乐高的启示

    现在，许多公司都明白了生态系统的好处，也知道把其中的参与者相互联系起来能带来价值。构成这个系统的包括供应商、合作伙伴、制造商和消费者。举例来说，一台传真机没什么价值。但和另一台传真机连起来之后，它突然就有了价值，尽管它本身没有任何变化。连在一起的传真机越多，价值就越大。

    现在，想象一下这样的情形：这些传真机会相互学习，它们通过互动掌握了新的能力，可以更好地完成工作。连接在一起的传真机越多，互动的潜力就越大，学习的速度就越快。

    这就是动态生态系统的根本动力：参与者互动的目的是更快地学习，自我完善，具备更多能力，同时提升整个系统的价值。这个系统中的成员思路和资源共享，深感目标一致、充满热情，能够学会如何更好地使用某种产品和服务，这些都会给成员带来裨益。

    现在看一下乐高机器人（Lego Mindstorms）社区。有了这个平台后，乐高发现绝不是只有12岁的小男孩才喜欢乐高机器人。这家公司鼓励粉丝分享已经组装好的和正在组装的乐高机器人。粉丝们也在探讨着他们遇到的困难和他们发现的解决办法，组装出新机器人或者找到新方法的粉丝能在这个平台上获得认可和奖励。

    乐高让所有人都能接触到它的机器人软件。粉丝们则对这款软件进行了修改和扩展，以便共享。乐高定期向粉丝们发起挑战，促进了他们之间的团队合作。比如，乐高最近提出的挑战是“组装一个可以帮助老年人提高生活质量的机器人”。现场活动给了那些狂热爱好者面对面展示技能的机会。参与者还可以申请加入一个名叫“Mindstorms Community Partners”的专门团队。它的任务是为乐高想出新点子，开发并测试新产品和新的软、硬件。

    目前，商业生态系统大多为静态系统，关注重点是在一定数量的参与者之间就一批固定的资源进行协调。但企业可以把它们转化为动态系统。比如说，连锁咖啡店可以向杯子和纸制品供应商提出挑战，让它们解决食品和饮料突然洒出来的问题。或者，它还可以提出一项覆盖面更广的挑战，内容是消灭包装废弃物或者降低整体碳排放水平，同时鼓励自己的合作伙伴共同来解决这个问题。这样的挑战能促使生态系统中的成员开展合作，建立相互联系。由此产生的结果就是在一个较大的静态系统中培育出一个、或多个动态生态系统。

    结论是，通过动态生态系统可以创造更多价值（如果采用正确的方法，它就会拥有不断产生价值的能力），但建立这样的系统需要全新的态度。在竞争中实现更好地协作比赢得竞争更重要，在这种情况下，人们面临的最大风险可能是错过在动态生态系统中参与快速学习、完善自我表现的机会。

    本文作者约翰•哈格尔三世是德勤管理咨询公司董事，在德勤设在硅谷的Center for the Edge担任联合董事长。本文作者约翰•史立•布朗是Center for the Edge独立联合董事长。（财富中文网）

    译者：Charlie

    By now, many businesses are aware of the benefits of ecosystems -- communities of suppliers, partners, vendors, and customers -- and the idea that there's value to connecting participants with each other. One fax machine alone, for example, has no value. Connect that fax machine to another, however, and suddenly the machine has value even though nothing about it has changed. The value grows with each additional machine connected.

    Now imagine that the fax machines can learn from each other, gaining additional capabilities and getting better at what they do with each interaction. The more fax machines connected, the greater potential for interactions and the greater the rate of learning.

    That is the fundamental power of a dynamic ecosystem: Participants interact with each other with the goal of learning faster, getting better, and increasing the capabilities of each participant and the value of the entire community.

    In a dynamic ecosystem, participants benefit from sharing ideas and resources, a sense of common purpose or passion, and from learning how to use a product or service better.

    Consider the Lego Mindstorms community. Once its platform was in place, the company discovered that the love of Lego robotics extended well past the 12-year-old boy. The group encourages members to share completed and ongoing projects. Members discuss challenges they are having and solutions they have discovered, while the platform allows them to be recognized and rewarded for developing new products or expertise.

    Lego makes its robotics software openly accessible, and Mindstorms members have modified and built extensions off of it that they can share with each other. Periodic challenges, such as the most recent "to build a robot that can be used to improve the quality of life for senior citizens," encourage members to team up. Live events allow enthusiasts to meet in person and showcase their skills. Participants also have the opportunity to apply to be part of an exclusive team, the Mindstorms Community Partners, which develops and tests new ideas, products, software, and hardware for Lego.

    Most business ecosystems today are static. They focus on coordinating a fixed set of resources among a limited set of participants. But companies can turn those static communities into dynamic ones. For example, a coffee chain might pose a challenge to its cup and paper goods suppliers to solve the problem of accidental food and beverage spills. Or the company might pose a broader challenge of eliminating packaging waste or reducing its overall carbon footprint and encourage its partners to work together on the problem. Such challenges allow members to work together and begin forming relationships with each other. The result: one or more dynamic ecosystems nested within a larger, static one.

    The bottom line is that you can derive more value out of a dynamic ecosystem (if done right, it can be the gift that keeps on giving) but creating one requires a new attitude. In a world where out-collaborating the competition is more important than out-competing it, the greatest risk you face might be in missing the opportunity to participate in the rapid learning and performance improvement of a dynamic ecosystem.

    John Hagel III, director in Deloitte Consulting LLP, is the co-chairman of the Deloitte Center for the Edge based in Silicon Valley. John Seely Brown is the independent co-chairman of the Deloitte Center for the Edge.