Speaking
I speak on
topics related to business, strategy and technology. From conceiving and implementing
FAST strategies to pragmatic technology approaches, I seek to challenge traditional
assumptions and help uncover simple, yet profitable solutions best suited to
your company's situation. Get details >>
Papers
- Moving
from Push to Pull - Emerging Models for Mobilizing Resources
(PDF)
John Hagel and John Seely Brown
- Capturing
the Real Value from Offshoring in Asia (PDF)
John Hagel
- The
Agile Dance of Architectures Reframing IT Enabled Business Opportunities
(PDF)
John Hagel and John Seely Brown
- Overview
of Working Paper Series (PDF)
John Hagel and John Seely Brown
- Break
On Through to the Other Side: A Missing Link in Redefining the Enterprise
(PDF)
John Hagel and John Seely Brown
- The
Secret to Creating Value from Web Services Today: Start Simply (PDF)
John Hagel, John Seely Brown and Dennis Layton-Rodin
- Service
Grids: The Missing Link in Web Services (PDF)
John Hagel and John Seely Brown
- Some
Security Considerations for Service Grids (PDF)
Martin Milani and John Seely Brown
- Control
versus Trust: Mastering a Different Management Approach (PDF)
John Hagel and John Seely Brown
- Orchestrating
Business Processes - Harnessing the Value of Web Services Technology (PDF)
John Hagel and John Seely Brown
- Orchestrating
Loosely Coupled Business Processes: The Secret to Successful Collaboration
(PDF)
John Hagel, John Seely Brown and Scott Durchslag
-
Blog:
"Edge Perspectives"
-
Viewpoint
-
Strategy and Technology Newsletter
- Books
- Articles
- Working Papers
I have finally launched a more traditional blog called Edge Perspectives. I will continue to offer more detailed commentary in postings here to (see Viewpoint), but I feel a need for a place where I can post shorter items and where you can contribute reactions to my postings. I hope you will join me at Edge Perspectives where I will be able to stay in touch more frequently.
Viewpoint
From
Push to Pull (October
16, 2005)
Restoring the Power of Brands (July 12, 2005)
Productive
Friction A Key to Accelerating Business Innovation (March
22, 2005)
Innovation Blowback (Jan 19, 2005)
Capturing the Real Value from Offshoring (April 4, 2004)
The Agile Dance of Architectures (Feb 4, 2004)
Capital vs. Talent? Strategies for Maximizing the Value of Talent (October 22, 2003)
The Pitfalls of Early Web Services Adoption (July 16, 2003)
FAST Strategy (May 20, 2003)
IT Does Matter (May 15, 2003)
Shifting
Architectures - IT, Business and Iraq (April
3, 2003)
Two Laws for Creating Wealth (Feb 3, 2003)
When Will Tech Spending Revive? (Dec 26, 2002)
Coping With Margin Squeeze (Nov 6, 2002)
Loosely Coupled: A Term Worth Understanding (Oct.9, 2002)
Restructuring the Enterprise (August 20, 2002)
Where Will Web Services Be Deployed? - Part 2 (July 20, 2002)
Where
Will Web Services Be Deployed? - Part 1
(June
25, 2002)
Lessons
Learned: Martha Stewart vs. AOL! (June 1, 2002)
Hagel's
Strategy & Technology Letter
I am preparing to issue a subscription-based monthly newsletter to help put you in the flow. Learn more.
The
Only Sustainable Edge: Why Business Strategy Depends On Productive Friction
And Dynamic Specialization,
John Hagel and John Seely Brown, Harvard Business School Press;
May, 2005
The Only Sustainable Edge makes the case that executives need to fundamentally re-think business strategy at three levels: sources of strategic advantage, management techniques required to build this advantage and approaches to developing business strategy. Starting with a perspective on offshoring and related outsourcing trends, the book shows how these trends will force companies around the world to reassess specialization, connectivity and learning in order to get better faster. While the world is flattening, it is paradoxically also creating new opportunities to build much more powerful forms of strategic advantage - but only for those who understand how to compete in a flatter world. Information technology is playing a key supporting role and the book discusses how new generations of IT will support new business strategies. In a Prologue and Epilogue, we also explore the public policy implications of the forces reshaping the global business landscape.
For more information
and ongoing research, visit www.edgeperspectives.com
Out
of the Box: Strategies for Achieving Profits Today and Growth Tomorrow
through Web Services
By John Hagel, III
Available
from Harvard Business School Press. Like my other books, it can be read
on many levels. It is the first book designed to help executives understand
the business implications of Web services technology. It demonstrates
that this technology will have a profound impact on traditional enterprises,
driven by compelling economics. But that is just the starting point. It
focuses more broadly on the changes in business practices that
will be required to continue to create value in markets shaped
by intensifying competition. Even more fundamentally, it highlights a
profound shift in mindset that must occur for businesses to succeed
in the decades ahead.
Net
Worth: Shaping Markets When Customers Make the Rules
By John Hagel, III and Marc Singer
This
book popularized the term "infomediary". A business book
best-seller that has been translated into ten languages, Net Worth also
can be read on many levels. It develops a detailed view of the infomediary
business opportunity - to serve as an agent on behalf of customers,
helping them to capture information about themselves and to use this information
to make them even more effective in extracting more value from vendors.
More broadly, it highlights the important role that customer information
- and the related controversies around privacy - will play in
shaping relationships and value creation opportunities on electronic networks.
Expanding further, it traces the power of economic webs, using
economic incentives to mobilize the resources of third parties to advance
your own business strategy. At another level, it helps executives to understand
the changes that will be required to adapt to markets where customers
gain more power, including a very different form of marketing - collaboration
marketing. Underneath all that, it makes the case that electronic
networks have significant power to reshape business relationships
and that companies should understand and exploit the distinctive capabilities
of these networks.
Net Gain: Expanding Markets through Virtual Communities
By John Hagel, III and Arthur G. Armstrong
Described
as "subversive" by Esther Dyson, Net Gain makes the case for
virtual communities as a new kind of business model. Another
business book best-seller that has been translated into ten languages,
Net Gain argues that community and commerce are not at odds with each
other. If properly understood, they have the potential to significantly
reinforce each other. Pointing out that customers are coming together
in independent forums to talk about vendors, the book indicates that companies
do not have a choice about this - their only choice will be what role
to play in these conversations. Rather than thinking about marketing as
a one-to-one relationship with one vendor communicating with one customer
at a time, marketing must be reconceived as a more complex orchestration
of relationships, helping customers to connect with each other as well
as with other vendors. The key theme of the book is that electronic
networks offer distinctive capabilities and companies need to develop
innovative new business approaches to effectively exploit these capabilities.
Edited
Collections
"Integrating
Human Capital Strategies into the Overall Business Strategy," contribution
to Leaders
Talk Leadership:Top Executives Speak Their Minds Meredith D. Ashby
and Stephen A. Miles (eds.) (Oxford University Press, 2002). Discusses
the implications of the ability of talent to capture increasing value
in business environments. Suggests companies will need to develop
more creative and leveraged human capital strategies to continue to attract
world-class talent and generate additional economic value for shareholders.
Harvard
Business Review
"Feed
R&D - Or Farm It Out?"
(HBR Case
Study with Commentary co-authored with John Seely Brown), July 2005 -
Addresses a specific company's dilemma regarding offshoring and outsourcing
by applying the concept of productive friction. Discusses the specific
requirements to make productive friction work.
"Productive Friction: How Difficult Business Partnerships Can Accelerate Innovation" (co-authored with John Seely Brown), February 2005 - Explores the importance of productive friction as a management technique to promote innovation and learning across company boundaries. Drawing on examples of companies around the world, it suggests that most companies are missing significant opportunities to get better faster by working with others.
Does
IT Matter? (letter to editor co-authored with John Seely Brown in
response to Nick Carr article Does IT Matter?) June 2003 Provides
an extensive rebuttal to the perspective offered by Nick Carr, making
the case that strategic advantage can still be enabled by information
technology, but that companies need to learn from the experiences of the
past decade in order to harness the full potential of the technology.
"Leveraged Growth: Expanding Sales Without Sacrificing Profits" October 2002 - Discusses an innovative new approach to growth that involves accessing and mobilizing the resources of other companies to add more value to one's own customers. Profiles a number of companies including Li & Fung who are pursuing innovative leveraged growth strategies. Bottom line: an opportunity to meet growing pressures for profitability and growth.
"Your
Next IT Strategy" (co-authored with John Seely Brown), October
2001 - Analyzes the experience of companies with the early adoption of
Web services technology and highlights the pragmatic approach that
can quickly generate tangible business value.
"Unbundling the Corporation" (co-authored with Marc Singer),
March-April 1999 - Suggests that most companies today represent
an unnatural bundle of three very different businesses and urges
executives to ask the most fundamental question of all: "What business
are we really in?"
"The Coming Battle for Customer Information" (co-authored with Jeffrey Rayport), January-February 1997 - Developed the concept of "infomediary" - a business working as an agent on behalf of customers, helping them to maximize the value of their information profiles. Suggests that electronic networks will increase the power of consumers, allowing them to assert ownership over information about themselves and to demand value in exchange for access to this information
"The Real Value of On-Line Communities" (co-authored with Arthur Armstrong), May-June 1996 - Explores the opportunity to use electronic networks to help people to interact with each other, taking a well-known social phenomenon - the spontaneous emergence of virtual communities - and developing the commercial potential. Suggests that companies creating on-line communities will command significant customer loyalty and generate strong economic returns.
McKinsey
Quarterly
"From
Push to Pull: The Next Frontier of Innovation" (co-authored with John
Seely Brown), 2005, No.3 - Discusses a fundamental shift in how institutions
mobilize resources, moving from push models to pull models. While
this shift is driven by the desire for greater flexibility, institutions
are finding that pull models are very powerful in supporting innovation.
This shift is occurring a wide range of arenas in response to fundamental
forces re-shaping our business landscape. The shift will be difficult
for many institutions, but they will be increasingly vulnerable to new
pull-based players if they fail to master the techniques of pull.
"Innovation
Blowback: Disruptive Management Practices from Asia" (co-authored
with John Seely Brown), 2005, No. 1 - Suggests that most executives
are thinking much too narrowly about the strategic role of emerging economies
like China and India. These economies are certainly important as growth
engines for many companies. However, they are even more important as significant
catalysts in business innovation as companies strive to serve demanding
customers in these markets. Makes the case that these economies will
be a seedbed for disruptive innovations that will ultimately support attacker
strategies targeting entrenched players in more developed economies.
"Offshoring
Goes on the Offensive" 2004 Number 2
Observes that most companies fail to capture the real value of offshoring
because they continue view it solely as a way to save money. Sophisticated
companies are beginning to realize that offshoring provides an opportunity
to access distinctive capabilities through new forms of high performing
organizations. A few companies are beginning to use these capabilities
for offensive purposes to drive growth and to restructure entire industries,
rather than simply focusing on defensive efforts to reduce costs.
Flexible IT, Better
Strategy (co-authored with John Seely Brown) 2003 Number 4 Compares
flexible service-oriented architectures to the more rigid IT architectures
that preceded them, concentrating on communicating the business value
of these new architectures. Urges executives to focus on IT architecture
issues because, in the past, IT architectures have been a significant
constraint on building strategic advantage and now they provide a foundation
for building strategic advantage.
"Spider versus Spider" 1996, No. 1 - Analyzes economic webs - a powerful new approach to mobilize the resources of other companies to support your own business strategy. Proposes that the use of economic incentives and more informal relationships provides far more reach and economic power than traditional alliances or joint ventures. This concept was explored further in Net Worth.
Edging
Into Web Services 2002, No. 4 - Observes that Web services are
being adopted in production deployments first at the edge of the enterprise,
helping to automate connections in business processes that extend across
multiple enterprises, because this is where the technology has its most
distinctive advantage. Predicts that adoption over time will extend
back into operations within the enterprise
"Loosening Up: How Process Networks Unlock the Power of Specialization" (co-authored with John Seely Brown and Scott Durchslag) 2002, No. 2 - Makes the case for a modular and loosely coupled approach to managing business processes as a way to encourage increasing specialization and spur innovation. Discusses the emergence of process networks as management implements a new approach to process orchestration.
"Unbundling the Corporation" (co-authored with Marc Singer) 2000, No. 3 - Reprint of Harvard Business Review article suggesting that most companies today represent an unnatural bundle of three very different businesses and urging executives to ask the most fundamental question of all: "What business are we really in?"
"Private Lives" (co-authored with Marc Singer) 1999, No. 1 - Excerpt from Net Worth discussing the growing economic power of consumers and the infomediary business opportunity, helping customers to capture information about themselves and to use this information to become even more helpful to customers.
"The New Infomediaries" 1997, No. 4 - Discusses different types of infomediary businesses likely to emerge in online environments and evaluates the capabilities of various categories of existing businesses to exploit the infomediary business opportunity.
"Retail Banking: Caught in a Web?" (Co-authored with Todd Hewlin and Todd Hutchings) 1997, No. 2 - Explores the opportunity for retail banks to exploit economic web strategies to focus on distinctive capabilities and create more economic value.
"Net Gain: Expanding Markets through Virtual Communities" (co-authored with Arthur Armstrong) 1997, No. 2 - Explores the impact of virtual community business opportunities on a variety of business functions including marketing and human resources. Adapted from a chapter of Net Gain.
"Who Will Benefit from Virtual Information?" (co-authored with A.M. Sacconaghi) 1996, No. 3 - Analyzes four different scenarios regarding the possible evolution of information capture in online environments and discusses the implications for economic value creation. This is the first article to suggest that customers may have an opportunity to capture information about themselves and use it to bargain more effectively with vendors.
"Real Profits from Virtual Communities" (co-authored with Arthur Armstrong) 1995, No. 3 - This is the first article to suggest that the social phenomenon of virtual communities on electronic networks might be leveraged to create new kinds of business opportunities.
"Fallacies in Organizing for Performance" 1994, No. 2 - Identifies common mistakes made by management as they seek to build higher performance organizations. Maintains that the best way to proceed is in rapid incremental waves driven by clear performance metrics and frequent milestones
"The CEO as Chief Performance Officer" 1993, No. 4 - Insists
that one of the primary tasks of the CEO is to make the invisible visible
- to establish explicit links between the strategy of the firm, the
key operational performance metrics implied by the strategy and the core
operating processes required to deliver this performance to the marketplace
Business
2.0
"Shift into Reverse" (co-authored with Marc Singer) March 1999
- Excerpt from Net Worth discusses how marketing will need to evolve
to respond to the growing power of customers
CIO
Magazine
"The
Joy of Flex" (co-authored with John Seely Brown), September 1, 2005
- Discusses the role of loose coupling delivering both flexibility
and the potential for accelerated innovation, not just at the technology
level but also the business level. Makes the case that CIO's can become
significant players in the next wave of business innovation by working
closely with non-technology business executives to understand the power
of loose coupling.
"Go
Slowly with Web Services" (co-authored with John Seely Brown
and Dennis Layton-Rodin), February 15, 2002 - Urges senior management
to adopt Web services technology using a pragmatic incremental approach
focused on generating tangible economic value and enhancing learning opportunities
Corporate
Dealmaker
Journal
of Interactive Marketing
"Net Gain: Expanding Markets through Virtual Communities" Winter
1999 - Examines the implications of a new virtual community business
model. Adapted from keynote speech to Direct Marketing Association
conference
Optimize
Magazine
"The
Shifting Industrial Landscape" (co-authored with John Seely Brown),
April 1, 2005 - Indicates that the sources of sustainable competitive
advantage are shifting and in the future will come from a capacity to
work closely with other highly specialized companies around the globe
to get better faster. Discusses the management techniques and new
generations of information technologies that can help to build this form
of strategic advantage.
"The Innovation/Productivity Quotient" (co-authored with John Seely Brown) February 2004 - Focuses on business innovation as the missing link required to generate productivity improvements from IT investment. Proposes that a combination of high tech, soft touch and loose coupling will be required to drive the next wave of business innovation. High tech refers to the emergence of new IT architectures providing more flexibility. Soft touch refers to the use of social software to help mobilize knowledge within and across enterprises. Loose coupling refers to a more modular way of organizing IT and human resources to enhance innovation capability
"Step Into Action: Challenges and Benefits of Adopting
Real Time Systems" March 2003 - Provides senior management with a balanced
view of the real time enterprise concept, arguing that it is both too
broad and too narrow. Makes the case for a focused approach to delivering
business value through IT investments designed to deliver real time performance
where it counts.
"Cut Loose from Old Business Processes" (co-authored with John Seely Brown) December 2001 - Suggests that a fundamentally new approach to management of business processes will be required to exploit the capabilities of new generations of information technology. Explores the role of an orchestrator in coordinating activities within business processes that span multiple enterprises
Release
1.0
"Service
Grids: The Missing Layer in Web Services" (co-authored with John Seely Brown)
December 2002 Focuses on the critical need for the emergence of service
grids to expand and accelerate the adoption of Web services technology.
Highlights some of the early companies offering service grid functionality
in the market today.
Software
Development
From
Tightly Bound to Loosely Coupled (co-authored with John Seely Brown)
September 2003 Makes the case that more loosely coupled technology
architectures enabled by Web services will require a fundamental re-thinking
of business processes. Business managers have an opportunity to develop loosely coupled
business processes to provide much more flexibility. Discusses the implications for the changing roles of IT managers
as well.
Wall
Street Journal
"A Web that Supports Rather than Traps" March 3, 1996 - Proposes
that economic webs represent a powerful new way to leverage the
resources of others by creating appropriate economic incentives.
I have
been working closely with John Seely Brown and others to research the
evolving interplay between new generations of information technology (especially
Web services and distributed service architectures) and new approaches
to business strategy, operations and organization. Some of our work has
been published (see above), but the published material is only the tip
of the iceberg. It also requires relatively long lead-times to reach the
audience. For this reason, we are providing access to key working papers
that provide more background regarding our thinking. Register
for early access to these free working papers.
From
Push to Pull - Emerging Models for Mobilizing Resources (PDF)
By John Hagel and John Seely Brown
Makes the case that institutions
confront a profound shift in how they mobilize resources. In more
stable times, push approaches have worked well to produce increasing efficiency
- anticipate where and when resources will be required and organize to
make sure that these resources are available at the appropriate place
and time. These approaches are now challenged by a fundamentally different
approach - pull platforms designed to help distributed participants access
resources where and when they need them. Lean manufacturing was an early,
partial step in this direction, but much more fully developed models are
emerging in arenas as diverse as global process networks for apparel,
motorcycles and electronics equipment as well as media, software and education.
Pull platforms not only provide greater flexibility, they are also
becoming essential for innovation, learning and capability building on
a global scale. This working paper offers a preview of some of the research
for our next book.
"Capturing
the Real Value of Offshoring in Asia" (PDF)
By John Hagel
Warns that most companies are missing the real value of offshoring. Focused
primarily on cost savings through wage arbitrage, these companies don't
realize that offshoring provides access to distinctive capabilities.
By mastering new approaches to building high performing organizations,
aggressive companies can harness offshoring capabilities and rapidly expand
their performance impact across a broader range of business activities.
This is an extraordinarily dynamic arena. Substantial value can be
created, but considerable economic value can be destroyed as well.
Offshoring is a strategic, as well as an operational, issue. In the
quest for near-term cost reduction, we have barely begun to grapple with
the strategic issues.
The
Agile Dance of Architectures Reframing IT Enabled Business Opportunity
(PDF)
By John Hagel and John Seely Brown
In contrast to the prevailing conventional wisdom that IT provides
diminishing strategic advantage, we assert that quite the opposite is
true: IT offers the potential of increasing strategic advantage. New
strategic architectures and IT architectures are emerging and intersecting
in ways that create significant business opportunity.
Senior managers must actively manage both of these architectures
in order to overcome organizational inertia and create the institutional
capability required to create strategic advantage.
Overview
of Working Paper Series (PDF)
By John Hagel and John Seely Brown
This is probably the best place for a new reader to start before
diving into individual Working Papers below. It places each of the Working
Papers into a broader context and will help readers to navigate
to find the Working Papers most appropriate for their needs.
Break
On Through to the Other Side: A Missing Link in Redefining the Enterprise
(PDF)
By John Hagel and John Seely Brown
Web services technology will have a subversive impact. Businesses
will rapidly adopt the technology because of a very pragmatic near-term
value proposition: with modest investment and relatively short lead-times
it can generate tangible operating cost and asset savings. The emergence
and evolution of a robust service grid will be key to accelerating adoption
of the technology in mission critical business processes. Once adopted,
the technology creates the potential for a powerful new growth platform
that will ultimately redefine the enterprise and generate significant
economic value for those who harness these growth platforms.
The
Secret to Creating Value from Web Services Today: Start Simply
(PDF)
By John Hagel, John Seely Brown and Dennis Layton-Rodin
How should businesses proceed to get the most economic value from
Web services technology? The key is to start simply, proceed incrementally
and learn from earlier initiatives.
Service
Grids: The Missing Link in Web Services (PDF)
By John Hagel and John Seely Brown
This working paper focuses attention on a key missing link in Web services
the need for robust service grids consisting of diverse enabling services
required to deliver mission critical functionality for application services.
It makes the case that the emergence of service grids will be a key
catalyst for broader adoption of Web services. The paper also speculates
on possible trajectories for the emergence and evolution of service
grids as well as implications for business value creation.
Some
Security Considerations for Service Grids (PDF)
By Martin Milani and John Seely Brown
Executives appropriately express significant concerns about security as
they proceed with the adoption of Web services. The technology will need
to adopt much more robust security functionality to meet the needs of
mission critical business processes. The good news is that Web services
technology provides a foundation for a much more flexible and robust
approach to security than previous generations of technology.
Control
versus Trust: Mastering a Different Management Approach (PDF)
By John Hagel and John Seely Brown
Business management tends to focus on control to ensure results. Process
manuals specify in detail the activities required. Management monitors
activities at a granular level to anticipate potential problems. As companies
find they must coordinate activities across multiple enterprises and provide
more flexibility, these control approaches prove less helpful.
Increasingly, management will need to master a different, trust-based
approach. They will need to accelerate the building of trust and in
particular become much more adept at the use of incentives to motivate
appropriate action.
Orchestrating
Business Processes - Harnessing the Value of Web Services Technology
(PDF)
By John Hagel and John Seely Brown
Web services technology enables a much more flexible, loosely coupled
technology architecture. To effectively create economic value from this
technology, companies will need to develop very different management approaches.
Today, we rely on hard-wired management approaches because that
was all our technology allowed. Now, we have an opportunity to adopt
a much more flexible, loosely coupled approach to business process management.
Those who master this new approach will generate significant wealth.
Orchestrating
Loosely Coupled Business Processes: The Secret to Successful Collaboration
(PDF)
By John Hagel, John Seely Brown and Scott Durchslag
Business collaboration remains abstract and irrelevant unless it is
firmly anchored in specific business processes. Coordination of business
processes across multiple enterprises requires a different approach to
business process management. Loosely coupled business processes require
new orchestration skills.
register for site updates >>
Blog
- EdgePerspectives blog
Books
The
Only Sustainable Edge: Why Business Strategy Depends on Productive Friction
and Dynamic Specialization
by John Hagel III and John Seely Brown
view ongoing
research:
www.edgeperspectives.com
ALSO
- Out
of the Box: Strategies for Achieving Profits Today and Growth Tomorrow through
Web Services
by John Hagel III
- Net
Worth: Shaping Markets When Customers Make the Rules
by John Hagel, III and Marc Singer
- Net
Gain: Expanding Markets through Virtual Communities
By John Hagel, III and Arthur G. Armstrong
Articles
- Phoning
from the Edge: What companies can learn from Google's efforts to reshape
the U.S. mobile communications business
(co-authored with John Seely Brown) BusinessWeek, Jan 09, 2008
- Creation Nets: Harnessing the Potential of Open Innovation (co-authored with John Seely Brown) April, 2006
- Funding Invention Vs. Managing Innovation (co-authored with John Seely Brown) BusinessWeek, Feb 16, 2005
- Connecting Globalization & Innovation: Some Contrarian Perspectives (Prepared for the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland January 25 30, 2006; co-authored with John Seely Brown)
- "The
Benefits of a Long Distance Relationship" (co-authored with John Seely Brown),
August 9, 2005
- "Feed R&D - Or Farm It Out?" (HBR Case Study with Commentary co-authored with John Seely Brown), July 2005
- "Productive Friction: How Difficult Business Partnerships Can Accelerate Innovation" (co-authored with John Seely Brown), February 2005
- "From Push to Pull: The Next Frontier of Innovation" (co-authored with John Seely Brown), 2005, No.3
- "Innovation Blowback: Disruptive Management Practices from Asia" (co-authored with John Seely Brown), 2005, No.1
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