Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams

Hardcover, 320pp
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
Pub. Date: December 2006
ISBN-13: 9781591841388

Online Price: $20.76
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FROM THE PUBLISHER
In just the last few years, traditional collaboration — in a meeting room, a conference call, even a convention center — has been superseded by collaborations on an astronomical scale.

Today, encyclopedias, jetliners, operating systems, mutual funds, and many other items are being created by teams numbering in the thousands or even millions. While some leaders fear the heaving growth of these massive online communities, Wikinomics proves this fear is folly. Smart firms can harness collective capability and genius to spur innovation, growth, and success.

A brilliant guide to one of the most profound changes of our time, Wikinomics challenges our most deeply-rooted assumptions about business and will prove indispensable to anyone who wants to understand competitiveness in the twenty-first century.

Based on a $9 million research project led by bestselling author Don Tapscott, Wikinomics shows how masses of people can participate in the economy like never before. They are creating TV news stories, sequencing the human genome, remixing their favorite music, designing software, finding a cure for disease, editing school texts, inventing new cosmetics, or even building motorcycles. You'll read about:

• Rob McEwen, the Goldcorp, Inc. CEO who used open source tactics and an online competition to save his company and breathe new life into an old-fashioned industry.

• Flickr, Second Life, YouTube, and other thriving online communities that transcend social networking to pioneer a new form of collaborative production.

• Mature companies like Procter & Gamble that cultivate nimble, trust-based relationships with external collaborators to form vibrant business ecosystems.

An important look into the future, Wikinomics will be your road map for doing business in the twenty-first century.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Don Tapscott is chief executive of New Paradigm, a think tank and strategy consulting company he founded in 1992. He is the author of ten books, including the bestsellers Paradigm Shift, The Digital Economy, Growing Up Digital, The Naked Corporation and Digital Capital. He teaches at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.

Anthony D. Williams is a research director at New Paradigm. He holds a master's of research from the London School of Economics where he has been teaching over the last year. He leads New Paradigm's work in the areas of innovation and intellectual property.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal
Tapscott and Williams give readers a thoughtful look into the future through their study of the collaborative environment that has revolutionized business today. Tapscott's New Paradigm think tank, where Williams works as research director, sought out companies and individuals having a significant impact on industries based on their openness, peer production, information sharing, and global action. The result is a forward-looking economic model wherein connected individuals engage with companies in web-based communities to embrace a new art and science of productivity and innovation called wikinomics. The authors discuss several Web 2.0 applications and the need for open-source software and open-access publishing to achieve success. In-depth profiles of companies and individuals make the book helpful for all types of businesses. The book was even written in a collaborative spirit, as the authors polled the public for suggestions on the subtitle through an online forum and encouraged readers to participate in blogs and wikis pertaining to the book. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries. -Mark McCallon, Abilene Christian Univ. Lib., TX Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

"Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams have written an intriguing, necessary and, in some ways, groundbreaking book, which we recommend to everyone...with some caveats. The authors examine the possibilities of mass collaboration, open-source software and evolutionary business practices. They integrate examples from the arts ('mashups'), scholarship (Wikipedia) and even heavy industry (gold mining) to argue that new forces are reshaping human societies. Some of their examples will be familiar, but others will surprise and educate you. However, the authors are so deeply part of the world they discuss that they may inflate it at times - for instance, making the actions of a few enthusiasts sound as if they already have transformed the Internet - and they sometimes fail to provide definitions or supporting data. Is the 'blogosphere,' for example, really making members of the younger generation into more critical thinkers? Tapscott and Williams repeatedly dismiss criticisms of their claims or positions without answering them. The result is that the book reads at times like a guidebook, at times like a manifesto and at times like a cheerleading effort for the world the authors desire. It reads, in short, like the Wikipedia they so admire: a valuable, exciting experiment that still contains a few flaws."
-Rolf Dobelli, Founder and Chairman, getAbstract

Wikinomics heralds the biggest change in collaboration to date. Thanks to the Internet, masses of people outside the boundaries of traditional hierarchies can innovate to produce content, goods and services. In order to understand the opportunities this presents for companies, read this book.
-Eric Schmidt, CEO Google

Not only a superb book, but an essential one for anyone who wants to understand the major forces that will revolutionize the way organizations perform and the way they are led.
-Warren Bennis, distinguished professor of Management, University of Southern California and author of On Becoming a Leader

Wikinomics illuminates the truth we are seeing in markets around the globe: the more you share, the more you win. Wikinomics sheds light on the many faces of business collaboration and presents a powerful new strategy for business leaders in a world where customers, employees, and low-cost producers are seizing control.
-Brian Fetherstonhaugh, chairman and CEO, OgilvyOne Worldwide

A MapQuest-like guide to the emerging business-to-consumer relationship. This book should be invaluable to any manager — helping us chart our way in an increasingly digital world.
-Tony Scott, senior vice president and chief information officer, The Walt Disney Company

Knowledge creation happens in social networks where people learn and teach each other. Wikinomics shows where this phenomenon is headed when turbo charged to engage the ideas and energy of customers, suppliers, and producers in mass collaboration. It's a must read for those who want a map of where the world is headed.
-Noel Tichy, professor, University of Michigan and author of Cycle of Leadership

A deeply profound and hopeful book. Wikinomics provides compelling evidence that the emerging "creative commons" can be a boon, not a threat to business. Every CEO should read this book and heed its wise counsel if they want to succeed in emerging global economy.
-Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman, World Economic Forum

Wikinomics captures and explains the essential nature of the next generation of the Internet — how collaboration and communication technologies are democratizing the creation of value. An insightful and engaging book.
-John Chambers, president and CEO Cisco Systems