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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