The second element of the 'Triple Convergence': Businesses and individuals are starting to adopt new business habits to adapt. What specific habits does this refer to?
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OK, no problem. Regarding this second element in the "triple convergence," it essentially means that when the world becomes "flat" due to technology and globalization, just having new tools and platforms isn't enough. Both businesses and individuals must learn to play this new game using new "postures" or approaches.
It's like jumping from the era of horse-drawn carriages straight into the era of high-speed rail. You can't operate a high-speed train using the old mindset of maintaining and driving horses, right? You need to learn new driving methods, understand new signal systems, and adapt to new speeds.
Specifically, this "new business habit" primarily involves the following major shifts:
From "Hierarchy" to "Hand-in-Hand": Transformation of Work Styles
Traditional companies were like pyramids, with the boss issuing commands from the top. Information and instructions filtered down layer by layer, resulting in slow efficiency and little initiative from frontline employees.
- New Habit: Horizontal Collaboration
- What does it mean? What's more popular now is a "networked" structure. People are no longer stuck in rigid hierarchical relationships. Instead, they form groups or project teams anytime based on shared goals, collaborating across departments, regions, or even companies.
- An analogy: It used to be like playing a single-player game, where you could only follow the predetermined storyline. Now it's like playing a multiplayer online game—you can team up with players from anywhere to tackle challenges, with each person leveraging their unique expertise (someone acts as the tank, another as healer, another as DPS), making things far more efficient.
From "Doing It All" to "Focusing on the Core": Transformation of Business Models
Traditional companies always tried to do everything themselves, handling R&D, production, sales, and customer service – trying to control every aspect, often leading to mediocrity in all.
- New Habit: Focusing on the Core, Outsourcing Plan B (Outsourcing & Offshoring)
- What does it mean? Companies focus their energy on their most skilled and core competencies (e.g., Apple focusing on design and marketing), while handing off non-core activities (like manufacturing or customer support) to other, more specialized and lower-cost companies.
- An analogy: If you're a top chef, your core task is to create new dishes. For chores like washing, chopping vegetables, or washing dishes, you can easily hire an assistant. This lets you focus your time and effort where it counts.
From "Information Silos" to "Information Sharing": Transformation of Knowledge Access
In the past, knowledge and information were scarce resources, held by a few experts or managers. If you wanted to know something, you had to go through layers of requests or spend ages searching the library.
- New Habit: Leveraging Search, Actively "Feeding" Information (In-forming & Open Source)
- What does it mean? On a personal level, with tools like Google and Wikipedia, we can access information at unprecedented speeds, "empowering" ourselves. At the enterprise level, "open source" has become a trend, where people collectively contribute code and wisdom to grow the pie for everyone (e.g., the Android system).
- An analogy: Before, if you wanted to learn cooking, you might apprentice yourself to a master who might withhold secrets. Now, you can just open your phone – countless food bloggers upload recipe videos showing you steps and tips for free, ready for you to learn and practice anytime.
From "Step-by-Step" to "Real-Time Response": Transformation of the Supply Chain
Traditional supply chains followed a "place order -> produce -> ship -> receive" sequence, which was lengthy and rigid.
- New Habit: Building Supply Chains Like a "Nervous System" (Supply-Chaining)
- What does it mean? Modern supply chains pursue ultimate efficiency and transparency. From Walmart's inventory management to Amazon's logistics, it's like a highly developed nervous system. The moment you place an order, robots in the warehouse start picking it, logistics companies immediately map the route, and the whole process is seamless and visible in real-time.
- An analogy: It's like ordering at a fast-food restaurant. Your order appears instantly on the kitchen screen after you place it at the counter, cooks, assemblers, and packagers work together in sync, and your meal is ready within minutes. The entire process is synchronized in real-time.
From "Offline Mindset" to "Digital-First": The Fundamental Shift in Mindset
This is the most crucial point. All the habit changes above stem from this shift in thinking.
- New Habit: Digital Transformation
- What does it mean? It's not about simply moving offline things online. It means fundamentally rethinking and reconstructing your business digitally. Meetings become video conferences, collaboration happens in cloud documents, marketing relies on social media, and decisions are driven by data analysis.
- An analogy: This isn't just replacing paper mail with email. It's more like WeChat – it doesn't just send messages; it integrates payments, social networking, mini-programs, and countless other functions, creating an entirely new way of life.
In summary, this second "convergence" highlights an "adaptation period." When the world landscape changes, businesses and individuals clinging to old habits will be left behind. Those who can quickly learn and adopt these new ways of collaborating, new business models, and new mental habits will run faster and go further in the "flattened" world.