Open Production and the three Chinas...

Thanks to Hans Herick over at CPH127 for the post on John Hagel's work on Edge Perspectives. It led me to his interesting essay about developments in the emergent India and China markets.

Of particular interest to me was this extract:

Open production - the third pattern of innovation

Now, what about China? This is where the Business Week coverage is most disappointing. In fact, one of the articles makes the observation that “China is surprisingly weak in innovation.” I beg to differ. In fact, I would argue that China, along with India, is rapidly becoming the global center of management innovation.

What explains this divergence of views? First, at least in its coverage of China, Business Week seems to equate innovation with product innovation, while I give at least as much emphasis to the importance of process innovation. Second, Business Week seems to ignore the fact that there are three Chinas: rural China, the state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and the private, entrepreneurial sector. Much of Business Week’s coverage concentrates on the state-owned enterprises which still account for the bulk of China’s industrial production and are usually the partners that Western companies choose to affiliate with when they enter China. But, the state-owned enterprises, favored with massive subsidies from the government and low-cost loans from the state-owned banking system, have almost no incentive to innovate. In this arena, it is not surprising that Business Week finds little innovation.

The cauldron of management innovation is in the third China – the growing array of privately-held companies emerging on the edge of the Chinese economy. These companies rarely receive much attention from the Western press, in part because they have developed a culture of keeping a low profile. JSB and I have written extensively about the management innovations being pioneered by these companies in The Only Sustainable Edge.

The contrast with the patterns of innovation among Indian companies is intriguing. These entrepreneurial Chinese companies (which also include a number of high tech Chinese companies in Taiwan) are focused primarily on competing in global markets in product categories like electronics hardware, textiles and motorcycles where product lives are compressed and demand is highly uncertain. These companies are pursuing a third pattern of business innovation focused on re-conceiving the economics of production in order to more effectively mobilize distributed expertise for both product development and manufacturing – let’s call this the “open production” pattern of innovation. The process innovations in this case include:

* modular design of products and processes
* management techniques to flexibly configure highly customized business processes encompassing hundreds, if not thousands, of specialized business partners
* management techniques to encourage business partners to work together in ways that enable them to get better faster than they could on their own.

These are innovations in their own right, but their real power comes from the fact that these management techniques establish the conditions for even more rapid incremental innovation in products and processes. Think of it as meta-innovation - management innovations that spawn a continuing series of innovations.

As a stakeholder in a small but rapidly blossoming "privately-held company [sic] emerging on the edge of the Chinese economy", I can attest to the accuracy of these claims. Certainly we are not yet getting the attention we might because the focus is still on the major western companies that are jostling to get into the market though truthfully still struggling to understand it.

For all the talk about China - few westerners outside those who venture there to live understand the culture - and even then they remain outsiders. That is the mystery of China. That is the fascination.

There is no need for a "culture of fear"

I felt this report on the paralysis brought on by fear - that feeling of helplessness we experience in the face of overwhelming disaster as heartening. I found it on the website of The Guardian newspaper from London. read the article here.

We need to remind ourselves that communities often possess remarkable capacities to rebuild their lives. The experience of history indicates that humanity can survive disasters. The good news is that life goes on.

After 9/11, New Yorkers showed tremendous resilience and community spirit. That much of this positive legacy was frittered away by short-sighted policies does not detract from the inspiring way in which New Yorkers succeeded in getting on with life. In Asia, after the tsunami, we saw many examples of communities overcoming and recovering from the devastation they had suffered.

The meaning that we derive from last week's disaster need not be that it justifies a culture of fear. Instead, this tragedy can stimulate us to clarify who we are and what we believe is the purpose of life. The absence of consensus on the meaning of a disaster represents an opportunity for a debate about the kind of society we want to build. The way to minimise the influence of the fear merchants is to focus on working out a shared way of interpreting future misfortunes.

· Frank Furedi is professor of sociology at the University of Kent. His Politics of Fear: Beyond Left and Right is published by Continuum Press this month

A time for reflection

Jessica Helfand writes eloquently at Design Observer on the "Black Tsunami"...


To write about design in the wake of such tragedy seems to trivialize it — and yet, it is precisely in the acknowledgment of design that some kind of reality is once again established. There will be, no doubt, issues raised by this hurricane and its questionable aftermath — issues relating to disaster relief and even municipal reconstruction — that require a kind of vital, critical and engaged visual dialogue. But for now, we wait. We read. We empathize, extend ourselves, reach out in other ways. And we reflect, in these last, fragile days of summer, on the painful irony of a world in which the material evidence of our man-made environment can be pulled from under us in an instant, by a cascading torrent of wind and rain. Design is, can be, should be about so much more than making things that can vanish in a storm.

Design for need...NOW!

This post is challenging. I keep editing it because:

Trivializing the tragedy is not acceptable
Empathy for human suffering
Sensitivity to fellow human feelings

I have thought a lot about removing the post - but have decided to keep working on it to distill something of value.

Will governments, industry, community leaders and individuals, [designers are implicated more than others]make the connections between the positive benefits of designing objects, products, systems, services, infastructure, cities, energy systems, educational and health faciltities so that they meet the needs of people? The list includes disaster, aid and rescue services and systems.

We have known about what humans need for a long time.

It is saddening to see the horrific degradation of the post apocalyptic scenes we observe in the wake of Katrina. This saddness is sharpened especially when we examine the spectrum of contributing factors.

Of what value are vacilations about "innovation", "design thinking", service design and user experience while apparently advanced nation states cannot look after their own communities effectively, despite the clear capabilty to do so?

No-one can accurately predict terrible natural disasters of the magnitude of the recent tsunami and storms like Katrina and the others that will likely follow her. However when nations and industry continue to support the design and manufacture of systems and products that create the likelihood of such human threatening scenarios though global warming we can see that "design" can be used to create terrible outcomes. It is design - make no mistake! Papanek said that design was the conscious act of organisation to achieve a foreseeable objective.

America and Australia have refused to endorse and impliment the Kyoto Protocols preferring to adhere to existing and outmoded industrial practices that contribute to the problem of global warming. Alternative and sustainable strategies and design for living is urgently required but this requires leadership. Despite amazing innovation many world leaders are not showing the way forward...

Curious contrasts....

There have been two devastating storms happening in the last week. One in the US and another - a typhoon over Taiwan/China. The contrasts in level of media coverage and also content relating to the storms are interesting and can be seen here and here.

What's interesting to me is the level of coverage each event attracted. Relatively speaking despite impacting on approximately 600,000 people the Chinese event attracted little coverage. The nature of the state response in each case can also be subject to debate at many levels. It is clear that the magnitude of the storms can not be compared. None the less the contrast is quite revealing and food for contemplation.

To put the tragedy in the US into further perspective is this letter to the editor published today in the Sydney Morning Herald by Zoë Trypas...

Thirty years ago after Cyclone Tracy, within 36 hours, including Christmas Day, Australia had a flotilla of planes flying aid and equipment in and people out of Darwin. Almost 100,000 people were evacuated to other capital cities within hours and days, not weeks. The evacuation of Darwin was finished in four days, not started. And in contrast to Katrina, the severity of Tracy was largely unexpected.


In Louisiana there are 20,000 people without food, water, and sanitation, locked in a sports stadium. What a pathetic effort.

Design does have political ramifications.

In contemplating and re-affirming my attitude that design has ramifications - social, environmental and political it was refreshing to stumble upon
Social Design Notes.

Print Magazine said this:

“Most designers agree, even insist, that design is more than clever imagery selling goods and services — it also influences how societies function. Social Design Notes, a remarkably informed and highly useful blog edited by John Emerson, explores design’s sociopolitical power and inspiration. A New York activist and designer who oversaw Web sites for Amnesty International USA and Human Rights Watch, Emerson launched his blog is 2002 as a ‘bridge between design activism — to push designers to think about acting in the public interest and to help activists see how design can facilitate their campaigns.’ Emerson explores how design is used to support and challenge the status quo, posting one historical note about the ‘Black Panther Coloring Book’ created by the FBI during the civil-right movement, and another about South Africa’s use of the comic book to prepare its citizens for their first election. Emerson also discusses the built environment, praising former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani for having championed design to improve the lives of the disabled. And Social Design Notes’ Resource page contains tools — such as free stock photos — designed to convert readers into true reformers.”

Cool.

"Fresh perspectives..."

Cheskin, the Design Research Agency has a great blog with very relevant and interesting material about several areas of interest to designers and innovators, including China , Design & Innovation , Trends and Youth ...All in all, lots to read.

Spotted...

A diverse range of links spotted of late>>
Trend Awareness for the designer and other potential innovators CREAX Trends Portal , Blogs>> Brand Driven Innovation , Creative Generalist , Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching , Notcot , Well deserved good news for the guys... Interest in CPH127 :-) , Something for the designers Karin's Style Blog >> New York , It could happen ;-)... Living in Bangkok , A very useful overview on collaboration Boxes and Arrows: Collaboration Sessions: How to lead Multidisciplinary teams

Shanghai Calling

City fo Sound is a great blog at the above link...Some really nice observations about contemporary Shanghai. Also a few links to work I really admire alot.

The work of Sze Tsung Leong is truly great and inspires me. If we are talking innovation then these images tell a story we should all be reading :) Powerful stuff!

I loved this reference to Koolhaas on Chinese cities:

"The Chinese city is for me a city that has built up a lot of volume in a very short time, which therefore doesn't have the slowness that is a condition for a traditional sedimentation of a city, which for us is still the model for authenticity. Beyond a certain speed of construction that kind of authenticity is inevitably sacrificed, even if you build everything out of stone and authentic materials, and that's a kind of irony. For instance, if you look at the color of the stone of the new Berlin, it's the color of all the worst plastics that were produced in East Germany in the 1960s. It's kind of a weird color of pink, a weird color of light yellow ..., they're artificial. There is no escaping the artificial in the new architecture, and certainly not in large amounts of architecture being generated at the same time."

I never tired of the above view from our apartment in Shanghai. For me it formed an endlessly fascinating - like Sze Tsung Leong's pictures of destruction/creation/transformation.

The dangers of blogging?

We live in conservative times - as opposed to interesting ones I suppose...I'm not sure if readers will be able to get to the link so I quote in full from the Sydney Morning Herald [16/8/2005]:

Blogging's immediate impact doesn't add up for Deloitte
By Rob O'Neill
August 16, 2005

Big four accounting firm Deloitte has put corporate blogging on the back-burner following robust internal discussions about the company's online strategies.

A proposal to start corporate blogging on leadership issues was put forward by the firm's director of digital marketing and communications, Ryf Quail. But senior partners were concerned about legally protecting the firm, which is bound by a partnership structure.

Mr Quail says he started the debate to stimulate discussion about Deloitte's online future. Mr Quail, who came out of Deloitte's web development arm, Eclipse, says that with people such as Rupert Murdoch talking about blogs, he decided to formulate a plan to spruik Deloitte's message.

"The big technology companies were using them but there was not a lot of activity in the consultancy space," Mr Quail says.

He describes himself as an "extreme outlier" in favour of blogging at Deloitte.

He made his proposal and the rest of the firm then became involved in the discussion.

Chief marketing officer David Redhill says he recognised the tension between a professional services firm pushing the boundaries and the huge responsibility the firm has to be discreet about its clients.

As the debate escalated, he says he and others became concerned the firm could be opening a can without knowing "what was at the bottom of it".

He was aware of blogs getting people in professional positions into a lot of trouble. "Our holding pattern should be risk-averse and watching how it develops," Mr Redhill says.

The concern is that once a post is made to a blog, it is there forever.

Mr Quail says blogs have to be immediate. If the content had to go through a risk assessment system, immediacy would be lost, with content being posted weeks after it was written.

"In a corporate sense, the more racy and immediate a blog, the less you can allow it to speak for your corporation," Mr Redhill says. "There's a lot of potential power, but risk-managing a blog seems to me to be a contradiction in terms."

Partnerships are subject to many regulatory regimes. Individual views cannot hold sway over corporate policy.

"I don't want one partner speaking on behalf of a firm I'm part-owner of," Mr Redhill says.

There are a lot of specialisations within such a firm and public commentary should be left to those with that expertise, he says.

Breaking down experiences

I have a friend who always says "Break it down buddy!" when asking someone to examine a situation...

By empathising with the people who will be using a service to the extent that we look at the whole context of that use, we can gain insight into the experience.

It is actually something I have been coming to terms with for some time now in relationship to my interests [and consequent projects] in the area of developing e-education within the context of design studies. In 2000 I was asking the question "What would kids in China make of the resources we are developing?"

I know the answer to that now because I went to China to find out.They want experiences not interfaces...

Now in 2005 I'm asking why is the user buying this product/service? What is their life like? How do people integrate this product into their life? How does it feel to use this service?

UX applied to services

From the website of the Design Management Institute
this article applies thinking to the UX involved in product design. I see application for these strategies across the Service Design process as well. People "use" services. I'm looking for more material about the design of services so if you see any please let me know.

Viewpoints - Designing From the User’s Experience

By Peter H. Jones, Redesign Research

In summary, several guidelines are suggested from these points:

*
Consider whether UX makes sense in your environment and organization. Ask designers and researchers what they know of the concept, and what it means to your product design process.
*
Expand your concept of “user” to embrace the work practices and lifestyles of the customer for whom you are designing products. Invest in research that reveals their authentic experience. Use rapid ethnography, field research, and in-depth onsite evaluations to understand the context of work or engagement within which your product will be adopted.
*
Use research methods that fit your projects and organizations. Review the methods used by innovation leaders in your industry to advance your UX research practices. Select from these to inform product decisions during the design process (use brief, iterative phases or parallel customer research if necessary to manage scheduling).
*
Find ways to (simply) communicate the in-depth discoveries about your users and communities. Draw up personas (profiles), workflow scenarios, and rich pictures from your research findings. Build a user experience knowledge base that contributes to new design thinking from your team “living with” representations drawn from real user experience.
*
When researching user experience, consider all the touchpoints and interactions surrounding the product, including its initial discovery, the initial interpretations about its use, and the impact of brand on experience and perception. Learn about the full lifecycle of customer experience - how the product will be found, shared, reused, or returned to over time.

Defining designers

For many designers the whole idea of being put in a box and categorised is not one we like to spend much time on...Now we don't have to - it's been done for us by the US Department of Labor.

It is a comprehensive breakdown. An excellent resource for students looking into professional practice statistics and industry structures etc...

simplicity [squared]

The latest issue of the B&F enews produced at the Byron Office is up. If you receive the enews in your inbox and use Windows you probably noticed some weird browser stuff in the latest August 2005 issue - Bailey in the Shanghai office of B&F came to the rescue so check back to get the "real" version :). The publication comes out about every two months and features the latest projects by the China based design and production team and the research and strategy lab in Byron Bay, Australia.

For more information about Birds & Fish Communications click here

Let's hope so...

This edit from Design Talkboard seems to align with what I read everywhere.

"Every sign from the business community today signals a growing realization of the importance of design - both communication and product design - to American industry’s global competitive advantage. Design innovation is seen as the driving engine - across all business sectors - for creating value in a world economy where production costs and prices are being driven ever lower."

The trick is making it actually happen... :)

I think the problem with the above statement is however that one cannot assume that communication and product design from America will be the most relevant to many people elsewhere...One needs to be careful about making this assumption.Providing people have other options, they may well explore the potential of Chinese design as the most obvious example.

Chatting at the front...

The following extract editied from a conversation I've just had with a friend from Shanghai is kind of illuminating about several aspects of the China phenomena, including culture, comerce, education and societal attitudes.It is a very long post - however I think it offers some small insights...

red13 says: (12:01:03 AM)
I find that a lot of people just see that pretty surface.

red13 says: (12:01:26 AM)
But when you dig a bit deeper, not much interesting stuff going on here.

Ian says: (12:01:43 AM)
I guess the focus of everyone is related to business

red13 says: (12:02:20 AM)
MONEY

Ian says: (12:02:28 AM)
But [for example] in the UK style press there are often articles and images from Beijing in particular that suggest a development in conteporary culture, fashion, music etc

Ian says: (12:02:35 AM)
MONEY

red13 says: (12:02:49 AM)
But where is it? I don't get it...

red13 says: (12:03:16 AM)
everyone says shanghai is so wonderful and avant-garde, but i don't see any of it in daily life.

Ian says: (12:03:44 AM)
Mybe because you are there and you are dealing with it on a daily basis you kind of get blocked - almost as a coping mechanism....so you miss details?

red13 says: (12:04:05 AM)
sure, there are a few who are passionate about art/design/fashion but in the end, most people just want the $$$

Ian says: (12:04:14 AM)
I think there is more likely an avante garde in Beijing

red13 says: (12:04:19 AM)
Maybe... been here too long?

Ian says: (12:04:29 AM)
yes that [$$$] drives it most definitely

red13 says: (12:04:41 AM)
yes. Charles was there last week, and he says lots more experimental stuff there.

Ian says: (12:05:21 AM)
But everywhere is like that to an extent - more so than ever, kind of desperate in a way too. For me it is only a part of the real "big" picture of life tho'

red13 says: (12:05:39 AM)
performance art and so on

Ian says: (12:05:52 AM)
Yes I think Beijing is more open to it - less pre-occupied with commerce

Ian says: (12:06:23 AM)
Still into the commerce tho', that's China no?

Ian says: (12:06:44 AM)
there is so much coverage on China now here in Australia

Ian says: (12:06:52 AM)
all the time in the media

red13 says: (12:07:15 AM)
Beijing has longer history with arts too.

Ian says: (12:07:25 AM)
yes that's true

red13 says: (12:07:55 AM)
and more foreign influence too. Many foreigners studying there.

Ian says: (12:08:24 AM)
I noticed that the university websites in China seem more foreigner friendly these days

Ian says: (12:08:32 AM)
more in English

red13 says: (12:09:03 AM)
they realised they can charge more money to foreigners!

Ian says: (12:10:03 AM)
it is interesting becaue that has implications for the quality of Chinese education. I know for example that creativity is an area that is really yet to be addressed in a serious way in the Chinese education system

Ian says: (12:10:14 AM)
How will western students react to that?

Ian says: (12:10:41 AM)
Or will they accept it aspart of the "China experience" - even at Uni...

red13 says: (12:11:45 AM)
some are starting to wake up to the creativity issue. So many 'weekend' schools are getting into that. They charge 120 rbm an hour to just get little kids (starting at 1 year old or so) to just play around!

Ian says: (12:12:33 AM)
I teach this area a lot at college and I have lots of material about it

red13 says: (12:12:37 AM)
I know... it is a great idea. Whay don't you come here and do that!

Ian says: (12:12:45 AM)
guess that is why I've started writing about it

red13 says: (12:13:14 AM)
and most of these places are really crappy too... Nothing much happening.

red13 says: (12:13:24 AM)
just some dancing and singing.

Ian says: (12:13:42 AM)
well I have many ideas - it's the logistics....$....I am sure it will come together at some point tho'

Ian says: (12:13:52 AM)
dancing singing

Ian says: (12:13:53 AM)
hahah

red13 says: (12:13:59 AM)
better do it quick! competition is fierce!

Ian says: (12:14:00 AM)
karaoke

Ian says: (12:14:05 AM)
yeah I know

red13 says: (12:14:43 AM)
yes! exactly! they just preparing their kids to be karaoke champs!

Ian says: (12:14:57 AM)
REAL creative !

red13 says: (12:15:45 AM)
I was just talking to my kick-box teacher today, and he was mentioning that the older generation sees it as being 'wrong' if you are content/happy with your life Isn't that odd?

Ian says: (12:16:10 AM)
Why do they think that?

red13 says: (12:16:44 AM)
well, seems that life should be about hardships to some extent. And if you're happy every day, you're not taking life seriously.

Ian says: (12:17:34 AM)
well I see the logic but I don't aspire to that - I think contentment is bliss - when i feel that I know I am doing well

red13 says: (12:17:49 AM)
For example, his mother disapproves of his girlfriend cause she's mostly a happy person. She's seen as being childish.

Ian says: (12:18:22 AM)
So perhaps then the impetus to "succeed" make money etc is less?

Ian says: (12:18:35 AM)
And this is seen as not psoitive

red13 says: (12:18:46 AM)
Of course, I think their thinking is totally off in this case! No wonder they grow up into such anal adults!

Ian says: (12:19:12 AM)
yes I know! Some really restricting concepts

Ian says: (12:19:27 AM)
not healthy

red13 says: (12:19:49 AM)
You should work hard, make money and live a serious life. how awfully boring! No wonder our students liked us so much!

Ian says: (12:20:05 AM)
hahaha

Ian says: (12:20:34 AM)
yes the teachers represented some escape/adventurefrom that way of life...

red13 says: (12:20:51 AM)
but you know what...i see that trait in Charles. It's only recent that he's become chill.

Ian says: (12:21:15 AM)
your influence no doubt

red13 says: (12:21:41 AM)
yes! exactly! we are their parent's nightmares! outspoken, confident, able to think.

Ian says: (12:21:46 AM)
It is good to see him heading in that direction

Ian says: (12:22:09 AM)
Probably many younger people are actually beginning to be like that

Ian says: (12:22:29 AM)
Some of the more switched on students were like that

red13 says: (12:23:05 AM)
Well, mine and the people around him. But still very new to him. But he's enjoying it! he brought me this cheesy toy dog from beijing. It barks and follows you around. I was in shock! It's awesome!

Ian says: (12:23:26 AM)
heheh fantastic

red13 says: (12:23:37 AM)
Yes, that's true. the younger ones are more open to that sort of attitude towards life.

Ian says: (12:23:57 AM)
I always liked Charles sense of humour - very subtle and cheeky in a way

red13 says: (12:24:36 AM)
ya... if i could only get him to stop watching 'friends' every night!

Making sense of organisations

The words of Karl Weick are quite interesting...

"Your beliefs are cause maps that you impose on the world, after which you 'see' what you have already imposed"

"Specifically, I would suggest that the effective organization is garrulous, clumsy, superstitious, hypocritical, monstrous, octopoid, wandering, and grouchy"

" If an organization is narrow in the images that it directs toward its own actions, then when it examines what it has said, it will see only bland displays. This means in turn that the organization won't be able to make much interesting sense of what's going on or of its place in it. That's not a trivial outcome, because the kind of sense that an organization makes of its thoughts and of itself has an effect on its ability to deal with change. An organization that continually sees itself in novel images, images that are permeated with diverse skills and sensitivities, thereby is equipped to deal with altered surroundings when they appear."

Get in the swing again :-)

Ok well I know it's been a few weeks since I have seriously offered any words up. Things are chaotic with family, job and project needs clashing to make life hectic to say the least.

Tonight however I stumbled across this blog and felt it was an appropriate link to post. Danwei is a site I have not seen before but at least at first glance it seems relevant.

The concept of Open Space that was raised on CPH127 is pretty inpiring. Reading some of the comments, most notably these words by Chris Corrigan...

The principles of Open Space are also worth noting:

* Whoever comes are the right people
* Whatever happens is the only thing that could have
* When it starts is the right time
* When it's over, it's over

and the law of two feet: if you find yourself in a situation where you are neither learning or contributing, go somewhere where you can.

It was refreshing and reminded me that I have in fact experienced such "spaces" and found them very conducive to creativity. I feel that at one point while managing the Design Centre I achieved that kind of balanced dynamic environment.

Rewarding failure - does it happen?

There are many references to the elusive nature of true innovation online and in recent business texts, most notably Tom Peters. It is well documented that people who strive for innovation often experience failure before success is achieved. Contemporary texts posit that it is essential to reward or embrace failure - or at least make it acceptable within the scope of an organisation's agenda. Going outside the lines should be encouraged - or so the rhetoric of the gurus goes.

Can anyone tell me an example of where this has happened? Does business actually reward those who go out on a limb to make things happen even if they don't succeed? I'd like to see examples before I am actually convinced.

Global Weave

The above link is to an archived version of the article I published in DESKTOP magazine in 2004 on COLLABOR8©. Here's the link to the relevant page of the DESKTOP site.

COLLABOR8© is a concept to engage design students in an international collaborative design project reflecting the emergent paradigm of multidisciplinary teams and virtual work spaces. For more information about the project click here.