & cheaper than the market who can organize
cooperation. It should be possible to cheaper realize cooperation “within” the company
than that the market “outside” can do that. If not, then the company does not have a
competitive offer. The transparency of the Internet enables larger and larger parts of the
market to quickly and firmly draw this conclusion about a company in the piranha
economy in which we more and more find ourselves.
At the same time, the Internet dramatically reduces social transaction costs and the
costs related with the arranging of cooperation. Consequently, it compels the company to
reduce internal transaction costs and, much more than five years ago, to compare itself
with “outside”. If a company does not take this initiative, the customer will, if only because
customers determine their shortlists of an increasing number of types of purchase more and
more through the Internet. Within companies, this does not only lead to a great interest
for “best practices” studies and Business Balanced Score Card approaches. It also forms
a compelling event for a company to face the question what its core business is, where
it has a competitive offer and thus a future and where it does not. In brief, where “inside”
is at least as good as “outside”. In this way, the piranha economy forces companies to
restrict themselves to that business activity in which it is an “A” or an “A+”. An “A-” on the
report is good, but not good enough if the market has an “A” on offer!
In the present Dutch economy, approximately 80% of the coordination costs are transaction
costs related to finding, creating and dragging information. Not surprisingly, here lies a
major driver for changes of the market and doing business.
What does this mean? To make the most of the opportunities the Internet offers, a company
must search for its own “A’s” and “A+’s”. At the same time, its own business activities that
could not stand the test of the market should be left to other excelling companies:
outsourcing, off-shoring of activities and business partnering. All forms of business
communities of companies, which are all top of the bill in what they specifically contribute:
symptoms that go together with unbundling and the creation of new cooperation patterns.
30
33. In the years to come, with individual companies will be evaluated on their ability to organize
the price-performance ratio across the companies. In other words: safeguard the competitive
ability by goal-oriented B2B (international) cooperation. In brief, communicational excellence.
With this, a new core company competence becomes visible: from a real assessment of
one’s own power and operating capabilities build up a win-win with other companies.
Who’s my PAL, with whom are you going to Pool, Ally and Link?
Examples of companies that have found their PALs are: Cisco, Philips & Sara Lee and
Philips & AOL, Smit International. A recent example of a new combination is Shell who
provides 500 greenhouse growers in the Westland area with 95 million m3 carbon dioxide
per year. A fantastic combination with only winners! And what about the arrangement that
INHOLLAND University students are to write user’s manuals for Philips to advertise
Philips’ brand value “simplicity”? Or about the go-together of e-Bay and Skype, typical
example of customer-pooling.
Consequently, it is to be expected that the (international) outsourcing market will continue to
boom and broaden in the years to come. Not only as regards the outsourcing classics HRM,
IT and financial administration. Soon, also sales and marketing will belong in this list.25
The increasing importance of collaborations between companies has a direct impact on
marketing. The building up of a winner’s image for the company is getting even more
important. People bet on potentially winning horses. The Internet therefore does not only
forces an objective assessment of market power of the company: the creation, both B2C
and B2B marketing-oriented, of a fitting winner’s image and having straightened out your
“front yard” is a second necessity to get access to a successful business community.
Therefore, the Internet makes branding and association with success (even) more important.
Now about the effects of the Internet towards the internal set-up of the company.
Data processing processes within companies and among companies will more and more
resemble each other. B2B on the market, for instance through collaborative commerce
and within the company distributed team working through the Intranet, have the same
ratio, namely to realize the necessary decrease, caused by the Internet, of the internal
coordination and transaction costs.
31
25 E.g www.salesforce.com
34. The Internet makes the view of Galbraith, the famous American economist, utterly relevant
that companies basically are information processing units. In his terms, apart from the
hierarchy as a solution for data processing and coordination, with the intranets, extranets
and the Internet, a way of data process and process driven has now been added26.
Hierarchy has got itself a competitor in the arranging of the coordination, namely the
Intranet. Internal coordination arrangements, based on the organization picture, and formal
process descriptions can more and more be replaced by (external) links, communities
and portals.
This means that in the set-up of the management a new optimisation issue has been added:
where should you implement which information processing mechanism? Where do you
opt for hierarchy and command and control (“one-way”) as a coordination solution,
where do you opt for organical networks (‘all-ways”)? The “one size fits all” in the method
of set-up, staff and tools provision of the company is over. It becomes the trick to choose
information processing principle and/or process management that fits the nature of the
business27. Hierarchy and the hierarchic organization as a control solution belongs to
strongly control- and stability-oriented process driven in which stability and safeguarding
are essential (e.g. the judiciary!), networking and network organizations better belong in
rapidly changing environments28.
32
26 Galbraith, J.R. (1973), “Designing Complex Organizations”, Adisson-Wesley.
27 See for instance, Applegate, M.L. et al, (2003) “Corporate Information Strategy and Management”,
The Challenges of Managing in a Network Economy.
28 For the analysis of this see chapter 4 of this book.
35. 33
Organize the business activity in four playing fields:
figure 1
Differentiating and simultaneously retaining/preserving the connection between the various
playing fields, especially in the profile of IT and HRM solutions, for instance in accordance
with the four quadrants in the figure above becomes one of the core assignments of the
leadership of companies in the next three years. The leadership will have to radiate, that the
organizing in accordance with fixed routines (“one-way”) is fine, but only for those business
activities that lend themselves for such a thing. Conversely, it applies that only “all-ways”,
networking capabilities are also too one-sided, since for good reasons, operational impetus
will usually be organized in accordance with the military reference book (“one-way”).
For HRM this means concretely the challenge that certain parts of the business activity
will have to be organized on stability, other ones just on your capability to manoeuvre.
And that therefore the individual match on characters and competences of employees will
have to be made: who fits where. Some people just are more matter-attached in the
words of Peter Robinson (www.robertsconsulting.com) and feel more at home in the
stable world of rules and clear structures. Others are more people-attached by nature and
just aimed at innovation and flexibility.
36. 34
An approach like “spiral dynamics”29 probably has a great future here. This type of HRM
models enables management on diversity and the corresponding tools can be web based.
In markets and customers, companies are already used to differentiate. The trick will now
also be to differentiate by internal playing fields and characters of employees and to search
for a consistent match. Far more than five years ago, the challenge for companies is to also
make sure that totally different individual characters keep seeing the additional value in each
other and keep searching for cooperation. Consequently, the Internet makes HRM utterly
important.
An example of a win-win between “one-way” and “all-ways” is the world of the magazines.
For many years, the “heart beat” physically determinate logistical process, which lets your
magazine drop in your letterbox in time (“one-way”), has been linked, for mutual benefit,
to the creative, information-controlled process of the journalist (“all-ways”). The creative
journalist too has an interest in a physically timely delivered magazine. A real win-win.
An example where a mismatch might develop, is the hierarchic organization, based on
fixed organizational structure, of the police organization (“one-way”) versus the criminal
network organizations. No matter what restructuring in their “organization chart” and
reinforcement of control, they do not bring “the law” and the police into the position to
be able to follow the rapid movements of criminal network organizations. Then, the
consequences of the “one size fits all” and the organising of all activities from command
and control and hierarchy have a high price. Therefore, the conclusion can be that also
the judiciary and the police, and with these many other profit and non-profit organizations
as well, will have to start differentiating in the way of organising and the way of governing.
ERP suppliers and ICT trend-watchers predict that because of the business opportunities
and the necessity of improvement in business performance, the “one-way”-quadrant will
grow at the expense of the “all-ways quadrant. Of course, these parties have a good
reason for that. It increases their market. Their analyses is that software remains the
good instrument to deal with and to solve business complexity. Isn’t the opposite far more
likely? That solving complexity will become human work again? “one-way” organizations
because of the requirements of control, will remain wherever it is really necessary and the
rest will largely become “all-ways, networked organizations.
29 See for instance www.managementdrives.com
37. 35
Usually, this is possible in information-controlled processes. And that is possible in very
many places. So, the “all-ways quadrant will grow at the expense of the “one-way”
quadrant. The reason is simple. ERP compartmentalizes and discourages a company.
The first four concrete business courses where the business process had been organized
on reality pull and related chain reversal supplied savings of 40% on the back office30.
Another observation: management teams of (big) companies do not only find themselves
facing the challenge to improve the internally-oriented traditional control from “one-way”
towards “operational excellence”. At the same time, the new “internet control”, forced by
the market, must be implemented. This means that at the same time you should both
reinforce control and let it go (“away”) to leave schedule push and connect to the
market and the customer by implementing reality pull. In my opinion, this challenge is
“unprecedented” from a management point of view.
Consequently, many companies struggle with this issue: how do you achieve synergy between
the reinforcement of the supply-controlled internal structure, collaborations (B2B) and the
demand-controlled chains (C2B). The company, who manages to really achieve the synergy
of stable, efficient, supply-controlled ERP and dynamic, effective, demand-controlled CRM,
can combine the economy of scale and scope and really communicates, wins the customer.
Stronger: as long as you are in the “command and control” mode towards others or only
for yourself (and that goes for many of us Westerners!), it is psychologically almost
impossible to listen. This goes for companies but also for individuals. That makes you as
a company extremely vulnerable to find your place in a winning B2B business community
and to find your “PAL”: to encounter requires stop countering.
This is, we think, the big business transformation lying ahead of us. The trick becomes to
keep connected those worlds of “one-way” and “all-ways with their differing business
rhythm and human characters, within companies and between companies. Leadership
should create respect between those with business focus, as real PAL’s on their way to a
winning team towards market.
Communicating with customers already was essential. Communicating with other
companies is added now. The real Business Process Redesign starts now!
30 See chapters 7 and 8 of this book.
38. 3 The new market segmentation: 3C,
Holland “fit for the future
31
”?
Peter van den Heuvel and Frans van der Reep
That the Internet in the past 35 years has had an enormous influence on the way in which
we communicate, share information, cooperate and present ourselves is clear by now.
The Internet is still a major driving force behind the innovation of organizations, both as
regards the set-up and in business scope. More complex situations and more rapidly
changing demand force us more and more to once again ask old questions and choose
again. Now what does this mean to you? And do you also see the world change more
rapidly and become more complex within and outside your company, or will it last your time?
We have examined whether the Internet has an impact on the way in which we should
classify the market. Does Kotler’s view on market segmentation still hold or is this view due
for a recalibration?32 Conclusion of our research, carried out on the basis of a representative
random check is that with eleven choices, the market can still be divided into four
segments, albeit other ones than those of Kotler. Statistically significant. We will show you
that this has value, for instance in the choice of the sales script and the selling points
presented. We like to invite you to unravel, with childlike curiosity and amazement, this
simple model and to really see what this means to you and your environment from every
conceivable perspective.
Market segmentation, the three C’s
C1: [Customer] stands for the way in which organizations see the customer and
the customer demand. Is the customer an individual customer, does it merge into
the market or is it a work order number in the process and is the customer demand
simple or complex.
C2: [Coordination] is formed by the way in which organizations set themselves
up after the environment and the customer demand interpreted in this.
C3: [Choice] is determined by market research and expresses the choice of
decision makers on eleven questions.
31 A previous version of this article was published in: INCROWD “The new market segmentation: 3C,
Holland fit for the future?, July-August 2005, p. 13-14
32 See Siebelink, J. (2005), “Opzij, Kotler (Out of the way, Kotler”, In: Tijdschrift voor Marketing,
September 2005. p. 22 etc.
36
39. 37
Simple demand Complex demand
Dynamic
environment
Static
environment
3C
Outsourcers Flexibels
Focus: Cost-saving
Direction of improvement:
Core Excellence
By: Packaging
Focus: Innovation
Direction of improvement:
Communicational
Excellence
By: Measure work
Cost-savers Functionals
Focus: Cost-saving
Direction of improvement:
Control Excellence
By: Commodity
Focus: Innovation
Direction of improvement:
Operational Excellence
By: Standardized Service
Simple demand Complex demand
Dynamic
environment
Static
environment
3C
Outsourcers Flexibels
Focus: Cost-saving
Direction of improvement:
Core Excellence
By: Packaging
Focus: Innovation
Direction of improvement:
Communicational
Excellence
By: Measure work
Cost-savers Functionals
Focus: Cost-saving
Direction of improvement:
Control Excellence
By: Commodity
Focus: Innovation
Direction of improvement:
Operational Excellence
By: Standardized Service
Simple demand Complex demand
Dynamic
environment
Static
environment
3C
Outsourcers Flexibels
Cost-savers Functionals
Standardization
Outsourcing
Proven technologies
One party arranges innovation
Performance optimization
Continuity
Simple maintenance
Make own set of requirements
Fixed costs
Cost saving
Better price/performance
96%
94%
87%
87%
85%
85%
79%
70%
68%
62%
62%
Individual need
Make own set of requirements
Better price/performance
ICT in own staff
Proven technologies
Innovation
Arrange innovation yourself
Flexibility
Performance optimization
Functionality
Fixed costs
97%
91%
77%
74%
71%
70%
65%
61%
61%
55%
52%
Cost saving
Make own set of requirements
ICT in own staff
Continuity
Proven technologies
Standardization
Arrange innovation yourself
Simple maintenance
Performance optimization
Fixed costs
Saving instead of price/perform.
96%
93%
93%
92%
90%
90%
79%
77%
74%
67%
62%
ICT in own staff
Standardization
Better price/performance
Functionality
Make own set of requirements
Proven technologies
Continuity
Arrange innovation yourself
Performance optimization
Fixed costs
Innovation
94%
91%
88%
88%
86%
78%
78%
78%
74%
71%
69%
Simple demand Complex demand
Dynamic
environment
Static
environment
3C
Outsourcers Flexibels
Cost-savers Functionals
Standardization
Outsourcing
Proven technologies
One party arranges innovation
Performance optimization
Continuity
Simple maintenance
Make own set of requirements
Fixed costs
Cost saving
Better price/performance
96%
94%
87%
87%
85%
85%
79%
70%
68%
62%
62%
Individual need
Make own set of requirements
Better price/performance
ICT in own staff
Proven technologies
Innovation
Arrange innovation yourself
Flexibility
Performance optimization
Functionality
Fixed costs
97%
91%
77%
74%
71%
70%
65%
61%
61%
55%
52%
Cost saving
Make own set of requirements
ICT in own staff
Continuity
Proven technologies
Standardization
Arrange innovation yourself
Simple maintenance
Performance optimization
Fixed costs
Saving instead of price/perform.
96%
93%
93%
92%
90%
90%
79%
77%
74%
67%
62%
ICT in own staff
Standardization
Better price/performance
Functionality
Make own set of requirements
Proven technologies
Continuity
Arrange innovation yourself
Performance optimization
Fixed costs
Innovation
94%
91%
88%
88%
86%
78%
78%
78%
74%
71%
69%
Figure 1, 3C model
Figure 2, 3C model choice ICT decision makers
40. Scope of the research
How fast does the market evolve and what do we see of that in organizations? Can and
do organizations in the Netherlands want to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances:
pace of the market, new technologies and customer demand? Is reality-pull only the new
buzz-word or a condition for survival? Do the existing ideas about market segmentation
actually still apply?
To test this, a number of choices were put before 300 different companies with over
200 employees in this “rebellious little test” within the framework of an ICT research.
Do you opt for continuity or for flexibility, do you opt for cost saving or innovation.
The results were plotted on the model33 as introduced in chapter 2 and as shown in
figures 1 and 2 in this chapter and provides a new significant market segmentation.
We call this the 3C segmentation.
Characterization of the 3C segmentation
We will describe for you the characteristics as mentioned in the model of market
segmentation and go through them with you.
Feature 1. There are four types of organizations that can statistically be identified and
provide a new market segmentation and also can be plotted as statistically significant in
the basic model of figure 1. The choices distinguish these four maximally from each other.
The four types or organizations are named after the most important distinguishing feature
and therefore are called the “Flexibles”, “Functionals”, “Cost-savers” and “Outsourcers”.
Feature 2. The segmentation is independent of company size and branch! These relations
are so totally absent in organizations with over 200 employees, that we assume that this
also goes for companies with less than 200 employees. The follow-up research that in the
meantime was carried out, about which will be reported in the next chapter, has now
statistically confirmed this assumption.
33 For the description of this model see chapter 2 of this book (“Who’s my PAL?”)
38
41. Feature 3. Organizations have a focus on either innovation or cost-saving. The “Flexibles”
and “Functionals” have a focus on innovation and functionality, possibly specifically aimed
at the need of the user. They represent 58% of the population and can be plotted on the
right-hand segment “complex demand”. They also indicate more often that they intend to
invest more. The “Outsourcers” and “Cost-savers”, the remaining 42%, have a focus on
cost-saving and standardisation and indicate more often that they intend to invest less.
They have been plotted on the left-hand segment “simple demand” (figure 1). In the
follow-up research among those people commercially responsible, this ratio is 50/50.
Feature 4. In relation to the environment and the coordination principle (C2), 60% proves
to organize themselves on stability and 40% on movement. In the choice for movement,
more often the choice of outsourcing is made. In the choice for stability, more often “do it
yourself” belongs. In the follow-up research among those people commercially responsible,
this ratio is 50/50.
The lower two types in figure 1, the “Cost-savers” and “Functionals”, see themselves as
fit for purpose in a static world. Here, complexity and coordination are managed with the
help of fixed routines and structures. Here, business planning, task and job descriptions
will be used. In this type of organization, management and control play first fiddle and in
the customer contact, “schedule push” is the default response: the customer should adapt
to the structure and organization of the company (supply driven processes, inside-out).
The “Outsourcers” and “Flexibles” see the world as dynamical and organize themselves
on that. These are the organizations in the upper half of the model. The time horizon will
be smaller and planning takes place bottom-up on the basis of demand driven processes.
The dynamics with which these organizations work, are among other things caused by the
developments in the field of the Internet and e-business. In these organizations, networking,
usually with the help of the Internet, is the default enabler for the internal coordination.
These companies interact with their customers not on the basis of “schedule push”, but
through “reality pull”: they are equipped to bring in the real customer demand (outside-in).
There is no value judgment on the various 3C segments. Everyone can be good “in his
own way”.
39
42. 40
How do you recognize the four different types of organizations?
“Cost savers” obviously will more than other 3C segments opt for cost-saving.
Price/performance is secondary as a standard for decision making and ICT is a
cost centre. Standardisation, simple management and a conservative approach in the
implementation of new techniques are among others the identifiers with which you can
send off your salesmen to determine which script they have to pull from their bags.
In this type of organization, the product/work order is at the focus. The order or
commission should be processed in this as cheaply as possible.
“Functionals” more or less put up with the complexity of the customer demand.
You recognize these organizations for instance by the functional organization structure
and standardized service. ICT departments are on an average somewhat larger than
with all others, but they do form a cost centre. Contrary to “Cost savers”, a majority
of “Functionals” chooses innovation in stead of cost saving. With the focus on
market/process, the complex demand is interpreted into standardized service.
Just like with the “Cost savers”, cost benefits are achieved by standardization.
“Outsourcers” are characterized among other things by standardization, cost-saving and
use of proven techniques. In this type of company, the product/market process is at the
focus, in which standard products and standard packages for a large group of customers
are processed. ICT is a cost centre and is often organized through outsourcing.
There is no innovation focus. They handle the dynamic world just by sourcing out and
by standardisation. Organization and ICT advisory consultants have the best chance
of doing business in this target group. 30% let themselves be advised on the set-up of
the set of requirements, in relation to an average 10% in the other three segments.
The last 3C segment is formed by the “Flexibles”. With these organizations, the focus lies
on flexibility and innovation and ICT is not aimed at standardisation, but on the need of
company and employee. Not continuity and cost-saving, but flexibility is the survival
strategy. They seem to be more enterprising and venture upon more risk. As it is, 48%
of this 3C segment chooses for more own risk and variable costs. This is more than with
the other 3C segments. The customer/service is at the focus and the interpretation of the
ICT facility is therefore aimed at the individual need of company and employee. In this,
ICT is clearly a profit centre. Furthermore it is interesting that “Flexibles” more often opt
for innovative ICT.
43. 41
We give a few examples
“Google” shows that this traditional segmentation is still amply present. We all still neatly
distinguish between SME (small- and medium-scaled enterprises) and the big ones and
see branch as distinguishing. But is that really so logical? As if every MKB-business would
want a standard product and every bank in the financial sector would be the same, for
instance. Our results show that market segments can better be defined on the basis of
how the company sees the customer and expresses that interaction.
Take the hotel business, a service branch with various interpretations. A top class hotel
delivers made-to-measure work for a “complex” customer demand. Adapting these hotels
to the ever changing demands of “King” Customer requires an innovative approach.
It delivers made-to-measure work by a flexible organization and good staff who listen well
to what the customer wants before, during and after their stay (reality pull). What does
such a hotel want from its supplier? Rapid performance optimisation and solutions aimed
at the specific need. This hotel knows the exact wishes and creates its own list of
demands and wishes. This determines how you, as a supplier, connects best with this
innovative customer and which script you have to produce. In our 3C market segmentation
model, we call this market segment “Flexibles”.
In that same hotel business you also find standardized made-to-measure work.
Many facilities in this hotel chain, such as the menu, cleaning, arrival and departure
times were planned long ago and also leave little room for flexibility. Contrary to the
“made-to-measure” hotel, more is standardized and planned here, a static approach of the
complex customer demand.. Just like the “Flexibles”, this target group, the “Functionals”,
tries to interpret a complex customer demand with service, but has standardized more.
Complexity and interaction with the customer are managed by focus on management and
control, various standardized processes (schedule push) and with an open eye for
innovation. It is only logical that this company will opt for standardized products and
services with a good price/performance ratio. As a supplier, you will then know what to do
to appease this customer.
On the left-hand side of the horizontal axis is the simple customer demand. Simplicity,
standardisation and cost-saving predominate with hotels with a “schedule push” focus.
Yield requires far-reaching standardisation: strip frills and choose cheap locations.
44. 42
No flexibility and no innovation. Adjustments in the supply to the customer is much too
expensive here and the customer does not expect that either. Management is about cost
reduction. Guess with which script you now approach these so-called “Cost-savers”.
If this commodity offer is not sufficient for the future guest, the hotel may feel compelled,
because of the customer demand, to upgrade its service (reality pull), the “Outsourcer”
will enlarge the dynamics by packaging with other parties, which complete the offer or
make it cheaper. This can for instance be done by cooperation with other parties in the
field of entertainment, transport, recreation etcetera. This brings us to the fourth market
segment. They outsource everything that someone can do cheaper and are characterized
by standardisation, simplicity and cost-saving. For this segment, too, a fitting proposition
can be made. In the hotel business, this classification seems to go together with the
number of stars of the hotel.
Also suitable for consumers’ markets34
A customer wants a piece of furniture for his home:
Flexible. A customer makes a design himself and goes to a flexible furniture
maker with that who makes the piece to measure.
Functional. A customer and many with him want the same piece of furniture.
He searches for a functional supplier with a standardized process who makes
this piece according to specification as a standardized made-to-measure work.
Cost-saver. A customer wants a cheap piece of furniture and searches for a
supplier with a standardized and optimalized production process that is geared
to large numbers, in which much has been learnt from many feedbacks.
The customer cannot influence this. That would only make the process more
expensive.
Outsourcer. A customer wants a furnished house and searches for a party
who designs the interior and searches for matching furniture or has it made.
The outsourcer makes a design and searches for matching furniture.
34 Article Siebelink, J. (2005), “Opzij, Kotler (Out of the way, Kotler)”. In: Tijdschrift voor Marketing,
September 2005, p.22 etc.
45. 43
Then where are the customers of the consultants?35
The type of passionate outsourcer. That is what the organization consultant or the
ICT-supplier needs these days. But where do you find that? Suppose you do a research,
as an accountmanager of a firm of consultants, into a company. In order to book this as
a prospect. Does it strike you that their product/market process is at the focus? That they
handle standard products and packages for a large group of customers? That ICT to them
is a cost centre and is organized through outsourcing? And that they do not have a clear
innovation focus? Start phoning those blokes! Good chance that you are in luck there.
Division
Since the 3C research, the world has been divided into “Flexibles”, “Functionals”,
“Cost-savers” and “Outsourcers”. Salesmen can now get going with scripts to identify
potential customers as being one of the four. For instance, a salesman will recognize a
“Cost-saver” by his standardized service and functional organization structure. This one
will want to produce as cheaply as possible and does not let the customer intervene in
that process. Easy to find because on the Internet or in the shop this will look quite
different from that of the Flexible. That one will let the customer take full control.
Furthermore, a Functional will care more about innovation than about cost-saving but
will interpret the complex market demand into a standardized product.
But now the segment of the “Outsourcer”, the land of milk and honey for advisors. Just as
the Flexibles, they see the world as dynamic and with that they organize themselves.
Their time horizon is small and planning takes place bottom-up on the basis of demand
driven processes. They are characterized by standardization, cost-saving and use of
proven techniques. They control the dynamic world by outsourcing and standardization.
In this target group, consultants make the best chance of doing business. “30 Percent
has itself be advised on setting up a set of requirements, in relation to an average of
10 percent in the other three segments”.
Disappointment
Not surprisingly, the disappointment will be big if it turns out that the Outsourcers’
willingness to invest is not so big. With the Cost-savers they belong to the frugal type.
Therefore, if you as a business consultant really want to sell packages, beside advice,
you had better aim at the Flexibles and Functionals.
35 See footnote 34.
46. 44
To them, ICT is a profit centre and they gladly will opt for innovative solutions. But then,
they like advice less...
In fact, you can put any customer demand in the 3C model and you can typify any
company with this. Have you already decided which type you want to be? And who you
then want to have for customers?
New perspectives for research
Our research offers the user the opportunity to segment any organization within 3C.
This can be either outside-in, by assessing how this organization deals with its customer
demand and environment, or inside-out, by putting choices before the organization.
Also a combination as in 3C is possible. This is useful for decision makers, salesmen and
marketers, who have to be able to identify and distinguish themselves or someone else.
That has a value in its own right.
There are indications that the customer, therefore the reality, is getting more fickle and,
in terms of the segmentation schedule, is moving upwards. For instance, have a look
at developments in the field of e-commerce, the use of online trading places and
communication techniques based on Internet technology. An increasing importance of
reality pull requires increasing organization on flexibility, is our opinion. It is interesting to
find out whether this will also happens in the years to come and whether organizations
will take up their own innovation.
Mind you, flexibility turns out to also be a wish of both “Outsourcers” and the
“Functionals” in relation to the behaviour of their suppliers. Reality pull, bringing in the
customer-demand, is necessary to keep pace with the real change in customer-demand
and environment. A follow-up research question can be why this is being forced upon
others, but thus far is considered unnecessary for the own organization. By the way, there
are examples where they do let the customer take over control and where this lead to
30% to 70% improved efficiency36. After that, the organization may decide to once again
choose the best fit within this perspective for made-to-measure work, outsourcing,
standardized service or cost-saving. There will be no time for unnecessary complexity
and control then and will neither be needed with the use of internet technology.
36 See chapter 5 of this book.
47. 45
From the increasing importance of flexibility we expect that organizations will more and
more start to behave like a collection of small entrepreneurs and communicational
excellence will be the critical success factor. A golden future for the franchise.
About evolution and survival, Charles Darwin said: “Those most responsive to change
are most likely to survive”. Against this background, less than a quarter of the Dutch
organizations seem “fit for the future”. That is bad news for the chance of success of the
Lisbon agenda in the Netherlands. In a time where people discuss the Netherlands
innovation land as a survival strategy in the dynamic market, is there still room for
schedule push and should reality pull not be the default response? Would this be different
in other countries? We will keep you informed. By the way, you as an entrepreneur
choose your own 3 C’s. It is your move.
48. 46
4 What you see is what you get,
the Internet turns everyone into a salesman
Peter van den Heuvel, Frans van der Reep and Jessica Loudon
What you see is what you get is a familiar saying when it is about computer and internet,
often abbreviated to WYSIWYG. It enables, when creating for instance an Internet site,
the editor or programmer to see what the result will finally look like on the screen.
Of course it would be great if you could see, real-time, the result of your organization
changes with the WYSIWYG principle, with a direct response from your customers.
The Internet offers you that opportunity and the question is how companies use the
possibilities of the Internet and which influence this has on the various tasks in the
organization. Did you already develop a vision on that, which is geared with and to the
external market? And have you got everybody in your organization in sight and “aligned”
who has to operate this vision? For you, we examined which shifts can be seen in the
commercial positions in the organization as a direct result of the “(Inter)nettization” of the
market and the management. Here, we look at the set-up consequences for Marketing
and Sales and the shifts in HRM and in competence profiles.
This time, 323 companies with over 20 employees were interviewed, to whom once again
eleven options were put37. Once more, this produces four statistically significant segments
with the distinction by outsourcing, flexibility, functionality and cost-saving, independent of
sector and size of category. The first time, the assumption was that this also applied to
companies with less than two hundred employees, but this time we can whole-heartedly
substantiate it statistically.
The positions of the respondents vary from Marketing manager/ director (27%), Commercial
manager/director (20%), General Managing Director (22%), to Sales Manager (13%),
Manager further (8%), Executive Board general (4%), Manager Marketing and Sales (3%)
and remaining (3%).
37 See chapter 3 of this book.
49. 47
Set-up of the commercial organization
The new 3C picture can be found in table 1. We put the choices by the persons
commercially responsible next to the choices by the ICT decision makers.
The figures express the percentages of the choices within the segment.
38 Synstar and BMC Software, research December 2004; 71% of the respondents in this Dutch research
indicates that there is no Business – IT alignment.
Table 1
Do you see the similarities and differences? Do you recognize yourself in these choices?
Insufficient alignment ICT and business
The 3C table (table 1) and various other researches38 show that the pressure on
ICT-personnel to adopt an attitude as commercials is getting higher and higher.
This is caused by the more and more direct link of IT and business. ICT-personnel
choose controllability, where the commercials choose ability to earn,
as shown below.
Simple demand Complex demand
ehcsimanyD
gnivegmo
ehcsitatS
gnivegmo
3C
Cost-savers Functionals
ICT by own staff
Standardization
Better price/performance
Functionality
Make own set of requirements
Proven techniques
Continuity
Arrange innovation yourself
Performance optimization
Fixed costs
Innovation
72
43*
100
100
94
34*
100
82
65
28*
97
94
91
88
88
86
78
78
78
74
71
69
96
93
93
92
90
90
79
77
74
67
62
63
100
100
71
81
58
97
27*
81
81
35*
Cost-saving
Make own set of requirements
ICT by own staff
Continuity
Proven techniques
Standardization
Arrange innovation yourself
Simple maintenance
Performance optimization
Fixed costs
Saving in stead of price/perform.
96
94
87
87
85
85
79
70
68
62
62
78
79
97
85
81
76
33*
86
74
93
50
Standardization
Outsourcing
Proven techniques
One party arranges innovation
Performance optimization
Continuity
Simple maintenance
Make own set of requirements
Fixed costs
Cost-saving
Better price/performance
Outsourcers
Individual need
Make own set of requirements
Better price/performance
ICT by own staff
Proven techniques
Innovation
Arrange innovation yourself
Flexibility
Performance optimization
Functionality
Fixed costs
73
86
77
55
67
90
58
77
40*
75
52
97
91
77
74
71
70
65
61
61
55
52
Flexibels
Com % ICT % Com % ICT %
Com % ICT % Com % ICT %
* Deviation choices Commercial staff in relation to ICT-staff
3C
Cost-savers Functionals
ICT by own staff
Standardization
Better price/performance
Functionality
Make own set of requirements
Proven techniques
Continuity
Arrange innovation yourself
Performance optimization
Fixed costs
Innovation
72
43*
100
100
94
34*
100
82
65
28*
97
94
91
88
88
86
78
78
78
74
71
69
96
93
93
92
90
90
79
77
74
67
62
63
100
100
71
81
58
97
27*
81
81
35*
Cost-saving
Make own set of requirements
ICT by own staff
Continuity
Proven techniques
Standardization
Arrange innovation yourself
Simple maintenance
Performance optimization
Fixed costs
Saving in stead of price/perform.
96
94
87
87
85
85
79
70
68
62
62
78
79
97
85
81
76
33*
86
74
93
50
Standardization
Outsourcing
Proven techniques
One party arranges innovation
Performance optimization
Continuity
Simple maintenance
Make own set of requirements
Fixed costs
Cost-saving
Better price/performance
Outsourcers
Individual need
Make own set of requirements
Better price/performance
ICT by own staff
Proven techniques
Innovation
Arrange innovation yourself
Flexibility
Performance optimization
Functionality
Fixed costs
73
86
77
55
67
90
58
77
40*
75
52
97
91
77
74
71
70
65
61
61
55
52
Flexibels
Com % ICT % Com % ICT %
Com % ICT % Com % ICT %
* Deviation choices Commercial staff in relation to ICT-staff
Complex demandSimple demand
Dynamic
environment
Static
environment
50. 48
ICT chooses Commercial chooses
Proven techniques New ICT technology
Simple maintenance Functionality
Fixed costs Variable costs
Standardisation Individual need company/employee
Cost-saving Price/performance ratio
For ICT decision makers it is, of course, very useful to standardize as much as possible
and to choose for proven techniques, since that makes control cheaper and easier to
implement. If one sees the environment change rapidly and the impact is large, then the
customer will intervene more in the organization and the commercial choices will become
more and more guiding.
Entrepreneurs react differently to the changes they see
Companies do not react to reality, but obviously to their perception of reality. We examined
whether that perception differs per segment and how the company then sees the impact
on his company. From that assessment of the impact, it has been examined to which
adjustments this leads in the task division between the departments Marketing and Sales.
It has also been examined in which communication and business application investments
were made and for which reason.
The following table (nr. 2) shows how the perception of increasing speed and the
increasing impact on the organization relate to each other.
Table 2
low to
moderate
high very high
speed:
% respons
low to moderate 63% 19% 5% 34%
high 37% 66% 18% 52%
very high 0% 15% 77% 14%
100% 100% 100% 100%
impact: % repsons 36% 57% 7%
impact of these changes on your organisation
perception of speed
of external changes
that influence is….
