sexta-feira, dezembro 06, 2013

Duas economias

Este artigo "Increasing Returns and the New World of Business" parece-me que de certa forma ilustra o problema dos membros da tríade.
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Os membros da tríade foram educados na economia e nos modelos e "leis" da economia de Magnitograd, de Metropolis, do século XX e, da produção em massa de commodities. Entretanto, estamos a caminho do Estranhistão onde a economia é outra:
"Marshall’s world of the 1880s and 1890s was one of bulk production: of metal ores, aniline dyes, pig iron, coal, lumber, heavy chemicals, soybeans, coffee - commodities heavy on resources, light on know-how. In that world it was reasonable to suppose, for example, that if a coffee plantation expanded production it would ultimately be driven to use land less suitable for coffee—it would run into diminishing returns.
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Marshall said such a market was in perfect competition, and the economic world he envisaged fitted beautifully with the Victorian values of his time. It was at equilibrium and therefore orderly, predictable and therefore amenable to scientific analysis, stable and therefore safe, slow to change and therefore continuous. Not too rushed, not too profitable. In a word, mannerly. In a word, genteel.
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With a few changes, Marshall’s world lives on a century later within that part of the modern economy still devoted to bulk processing: of grains, livestock, heavy chemicals, metals and ores, foodstuffs, retail goods—the part where operations are largely repetitive day to day or week to week. Product differentiation and brand names now mean that a few companies rather than many
compete in a given market. But typically, if these  companies try to expand, they run into some limitation: in numbers of consumers who prefer their brand, in regional demand, in access to raw materials. So no company can corner the market. And because such products are normally substitutable for one another, something like a standard price emerges. Margins are thin and nobody makes a killing. This isn’t exactly Marshall’s perfect competition, but it approximates it.
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Because the two worlds of business—processing bulk goods, and crafting knowledge into products - differ in their underlying economics, it follows that they differ in their character of competition and their culture of management. It is a mistake to think that whatworks in one world is appropriate for the other.
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Let us look at the two cultures of competition. In bulk processing, a set of standard prices typically emerges. Production tends to be repetitive—much the same from day to day or even from year to year. Competing therefore means keeping product flowing, trying to improve quality, getting costs down. There is an art to this sort of management, one widely discussed in the literature. It favors an environment free of surprises or glitches—an environment characterized by control and planning.
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Competition is different in knowledge-based industries, because the economics are different. ... Hierarchies flatten not because democracy is suddenly bestowed on the work force or because computers can cut out much of middle management. They flatten because, to be effective, the deliverers of the next-thing-for-thecompany need to be organized like commando units in small teams that report directly to the CEO or to the board."

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