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

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(Hardcover - Expanded edition)

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  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
  • Pub. Date: April 2008
  • ISBN-13: 9781591841937
  • Sales Rank: 8,515
  • 368pp
  • Edition Description: Expanded edition
 
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Synopsis

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.

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Biography

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.

Customer Reviews

Great Idea, Poor executionby Used_Up

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October 09, 2008: The idea of this book is excellent. The concepts it focuses on: Peer-production methods, open-source software, and collaboration are clearly ideas and themes that the business world must embrace. The problem with this book is execution. Its poorly written, repetitive and short on in-depth analysis. All those things make getting through it a slog. The authors point out early on that the book was written as an outgrowth of a major study they do for some big corporations on the subject. One is left with the sense that the big corporations got the better result of their work and this "cliff notes" version is simply not worth it.

Good Topic, Poorly Deliveredby Anonymous

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March 21, 2008: The authors of this book have a very important topic to discuss and there is some value to be gained by reading this book. The problem is that the authors writing style is lacking and it makes reading the book a bit of a trial. As with many authors writing about Web 2.0 concepts and innovation Tapscott and Williams are overly optimistic about the results from using the concepts they espouse. To be sure, there are some companies that have tried these measures and have met with little success ... any business book worth its salt needs to provide a complete picture to get an honest appraisal of new methods. Discussing the disadvantages of these methods 'how they impact overall employment in this country especially for lower wage jobs and the significant impact on our copyright laws' would have been welcome. Maybe that was in there, but I found myself skimming some sections because the authors have a habit of repeating themselves over and over again ... making the same points ad-nauesum. You get the sense that there is some serious meat missing from this meal and the authors admit that in the preface ... this book was an outgrowth of a major study they did on behalf of a consortium of big companies. Unfortunately, they weren't allowed to include what was in that report and it shows.


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