THE MESH, by Lisa Gansky

THE MESH


By Lisa Gansky


As its tagline forecasts, this book is very business-oriented. You may consider taking one of the previous readings I reviewed if you find yourself more on the side of the consumer, since here you will more likely find out how to mesh up your business and not your life.

So first of all, WHAT is the MESH? I'm pretty sure that there is no better person than the author Lisa Gansky to explain this concept since she is the mind behind its conception. So if you want to make sure you catch up with the real meaning, get the book and give yourself your own interpretation of it.

More concretely, as the author writes "Mesh businesses share four characteristics: sharing, advanced use of Web and mobile information networks, a focus on physical goods and materials, and engagement with customers through social networks". Whereas a "Mesh Design - referred to products - is: Durable, Flexible, Reparable and Sustainable".

After these quotations, it seems clear that the Mesh concept finds its best use in association with the words "business model". However, one of the core characteristics, the one referring to the focus on physical goods, has already got old fashion since the book was pubblished in 2010. Right now, in 2015, I don't think it would be appropriate to state that the materiality of a resource could be associated to its "meshing" nature, the Mesh has got literally everywhere, ranging from skills and competencies to patents, making physical products just a part of it.

What is still to be said, is that the Mesh, just as the sharing economy (someone says they are synonim and I partially agree), shifts the focus from ownership to access, hence representing one of the biggest economic trends of our century.

On my opinion, the reading is quite pleasant but it somehow lacks a little bit of boldness, moreover some more data should have been provided, statistics are sexy and could represent a good of the reading experience. At some point, I think the author confuses the Mesh with one of its attributes: Sustainability. For instance I could think of saying Walmart is getting more sustainable, but I would definitly avoid referring to Walmart when talking about the Mesh, because for me the Mesh is more than that.

Once again, I do recommend this book! Although I'm not fully satisfied with the reading, I do recognize that it is a major work on the topic, and also one of the first of a long series. Don't miss the Mesh Directory at the end of the book, a section plenty of great meshed up businesses - some of them already out of business - to discover!

Make sure you read this book before:

• starting your own Mesh business;
• writing a paper on the sharing economy;
• criticizing mesh businesses for unfair competition.

Best quotations on my opinion:

"Trust is social, which makes all business social; Mesh businesses are hypersocial".

"But like our minds, the Mesh is much greater than the sum of its parts."

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If you are wondering, I do not receive any kind of benefit from any person, institution or company for writing my reviews.

Following this book:

WE-THINK

by Charles Leadbeater

WIKINOMICS

by Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams

BRAZIL VS. SPAIN: A COMPARISON OF TWO POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND LEGAL CONTEXTS FOR TOURISM BUSINESSES

One of those Miracles

One of those Miracles

Today during a session of Tourism Market Perspective where the student groups were supposed to present an accommodation concept, I had another confirm that my thoughts about a person were more than justified and full of sense. What happened is that one of the group holding a presentation deliberately failed in the task of following the guidelines of the assignment, hence not by skipping any of the subpoints but literally changing the main goal of the essay, which required to create an accommodation concept for an ethnical minority in the Netherlands after having defined the consumer profile and the target market through primary and secondary research.

More generally, among the other groups as well as in my personal group, a good result was achieved, with several nice ideas being presented but with no outstanding concepts which could let me think about something serious or feasable . Yet the group of my Brazilian friend exceeded any expectation, saying something like:

 "well, we figured out a very nice concept for offering a unique customer experience, BUT... we also figured out immediately that at the economic and market level there was no room for an ad-hoc accommodation structure, so we decided to work on a collaboration with three already existing structures, being able like this to focus on the real customer experience".

At this point, if I was the professor, as an innovative person such the one I think to be, their non-linear thinking process would indeed deserved 10 points out of 10. Maybe after having considered how clearly the class appreciated the work, the REAL professor remarked the fact that the guidelines had not been follown but than gave his congratulations to the group.

Concerning the person who came up with the idea, I was almost sure it was him, in fact, I received his confirmation some hours later when I went upstairs to talk to him as I regularly do. Now, although I fully understand our main incongruences in terms of thinking and beliefs, I recognise in him the genius and the full potential of contributing to the development of any community, region, country or even world. Additionally, as probably with no other person I am able to do, I can accept his suggestions and compare my ideas to something concrete. I really see myself in his capacity to elaborate information and produce logical thinking which differs from the one of the main-stream. 

I seriously think that this reflection come from the fact that too often I feel alone along the way toward my "surreal" goals of doing something concrete for the sake of serving that fraction of the world which truly urges my service.

Concluding, I wish for me and for you that are reading this, a future full of rationality and genius in the same body. Be that person you, the one beside you or even better both.

Business Model Canvas Adapted

Business Model Canvas Adapted


The Business Model Canvas is helping Entrepreneurs and Marketers to get their ideas clear since 2008, when the model was proposed by Alexander Osterwalder. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Model_Canvas)

Here below a renewed Business Model Canvas, personally adapted to a multi-service (B2B and B2C) enterprise. I'm not a lover of theoretical models, but I really think this is one of those which could help anybody to get some clear ideas about how a business should work and operate. I hope this new framework will help somebody.