The New Innovation Formula N = 1 And R = G

The Nuance Of N = 1 Is N = 1 the same as mass customization or "the segment of one"? A segment-of-one strategy targets a customer at a time by learning a lot about her--demographics, spending patterns, etc.--but this is still a business-centric view of the consumer. Mass customization allows me, the consumer, to choose from a menu of products, but it's still the company's determination of what I may need. N = 1 changes this business-to-consumer view; it's a consumer-to-business-to-consumer view, if you will.Consumers are joint problem solvers. Are the 6,000 application developers for Facebook part of a "segment of one"? How about bloggers for the New Age of Innovation site? Are they passive recipients of the knowledge in the book, or co-creators of new knowledge? N = 1 is about "personalized, co-creation of experiences"--not mass customization or a customer of one. These nuances are critical


-- C.K. Prahalad





The power of digitization and imagination is enabling this evolution of new business models. It is not about a myopic cost-based argument for outsourcing to the Far East. It's about building clarity on what N = 1 and R = G mean for my business. Managers need to build internal capabilities in their business processes through social and IT architectures to progress in this New Age of Innovation.
-- M.S. Krishnan

Case Study : Tata Motors uses IT to streamline operations, cut costs, and save time in bringing to market its newest automobile, the Tata Nano.

R=G Means Leveraging Your Talent Globally

R=G Means Leveraging Your Talent Globally
I was recently in India and I gave a lot of press interviews. One of the interviews was for a journal called Outlook. There was a photographer taking pictures of me during the interview -- and probably listening to the interview and not focusing on camera angles. He told me this story.
The photographer's name is Soumik Kar. He puts all of his pictures on flickr.com. A Korean company, Dolbeage, is publishing a Korean translation of the most recent book by urban theorist Mike Davis, Planet Of Slums (Verso, 2006). The Korean publishing rights for Planet Of Slums were arranged by Verso of the United Kingdom with the Bestun Korea Agency. The Korean publisher bought a copy of a picture of an Indian slum taken by Soumik Kar.
Now, Soumik Kar doesn't know any of these people, and he did not talk to any of them, either. The entire transaction was on the Web. He got paid promptly and was paid more than he expected (as per his admission). He's happy -- so happy he gave me this example.
Isn't this R=G? He also told me that his site on flickr.com has had, so far, 648,070 visitors. Isn't this global talent leverage?
Have you had such an experience -- a business transaction taking place solely in cybersapce? Are you leveraging your talent globally on the Web?

C.K. Prahalad May 9, 2008 From : http://www.newageofinnovation.com/blog/archives/2008/05/rg_means_levera.html