ISCM Home  »  Sponsors  »  Events  »   2000   »   Intel Supply Network University Day

hosted by

Manufacturing Technology Committee
Chandler, Arizona Facility

The Swarm Economy

Individuals and small groups operate in fluid networks to achieve specific results

Structure of Commerce

• Highly dynamic environment with constantly shifting sources of value-edge of chaos
• Individuals with highly valuable e-business skills or "star quality" brand recognition command ever greater share of wealth created through their efforts
  • Knowledge workers fit for the new economy have migrated out of large incumbents into equity-oriented startups
  • Many individuals stay as independent free agents and subcontract to interesting projects
• "Swarm" structures in which simple rules enable large numbers of individuals or small groups to create complex, coordinated systems are popular and effective
  • Open markets for talent and capital enable fast and flexible monetizing of new concepts opportunities
  • In general, there are lower barriers to entry in all markets
  • The behavior of the many small entities overwhelms the big firms who can't adapt
  • Individuals are able to exert more control over when and how they work
• Swarms are actually very stable except around the edges

Business Architecture

• Businesses compete more for talent than for customers; if they have talent they get customers
  • Company culture and employee value propositions are critical
  • Giving individuals clear objectives and then empowering them to succeed is the norm, not command and control hierarchies
• Individuals often commit only to individual projects and to being part of a particular team, not to the firm-traditional loyalty is less common all the time
  • Companies buy and sell teams of workers
• Businesses often shrink and expand to accommodate changing conditions, tapping into the dynamic skills markets
• Staying small is critical to staying agile and attracting the best and brightest
  • Most businesses cleave into smaller units once they reach more than a few hundred workers
  • Spinoffs are very common

Enablers

• Online coordination and collaboration systems enable distributed teams of e-lancers to come together for projects on short notice
• Tools and processes for effective knowledge management are key to increasing the effectiveness of more workers
• Individualized contracts for each employee are common
• Swarm algorithms enable highly distributed and decentralized systems architectures that can scale without limits and are less vulnerable than centralized approaches
  • Processing and storage are everywhere
  • Open source approaches dominate creation of platform software
• European governments relax restrictions on temporary employment