Evolving Galaxy and Business Ecosystem
– Musings of Dr. Jamie C. Hsu, 6.1.2018
There was a fascinating National Geographic TV special describing the evolution of a galaxy. It described the formation of stars from dust, gas, and dark matter, and how clusters of stars formed galaxies like our own Milky Way. Through billions of years, the spiral shaped galaxies have continued to evolve. Some may be warped with ripples caused by the absorption of dwarf galaxies, some larger ones might go through collisions and merge into mega galaxies. And in some instances, such collisions and black holes may weaken the galaxies and cause them to die out.
With the advents of new instruments and measurements, astrophysicists and astrolomers are hard at work trying to explain or predict the many new observations and discoveries. It is fun to take a look at the sky and the Milky Way, and let our minds wonder what is really happening out there.
Here on Earth, we can observe something equally fascinating — the evolution of enterprises and business ecosystems. An ingenious idea, an innovative product, or a new process can create a new enterprise and successful business. The internal combustion engine, semi-conductor, computer, internet, operating system, and mobile phone are just a few such examples.
As the new business/product/platform becomes successful, it begins to attract suppliers, applications, competitors, and imitators. This creates huge business ecosystems such as Walmart, Apple, GM, Sony, Microsoft, Alphabet, Xiaomi, and Alibaba.
Some of the business ecosystems may become too large, complicated or inefficient, and eventually die out. Some may go through mergers and rebirth. We may recall the battle of Sony’s Betamax and JCR VHS formats in video recording, and the on-going battles of Window vs. Linux and iOS vs. Android. The evolution of these business ecosystems will have enormous impacts on the thousands of suppliers and partners in them, just like the stars in a galaxy.
With the interesting analogy between the galaxies and the business ecosystems, maybe we can learn something to strategically manage our businesses.
演變的 銀河系 與 生態系
-作者 許俊宸博士
-中譯 薛乃綺
有個很棒的國家地理電視頻道在講述星系的演變。它描述了由塵埃、氣體及暗物質所形成的恆星，以及星團如何形成如我們銀河系一樣的星系。經過數十億年，螺旋型星系可能會經歷不同的演變。有些會因為不斷吸收了其他矮星系而激起漣漪似的波状；有些比較大的可能會經過數次撞擊而融合成一個巨大的星系。在某些情況下，這些碰撞及黑洞可能會削弱星系，而造成它們毀滅。
隨著新儀器及測量方法的出現，天體物理學家和天文學家都在努力解釋或預測許多新的觀測及發現。看看天空及銀河系是很有趣的，會讓我們想知道在那裏真實發生過哪些事情。
在我們所處的地球上，我們可以觀察到同樣令人著迷的東西，那就是企業及商業生態系的演變。一個巧妙的想法、一個創新的產品、或一個新的過程，可以創造一個新的企業及一個成功的公司。內燃機、半導體、計算機、物聯網、操作系統，甚至是手機，都是類似的例子。
隨著新業務/新產品/新平台的成功，他們開始會吸引供應商、應用軟體、競爭者、模仿者，來去創造巨大的商業生態系統，如Walmart、Apple、GM、Sony， Microsoft、Alphabet、 Xiaomi, 和Alibaba。
有些商業生態系會因過度肥胖、複雜、或低效，最終面臨消亡；有些則可能會經歷兼併與重生。我們可能回想起Sony的Betamax及JCR的VHS格式在錄放影機中的爭戰；以及現在還在在進行爭鬥中的Windows 與Linux、iOS與Android。這些商業生態系的演變，將對於成千上萬的供應商與合作夥伴產生巨大的影響，就像是星系中的恆星一樣。
隨著星系與商業生態系之間有趣的類比，我們還可以從中學到一些商業策略管理的東西。
