AUGUST 2018

REVIEWS
A new day dawns for the world’s economic system – and
the collaborative model might suit it best
Collaborative
Advantage:
How collaboration
beats competition
as a strategy
for success,
Paul Skinner,
(Robinson, 2018)
£13.99
p Delegates at this year’s Co-operative Congress
If there is a common theme to discussions of the
economy – from local to global level – it is that we
are undergoing a period of huge change.
This has prompted the co-operative movement
to argue that new business models, based on
collaboration rather than competition, are better
suited to the challenges and opportunities
this brings.
It is an idea taken up in a new book from Paul
Skinner, a visiting fellow at Edge Hill University
business school. He is the founder of Agency
of the Future, a collaborative business consultancy,
and Pimp my Cause, which assists charities and
social enterprises.
Modern technology has brought new opportunities
for mass collaboration, he argues – and
collaboration is more effective than competition for
mobilising staff, customers and other stakeholders.
It fosters innovation, allows growth to outstrip
resources, brings a better understanding of
value creation, and brings “a true understanding
of human decision-making”.
But how can businesses take advantage
of this? Skinner argues that a new ways of thinking
are needed to transform business strategy and
marketing. He sets out five steps:
u find a common purpose that ‘sows the seed of a
new story’
u create opportunities by finding ways to engage in
the common purpose
u engage participation by creating defined
roles and customs
u iterate and accelerate by developing a deeper
understanding of early adopters
u build partnerships to help the organisation grow
faster and further.
He builds his argument with a useful study of the
rise and fall of the highly competitive business ethos
of the last 20th century, which has “remained the
dominant metaphor for business and organisational
strategy”. He identifies the flaws in the model,
which can lead to counter-productive goals, and
see organisations understating the importance of
creativity in unlocking value from their teams.
And in an age of rampant business disruptors,
the competitive ethos can leave organisations
with a blind spot when it comes to identifying new
challengers because they are so heavily focused on
established rivals.
It’s also unnatural, he argues, pointing put that
“it is our ability to co-operate in large numbers that
separates us from other species”.
This leads him to his version of co-operation, the
collaborative advantage – an “optimistic concept”
which “recognises that value can also be created
anywhere in the eco-system in which a business
operates ... Organisational success is born out
of fostering an optimal relationship with the entire
external environment that maximises the combined
total value-creating process and generates benefits
for the organisation, further enhancing the
lives of the customers it serves”.
It’s also socially rewarding, he adds, giving the
example of neurological experiments which found
that working collaboratively leads to people using
different parts of the their brains, which in turn
triggers greater empathy.
Skinner concludes with a look at how his ideas
have changed his attitude to his work in marketing
– which, he says: “should be about finding the
optimal way to cultivate the world’s financial,
material and intellectual potential for the greatest
possible good”.
In a world facing challenges such as poverty,
climate change, terrorism and war, it’s vital
that the collaborative ethos is communicated
effectively, he says. As a marketing man, he
frames it as a brand agenda called Surthrival –
“the process of growing stronger in a world of
complex risks” by building new collaborative skills
and technologies.
Ending the book on an optimistic note, he
hopes this ethos will help the world navigate its
way through the challenges to come, by “making
a humanitarian out of everyone”.
48 | AUGUST 2018