MetaCapitalism is a term coined
to describe the future growth markets transformed by B2B internet processes and
portals. The essence of MetaCapitalism is collaboration around creative processes.
Despite being labeled “old
economy,” the automotive industry will be one of the engines for this global
growth. The companies that understand the transformation principles will enjoy
the resulting increases in shareholder value. Those who do not seize the new
opportunities and new collaborative culture will certainly fail. Success will
come to companies that change cultures and business models in order to build
new ways to collaborate around product development and new services while innovating
within larger communities of globally linked businesses.
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MetaCapitalism sounds theoretical
until you look at a product like a new vehicle – vehicles are emotional. Cars
are a big part of consumers’ disposable income particularly in emerging markets
where over 70% of future new vehicle volume growth exists. And those target
consumers expect their new vehicles to not only work right but to reflect their
individual lifestyles. This puts a demand for differentiated products on the
auto industry, which adds to the complexity and challenge of design, production,
promotion and distribution. In the past, mass-produced vehicles with affordable
prices addressed these demands for unique solutions. For over one hundred years
the assemblers worked to minimize the configurations and complexities of vehicles,
going back to the initial offer for a Model T, “any color so long as it
is black.”
In the second century of the automotive industry, the demand for diverse, even
unique products and services, will be the goal of communities of companies collaborating
and innovating. These communities and brand owners will thrive on complexity.
Therefore, the demands for
faster and unique products and services are reshaping the industry asset base.
Visteon, Delphi, Denso, Siemens, Aisin World, and others are all changing to
be more flexible providers of systems and modules for more than one main customer.
The engineering communities are expanding internet linkages and now include
new non-traditional entrants to the new product development processes. For example,
Delphi works with 1,200 other suppliers on technologies and standard ways to
build collaboration around instrument panel connections. This is not a “supply
chain” but rather a supply network or dynamically linked community. It
is a community built upon new as well as existing relationships, but enabled
by web enhanced multi-lateral exchanges of intellectual property and unfiltered
consumer insight.
The communities will build
value faster because their collaborative efforts will begin sooner than the
new product development process where the cost savings are the largest. By eliminating
shadow and redundant processes, the community will also save costs. Collaborative
communities in the automotive industry will include the consumer, suppliers,
vehicle brand owners and new market entrants such as hi-tech, communications
and financial services companies.
The key attributes of
a collaborative community will be:
- the ability to operate
and communicate reliably at e-speed, - to collaborate simultaneously
in multiple communities and, - the willingness to redeploy
assets to the most efficient member of the community
What are the barriers to
collaboration? The biggest impediment to collaborative efforts is the lack of
trust in existing and newly formed relationships. Inventories used to define
the relationships, but as companies move higher and higher up the innovation
chain, they will find that intellectual property, engineering talent and the
ability to adapt and work around a brand are the most important things for shaping
the success of the community.
