Author: David Cushman
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Reviewer: Ian Smith, UK head of marketing, Harris Interactive
An open business is one which: ‘Inspires and drives those inside the organisation while attracting and enabling crowds of supporters outside. In so doing they access a wealth of resource that closed businesses have put up barriers to.’
This is the general thrust of the very compelling case presented by author, David Cushman, in which he outlines 10 Principles for Open Business, supported with in-depth case studies and interviews with some of open’s leading proponents.
Within the book, Cushman outlines the tangible business benefits of pursuing each open principle as well as highlighting some of the risks, concluding each chapter with a summary; a score card with goal state/worst case – to reflect on your organisation’s current position, and suggested first steps to move your business further along the open road.
The leading proponents of open business are sometimes surprising. Few would raise an eyebrow at learning Google, Amazon and Apple are all built on open business principles. But Tesco – an open business really?
At times this book really challenged my thinking, and introduced me to some new concepts such as open capital. This is the idea of using crowd-funding platforms or principles to raise capital through micro-investments.
When scoring my own organisation against the ‘Goal states’ and ‘Worst case scenarios’, I was surprised at how far along the open road we appear to have travelled – without ‘Open’ being the primary objective. This suggests to me that open business is less a paradigm shift and perhaps more an evolution which, powered by technology, intuitively makes sense as a mode of operation in today’s connected world.
The book will get you thinking about ways in which you can apply the open business ethos to benefit your business, direct stakeholders and society in general. open business is our present and our future. You can’t afford to ignore that, or this book – ‘Open up, and win!’
Star Rating: 4/5
