Yes, now there’s an Uber for everything. This includes an Uber for laundry (Washio), massages (Zeel), and booze (Minibar). But Uber-mania also reflects a profound turn in the way the economy is organized. According to Fortune Editor Alan Murray, these companies are examples of “platforms” which hybridize their markets.
What does this mean? Think of the internet retail and auction markets created by Amazon and eBay, the information and media marketplaces created by Google and Facebook, or the music and app markets built by Apple. More recently: these new hybrids have extended into human resources, with services like Freelancer and WorkFusion, and even to clean energy, at companies like Sungevity.
This article from former IBM CEO, Sam Palmisano’s Center for Global Enterprise gives you additional perspective on this observation. But suffice it to say that going forward, the most successful companies will create hybrid marketplaces, not just products. Your employees will become your co-entrepreneurs, your customers will look more like your suppliers and your investors more like your parishioners.
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