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Human – Machine – Business model

The main task of the strategy, the plan or the own initiatives, is to keep all aspects in line. It concerns the seizable products, facilities, storages, transport equipment, material as well as the immaterial, mental factors such as convictions and cultures. These mental aspects are very stable and prepared for long-term use. They change almost unnoticed in individual areas, so that there is sufficient time available to adapt to the new conditions. The life cycles of the physical aspects however shortened so that the development of a plan is nowadays a complex venture. What does this mean for humans, machines and business models?

komplexitaet

We learned that everything follows lifecycles – starting with the Kondratiev cycles that divide the last two hundred years into waves. The Gartner Group finally introduced the Hype Cycle for IT- solutions. Thus, we have a tool for a long time that arranges the elements of the business. The purpose of such curves is to make the business complexity manageable, in order to better justify decisions. Since nowadays all aspects can be described in such a way, we again have a complexity of lifecycles that can only be overlooked with difficulties. They function at the same time and affect decisions. Gary Hamel already predicted in 2000 that leading enterprises of the future are characterized by fast development and replacement of business models. Additionally, however, the interrelationships of humans, machines and business models must be considered.

  • Human
    Despite all the technological developments, people become more and more important for the alignment and control of business procedures. As soon as you have to make decisions outside of the routine, it requires people with their convictions, creative abilities and their sense of duty. The advancement of these attitudes is an essential task of everybody. For smart deployment, it is important to know the ways of thinking and the talents of the employees. Skill profiles and the understanding of the mental states are the basis, in order to be able to assign the suitable employees to the tasks.
  • Machine
    The machine includes today not only the physical cogs that keep production moving, but also digital aspects that represent the physical and contentual parts in the virtual space. This covers all equipment, including the computers with their programs, databases and networks as well as all interconnected sender-receiver-systems. Together they represent the machines that keep today the momentum of the business. Each individual component has thereby its own life cycle that does not only result from the technical advancement, but also from the economic interests of the manufacturers. Unfortunately all components are in another phase of the life cycle. As soon as fundamental technologies begin a new cycle, they also carry away dependent components, which again drag others along and so on. The simplest example is the operating system of the computer. A new version of Windows requires new printer drivers, requires new printers, requires new ink cartridges … For this reason today the Enterprise Architecture management (EAM) is an important IT-task to illustrate the current and the future IT-landscape in a model and to create a framework for decision making with a roadmap.
  • Business model
    The business model bundles the business components. This includes the following elements. The deliverable concept contains the extended business idea. The earning model describes the prepared income sources. The value creation determines the procedure of delivering the products and services. The organization is the internal network. The partners extend the internal network to the outwards. The customers are the target groups, which give the cash-flow to the enterprise, in order to act. Resources are the means that the employees need for producing the deliverables. Communication covers the channels to all involved parties. The coordination specifies the control mechanisms.
    The complexity of the business model results from the different life cycles of its components and their mutual dependency. At the same time the feasibility is determined by humans and the machines. The competition takes place on the level of the business model. Customers buy the deliverables that cover their needs best. For this reason it is an important task of the leaders to develop a business model as viable and competitive as possible that is not only attractive to the customers, but also to employees and partners.

The art of the strategizing coordinates the asynchronous life cycles of humans, machines and business models. The joint initiative only succeeds, if planning is accomplished holistically and the components are manageable. It is not enough to develop visions for the machines, or social ones, or economical. The viable conception of the future evolves, if all areas are considered with their interactions. The development of the various elements requires at the same time the overarching expansion of the company. The purpose of the company should lead and not the general, technological development.

Bottom line: The business delivers the desired results, if it is based on a holistic plan that considers people, machines and the business model. Humans are thereby the mobile, formative variable that makes the machines and the business model to become real. You only have to create the appropriate conditions – capable humans, effective functions of the machines and a viable business model.

Join the contract, quit the contract – Good riddance

Many services are offered today as a membership. It starts with the fitness center around the corner, is valid for a membership in an automobile association, up to a subscription with Netflix. In order to benefit from the advantages of the membership, you sign a contract. As soon as you do not pay or even cancel, the agreed advantages are lost. You can join the contract without delay, but also quickly quit the contract – Good riddance.

mitgliedschaft

This is valid for all, but perhaps some believe that this is not valid for them, as you can see from the expectations of the British. They actually believe that they quit (which they did not do yet) and nevertheless are able to further use the advantages of the European Union – of course without the appropriate obligations. Although contracts are always defined the same way.

  • Terms
    Here you specify, how long the offer remains in full force and effect. As soon as the period has expired, a vendor is no longer bound to offer the deliverables with the indicated conditions. With the exit of the British it is rather the matter that the BREXIT will take at least over two years. Since David Cameron refuses tactically quitting the contract, it is open, when the exit period really starts. For the time of being, they are a member.
  • Conditions
    It is unclear, which conditions are valid, as soon as they quit. On the one hand England is then any longer part of the EU, but additionally not yet outside. What this means for payments, liabilities, laws, and so on will be clarified in the upcoming negotiations. Thus, the British still have another grace period, in order to adjust themselves to the loss of the European rights. For the rest of Europe nothing else remains to be done as to use the time for executing the relocation of banks, enterprises and institutions as well as to build up new tactical economic sites.
  • Rights
    The contracting parties lose with the cancellation at latest after two years the rights that resulted from the contract. It starts with fiscal arrangements, goes across import and export barriers as well as the loss of full say in European decisions, to the freedom of the citizens to travel. Swiss can tell a lot of not being involved in the agreements.
  • Conflict resolutions
    The question is, how it will be proceeded in case of conflict. England will become a non-European location, comparable with those countries, which yet did not achieve to make agreements with Europe. While it is clearly regulated so far, where legally obligatorily disputes are solved, in the future almost insurmountable walls arise that at least let the costs explode in the economic exchange. It is unlikely that this will be to the disadvantage for Europe. The luxury goods will be more expensive, but this should not be really a problem for the wealthy people in England. When this legal security gets lost, is not yet foreseeable.

Each golf and tennis court is prepared to allow non-members to their courses. The players cannot avoid paying an extra fee after they waited patiently in the line, in order to be let in at all. This should be clear for the Englishmen.

Bottom line: The current state is actually simple. The English want to withdraw. Okay. As island people they are used to go their own ways. In this case, it should be guaranteed by the European politicians that no back doors are opened that would be paid eventually by the EU citizens. Let us hope that the correct measures were already introduced, to take the European Union-relevant elements off from England and to re-activate the border barriers. Join the contract, quit the contract – Good riddance!