Sicherheit und Risiko

ESPRIT St.Gallen Business Review
The Future of
Business Networks
Jim Hagemann Snabe
Co-CEO of SAP AG
Every day, billions of consumers around the
world use websites like Facebook, Twitter,
and Amazon to manage personal connections,
share, engage and shop. We form networks of
friends and families, exchange advice and opinions,
and browse millions of products and services. We are
well-informed consumers in a collaborative online
world. As John Dunne wrote: “no man is an island.”
But neither is a business. Now, these same technologies
are finding their way into corporations,
allowing for the creation of collaborative networks
among business users. Every company is part of a rich
ecosystem of suppliers, vendors, partners and customers.
And the most successful companies find innovative
ways to engage players at all levels. Thanks to
cloud-based technology, this is becoming easier than
ever.
«I call this the age of
the Networked
Enterprise»
The Consumer Network of Today
The idea of the business network is nothing new.
Business leaders have long understood the power of
strategic partnerships. Starbucks, for instance, is a
master at collaboration, from supplier to consumer.
Starbucks starts with an integrated supplier ecosystem,
investing in farmers and communities to establish
a stable supply of coffee beans. Then the company
engages in high-profile partnerships with Barnes
& Noble, PepsiCo, and United Airlines to ensure the
Starbucks brand is widely distributed to a coffee-loving
customer base. The brand has dominated the industry
with this well-nurtured network.
During the economic downturn, consumer goods
makers such as Kraft and Kimberly-Clark plugged into
key retailers to obtain point-of-sale data on a daily basis.
With more-timely information on hand, the manufacturers
could spot buying trends earlier, allowing
them to capitalize on promotional opportunities and
ensure that the right products in the right amounts
reached consumers.
PPG, a leading coatings and specialty products
company, is a prime example of a large enterprise
currently using Ariba Discovery, the premier service
for matching buyers and sellers globally delivered
via the Ariba Network. The US$15 billion company is
able to quickly expand its pool of sellers beyond local
boundaries, gain unique qualifying information from
network-based transactional history and member-generated
performance ratings and increase competition
in their sourcing events worldwide.
Online companies built on the foundation of networking
have been particularly collaborative. Amazon
is one of the best examples offering more goods by
contracting with other companies, making its site a
one-stop-shop and efficiently connecting sellers with
buyers. Amazon has extended its consumer network
know-how to the Kindle. The Amazon Kindle was not
the first e-reader on the market, but because Amazon
understood the publishing industry it beat out a previously
developed Sony product. While Sony failed to
address the economic and legal challenges of e-books,
Amazon created conditions that made joining its e-
book network an attractive proposition for publishers.
This allowed Amazon to accompany the Kindle
product with an e-book retail service. Amazon has
realized how important it is today to create services,
rather than simply sell goods. The Amazon platform
provides a service for consumers looking for the perfect
product or e-book, as well as for independent
merchandisers expanding their reach.
At Facebook, a personal networking site, successful
partnerships have come in the forms of apps
and games. This includes Spotify, a popular music
subscription service. Last September Facebook and
Spotify announced a deep integration where users
cannot access one service without subscribing to the
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Winter 2012