Introduction

This introductory chapter gives an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book surveys the fast-changing context for incumbent organizations in market spaces where online behavior is replacing physical proximity; a behavior economy where users seek engagement with platforms and services that allow them to behave, to leave a mark and to participate in the community of others. It uncovers the new core competence required of corporations in the subscription economy: the understanding that business in the digital era is about art and not about science. The book proposes a few viewpoints about what could be possible if the present is transformed. It examines the struggle between the future and the past, and illustrates the success of a number of organizations that have designed themselves from scratch, and from the ingredients of the present.