February 12th, 2010
Recalculating Fiduciary Responsibility using P2P Economy
As you know, Wall Street and institutional investors have dug themselves a very large public relations hole. Many on Main Street speak loudly about the culture of greed which they believe led to the Great Recession. We at the ebTDesign Forum would advise members of the financial industry to abandon theories of Supply Economics and investigate the concept of P2P Economy.
P2P Economy is loosely based on International Political Economy within a social media context. International political economy, as we at the ebTDesign Forum define it, is the study of how people assess value and make business decisions that takes into account popular or direct democracy. Social media is a phenomenon of low-context cultures in which everyone’s opinions are valued.
Longtime readers of the ebTDesign Forum will recognize this line of reasoning as it relates to the post-Globalization marketplace and free market theory. What we think of today as capitalism is really a construct of the Cold War and the need to stem the tide of socialism that was sweeping the world in 1947. Today, we stand at a similar cross-road where we can either redefine free market theory using P2P Economy or we can watch the post-Globalization marketplace collapse.
This effort has to start with the recalculation of fiduciary responsibility and a reassessment of the value of arms length relationships. The strength of niche populist movements can be seen in the influence of social media networks. Institutional investors would do well to invest in new value systems which place a higher premium on the reputations of their brands and the trust they engender.
Zachary Alexander
Concepts: fiduciary responsibility, P2P Economy, social-media, value systemsFebruary 5th, 2009
Market Share and Industry Cluster Empowerment
During economic slowdowns, industry experts (tourists) hatch all kinds of schemes to increase market share and broaden the sales base. Unfortunately, many of these plans will violate the first rule of industry cluster empowerment. Do no harm.
Venture Capitalist and Angel Investors are creating additional pressure for executives at their portfolio companies by telling them they must conserve capital. However, they are not advising them of new opportunities to create influence through industry cluster empowerment.
We, at the ebTDesign Forum, advise our readers to try working with their peers before launching costly “go-it-alone” initiatives. Influence is the currency of the P2P Economy and leading an industry cluster empowerment program can raise the profile of a company dramatically. This will allow them to achieve name recognition without the same level of monetary costs.
Entrepreneur support professionals (guides) could do more to educate emerging business executives on the new rules of market share development. Instruct new entrepreneurs on how to use industry cluster empower to influence potential partners and customers. Help them find innovative ways to use all of the products and services the entrepreneur support community has to offer.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: guide, industry cluster, influence, P2P Economy, touristDecember 15th, 2008
Will the Computer Industry Survive the P2P Economy Transition?
We, at ebTDesign Forum, suggest that architects take a close look at using the P2P Economy transition planning process to shore up the computer industry. Our concern is that the computer industry will be the next aerospace industry. In the 1960’s, the Apollo program made aerospace the metaphor for America’s future. Government intervention caused it to grow at a non-sustainable rate. When the government pulled the plug on funding then the aerospace industry collapsed.
The computer industry is now seeing the same kind of government intense investment attention. The Washington DC area has the highest concentration of computer professionals in the United States. These computer workers are engaged predominately in government outsourcing. What happens when a future administration decides that data collation is not the best use of government resources or that the current level is good enough? The P2P Economy transition planning process may be the only way to save this vital industry in America.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: P2P Economy, transition-planningDecember 8th, 2008
What does the P2P Economy Mean to SAG Members?
Contrary to accounts by the mainstream media, A-list and working actors have as much to lose as those who seldom work. The proposed contract gives employers the right to chop up shows into bite-size morsels and feed them to YouTube without regard to the potential damage to the actor’s career. This issue alone should give everyone in the film industry a good reason to obtain a better understanding of distributed ownership and the P2P Economy.
Unfortunately, the time table for P2P Economy transition planning will be extremely short for SAG members. By February of next year, they will be dumped unceremoniously into the P2P Economy. The broadcast industry as we know it will cease to exist. Everything will be digital. Televisions will simply provide wireless access to evolving new media platforms. Movie theatres will share the same digital backbones that currently supply internet users.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: distributed-ownership, P2P Economy, SAG, transition-planningDecember 3rd, 2008
Additional Thoughts on P2P Economy Targeted Stimulus Package
Continuing to support only workforce options that date back to the 1940’s is the best way to ensure that the United States Economy never regains its rightful place in the global marketplace. In most cases, it’s not enough to simply add things to databases or execute canned programs. The transition from the last economic age to the P2P Economy and distributed ownership requires that the workforce be re-skilled in economic value creating jobs.
If President-Elect Obama truly wants to create a stimulus package worthy of the American people, he and his advisors will have to find ways to move people from the working and middle class into the creative class. This does not mean that all information workers will need to move immediately. However, they should be educated in the risks associated with staying in their current occupations and the availability of P2P Economy transition programs.
The American Dream has always shown as a beacon for those without hope on distant shores. It has illuminated oppression in outlaw regimes. Highlighted the opportunities for those willing to work hard and earn the trust of a grateful nation. This magical light of freedom must now be repositioned to guide the working and middle class in this country on their path to P2P Economy success.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: American-Dream, creative-class, global, Obama, P2P EconomyDecember 1st, 2008
The Need to Craft a P2P Economy Targeted Stimulus Package
Many small and micro business advocates are complaining that the current stimulus package is targeted at the same transnational companies that have been laying-off workers since the 1970’s. They have also voiced their concerns about how much road projects will benefit the American Economy. The next great economic age will have little need for common laborers. Everyone will need to have some degree of specialization to be successful in the P2P Economy.
Both of the above solutions are examples of commodity thinking and show very little creative problem solving. We, at ebTDesign, suggest that lawmakers develop a new stimulus package that supports P2P Economy concepts like distributed ownership. This package would shift government strategy from encouraging consumption to promoting investment in America.
Lawmakers would do well to publish a detailed timeline for phasing out financial support for the distressed industries that are in P2P Economy transition. This will encourage workers to prepare for work in other industries and facilitate orderly changeover. Lost in most of rhetoric about the auto industry has been any discussion of whether any one industry should employ such a large percentage of the population.
The aviation industry is a classic example of an industry that would have benefited from a timeline for funds withdrawal. Enthusiastic government investment caused the industry to grow unsustainably and atrophy once the funding was turned off. We can’t afford industries like the computer industry to suffer the same fate. We must include an effective changeover period in any P2P Economy targeted stimulus package.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: changeover, Cold-War-Era, Invest in America, micro business, P2P EconomyNovember 25th, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving from the P2P Economy
Our team, at ebTDesign, would like to wish you and yours a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday. We are very grateful for our loyal readers and the new members of the Strategic Network for Industry Cluster Empowerment (SNICE). From our company’s vantage point on the P2P Economy frontier, we can see many possibilities ahead for finishing this year on a positive note and starting the next year with a bang by investing in America. See you next week for more bright ideas on enabling P2P Economy success.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: industry cluster, Invest in America, P2P Economy, postcard, SNICENovember 21st, 2008
Big 3 Bailout Hearings and Reactions from the P2P Economy
Many in the P2P Economy are wondering if this week’s “lame duck” session will be thought of as the Smoot-Hawley moment of the 110th Congress. The miscalculation of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act is widely credited with deepening and lengthening the Great Depression. While the senators grandstanded about the outrages of taking corporate jets to federal bailout hearings, they seemed to care little about the impact their words were having on global stock markets. From the P2P Economy, they seemed like melodrama bankers committed to throwing millions of the nation’s families under the bus because the Big 3 CEOs didn’t show enough contrition for the auto industry’s past actions.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: 110th-Congress, global, P2P Economy, postcard, smoot-hawleyNovember 13th, 2008
Rethinking the Innovation Agenda for the P2P Economy
If change is truly desired, President-Elect Barack Obama and his team could start by rewriting the charter for the “Invest in America” program. This program is currently tasked with being the focal point for attracting foreign direct investment. We, at ebTDesign, would suggest that the mission of this agency be expanded to include programs that encourage investment by local and regional communities in innovation-infrastructure designs.
Innovation Agendas for the P2P Economy must empower industry clusters because most of the job creation efforts rest with small and micro businesses. These relatively small enterprises need industry clusters and business federations to match the innovation capacity of large multinationals. The act of changing the Invest in America charter would send a clear message to our trading partners that the “fire sale” that was the American economy under the last administration is now over.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: business-federations, design, Innovation, Invest in America, micro business, Obama, P2P EconomyNovember 6th, 2008
Congratulations President-Elect Obama and Welcome to the P2P Economy
On Tuesday night, Senator Barack Obama was elected to be the first post-Globalization President of the United States. While most in the mainstream media have chosen to focus on the color of his skin, we at the ebTDesign Forum think that he will be judged more by his administration’s ability to lead America into the P2P Economy. We hope that he will be successful in changing the conversation from politics in Washington, DC to the need for innovation-infrastructure investment and economic empowerment. However, we are often reminded that vestiges of the last economic age are still potent and capable of derailing promising agendas.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: globalization, Innovation-Infrastructure, Invest in America, Obama, P2P Economy, post-GlobalizationOctober 28th, 2008
Implications of Netbook Adoption for P2P Economy Transition
The Silicon Alley Insider has an interesting article called, “Microsoft Windows: The Beginning of the End.” The author makes the case that emerging netbook technology may bring an end to the near monopoly that Windows has on the personal computing platform. Netbooks are inexpensive lightweight computers that don’t run a full featured operating system like Windows.
We, at the ebTDesign Forum, see the adoption of this kind of minimalist computing system as indicative of the P2P Economy viewpoint. People are redefining what it takes to get the job done. They are cutting away the fat and choosing lifestyle changes that will make them more nimble. We anticipate that working and middle-class Americans will start to actively seek out business federations because they own their own skills and innovation-infrastructure (netbook).
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: business-federations, Innovation-Infrastructure, P2P EconomyOctober 27th, 2008
Workforce Changes Will Lead Many into the P2P Economy
One of the unintended consequences of the current Wall Street Crisis is that many people are being laid-off well before retirement. While industry experts (tourists) advise other to live within their means, we see workers investing in non-employer businesses in anticipation for life in the P2P Economy. These former employees will understand, better than most, the power of distributed ownership to act as an economic safety-net.
Even before the Wall Street meltdown, workers were looking for a better lifestyle balance. Gone are the days when entry-level employees are willing to work all day and into the night in hopes of becoming CEO. The desire for more control over their working conditions will cause this group of workers to seek out opportunities in the P2P Economy.
The human resource shortages caused by layoffs and lifestyle changes will lead indirectly to more automation. As organizations concentrate employment into smaller high-value departments, employers will handle much as they can using both local and remote computer systems. For those tasks which don’t make economic sense to mechanize, decision makers will choose to enter the P2P Economy in search of value-chain partners.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: distributed-ownership, P2P Economy, tourist, value-chainOctober 22nd, 2008
New Micro Business Discovery for P2P Economy Transition Planning
Over the weekend, we ran across a new strategic networking site called Micromagnate. This site caters to small businesses with 10 employees or less. These entrepreneurs are the individuals who will benefit the most from the P2P Economy because they will be able to more easily turn their skills into economic value.
This micro business site fits very well with our SNICE community building activities. We are doing very well with attracting community leaders and industry professionals from the LinkedIn community. Now with the help of Micromagnate, we will able to interact with the type of entrepreneurs that will drive our P2P Economy transition planning.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: entrepreneur, industry cluster, LinkedIn, micro business, P2P Economy, SNICE, transition-planningOctober 16th, 2008
Workforce Re-skilling Needed for Success in the P2P Economy
In the last couple of blog segments, we have talked about the importance of distributed ownership. This is a concept in which employees own their own skills and the means of production. Now it’s time to talk about some the consequences of this shift on P2P Economy transition planning process. The most challenging one is need to re-skill the workforce in America and other OECD countries.
For too long, workforce development has been left in the hands of multinationals with divided loyalties. Why would executives who are looking for opportunities to move industrial capacity around the world in search of cheaper labor care about ensuring the employability of workers in any local community? The days are gone when employees could wait for someone else to take care of their career development needs.
Architects must take into the account the fear and disillusionment that many workers feel about their current situation. We suggest that the P2P Economy transition planning process factor in the repercussions of continuous focus on antiquated economic structures. It’s hard to say how long this employee mourning process will take because their have been so many fissures left over from the last economic age.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: career, distributed-ownership, P2P Economy, transition-planningOctober 14th, 2008
What is the basis for Peer-to-Peer Relationships in the P2P Economy?
It is distributed ownership that makes individuals peers in the P2P Economy. We, at the ebTDesign Forum, envision an economy where individuals own their career skills (i.e., means of production) and sell them on the open market. This would be the best way to release the stranglehold that multinationals have on America and other OECD countries.
Unlike the last economic age, people won’t be designated as peers just because of their social standing or political affiliation. They will become peers based on their shared economic values and their belief in the free market system. Some of you would call this “enlightened self-interest” but we call it distributed ownership.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: distributed-ownership, P2P EconomyOctober 13th, 2008
Point of Clarification: P2P Economy
Over the years, readers have asked where the P2P Economy comes from. It is loosely derived from the term political economy which was the original term for studying buying and selling of goods and services. The P2P Economy is a grassroots movement based on distributed ownership and free market sensibilities. At the ebTDesign forum, we see the P2P Economy as a natural progression or evolution of the global economy. This movement does not attempt to reduce human experience to mathematical expressions. The goal is to redefine globalization and rediscover America’s greatness.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: distributed-ownership, global, globalization, P2P EconomyOctober 9th, 2008
What has the AMPTP learned about the P2P Economy?
Come January, it’s all new media. Once the government mandated switch to digital takes place, the broadcast industry as we know it will cease to exist. Mainstream media will become fully committed to new media services. AMPTP members may not fully understand P2P Economy Concepts like the need to treat customers as value-chain partners. However, they appear to understand completely that their business environment is fundamentally changing. Now, if they could only find a way to make up with their other value change partners like SAG.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: AMPTP, New Media, P2P Economy, postcard, SAG, value-chainOctober 6th, 2008
P2P Economy Transition Shown in IPO Drought
The National Venture Capital Association reported this week that IPO (Initial Public Offering) activity is at the lowest level in the past three decades. IPOs are one of the two ways that venture capitalist make money from funding startups. Most industry experts (tourists) will point to the current financial crisis to explain the decline. We, at ebTDesign Forum, would suggest that this is just another vestige of the last economic age showing stress factures from P2P Economy Transition.
The venture capital industry is consumption-oriented. The companies that Venture Capitalists fund are either consumed by the stock market in the form of IPOs or by larger companies looking to make strategic investments. In most instances, VC backed companies are run like long-term projects, not like on-going business concerns with life expectancies of decades if not hundreds of years.
Consumption strategies like commodity thinking are remnants of the last economic age. They are part of a seemingly long-gone culture that treasured mass market solutions and treated customers as captive audiences. In the P2P Economy, executives have to learn new development strategies in order to create integral value. On-demand consumers have to be treated as peers and trusted value-chain partners. Yes, even VCs will have something to learn during their P2P Economy Transition Planning process.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: commodity-thinking, P2P Economy, tourist, transition-planningSeptember 30th, 2008
Moving Past Wall Street into the P2P Economy: Part 3
While watching one of the Sunday talk shows, it suddenly became apparent how difficult it will be to get the United States government to transition to the P2P Economy. The next great economic age requires a shift in public investment strategies. Since the Marshall Plan, American lawmakers have focused on encouraging consumption. Legislators must now concentrate on empowering development efforts.
Speculation, which is what Wall Street is famous for, is a form of consumption. It encourages rapid harvesting of emerging and evolving assets. Development involves increasing capacity for delivering economic value in anticipation of future returns. It also implies a willingness to utilize the resulting infrastructure to improve the lives of taxpayers both now and in perpetuity. This means that the products of public investment may not be readily consumable unlike the products of private investments.
The participants on this show last Sunday were a mix of former lawmakers, mainstream media, and political advisors. You would think that these people would have their fingers on the pulse of the American people. However, what became very apparent is that they didn’t even have a vocabulary for what is going on in the world. They kept trying to contrive a distinction between spending and investing. Organizations like the Federal Government can only make invests decisions. Every spending commitment that the government makes is really an investment.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: development, Marshall-Plan, P2P EconomySeptember 26th, 2008
Not another Marshall Plan for the Effects of the P2P Economy?
It was just a matter of time before someone would suggest the creation of another Marshal Plan as a solution to the current financial crisis. Skeptics would say this is to be expected from members of the baby boom generation. They always resort to wildly inappropriate Cold War Era thinking to solve next generation problems. In this case, the problems are associated with the uncomfortable effects of P2P Economy Transition Planning.
On the surface, the Marshall Plan was meant to aid the American allies in their fight against socialism. But it was really created to deal with the destabilizing consequences of global scarcity. The Marshall plan was developed at a July 12 meeting between America and participating European states. This was same year Friedrich Hayek met the gang of 38 to redefine liberalized trade. They were both part of the same marketing offensive to stem the tied of socialism sweeping the world.
The last economic age started in April 1947 and ended in July of 2006. This is when the effects of globalization and industrial overcapacity caught up with it. Since then, lawmakers (members of the baby boom generation) have been searching for answers to the mounting economic woes. At this time, there is no enemy or competing economic philosophy that would warrant the creation of a Marshall Plan. There is only the inability of the last economic age to deal with abundance and the unwillingness by some to transition to the P2P Economy.
The IT Investment Architect®
Concepts: Cold-War-Era, globalization, P2P Economy, transition-planning