INTERVIEW

Interview: Louis A. Venetz

OP: Prof Davis, how do youdefine business, organizationand information?Prof. Davis: Business and or-ganization are not the same. Abusiness applies resources tocreate products and servicesthat meet market needs, inrelation to cornpetirors. Auto-mobile, book, computer, de-fense, energy, and food corn-panies are each in differentbusinesses.

An organization is rhe wayin which those resources areadministered - the house-keeping - which includes thestructure, systems, employees,and culture of the organiza-tion.

Constant awareness of thissimple distinction berweenbusiness and organization, sooften forgotten or ignored, isthe key to good management.When people keep it in theforefront of rheir minds, theystay focused on why they arekeeping house,. not the waythey are keeping house. Whenthey invert that order, theyand their company lose theireffectiveness. Good house-keeping should never be anend in itself

Information is the core tech-nology of today's economy.Form and function are theessentials of the information'sarchitecture, a distinctionmade as early as Aristotle. Itcomes in four forms: data,text, sound, and image. Theseforms are all mental impres-sions that we receive throughthe senses, and in this econ-omy the senses of sight andhearing are the most impor-tant. Other forms that infor-mation comes in relate toother senses. Taste, touch, andsmell, for example, may be-come Jmportant in the bio-

30

Im OUTPUT-Gespräch: Prof Stan Davis

Tomorro",,'sbusinessestodayAt the DEC Symposiumon Concurrent Engi-neering in Zurich, Prof.Stan Davis introducedhis lotest book 112020Vision". He looksahead to the decadesin the next centurywhen our lives andbusinesses will becompletely trans-formed by informationand bio-technology. Hedemonstrates howcompanies will useinformation, not just tocut costs and addservices, but to grownew life-cycle-businesses toguarantee their future.

If you know wh at

the path of devel-

opment is you can

make 50me pro-

iections into the

future.

Stan Davis ist 2,02 m gross und liebt es, auf zwei ineinandergestellten Stühlen zu sitzen. Wenn die Leute daran Anstossnehmen, erklärt er seine Sitzweise damit, dass mittelgrosseMenschen auf zu kleinen Stühlen Schwierigkeiten haben. Inderselben Weise betrachtet er auch das Geschäft: Er sucht nachMöglichkeiten, vorgegebene Situationen in einem völlig neuenLicht zu betrachten. Diese Denkweise widerspiegelt Stan Da-vis' einzigartige und anspruchsvolle Perspektive. Er kann Din-ge auf dermassen einfache Art erklären, dass die Leute sagen:«Ja klar, daran habe ich noch gar nicht gedacht!» Seine kreativeDenkweise schafft die Verbindungen zu völlig neuen Geschäfts-praktiken. Die Zeitschrift Fortune nannte deshalb sein Buch«2020 Vision» das beste Managementbuch 1991: «The mostmind-bending book of rhe bunch.» Auch für sein einfluss-reiches Buch «Future Perfeet» erhielt er aus demselben Grundden Decade Award von Tom Peter, Stan Davis ist Autor vonsieben Büchern, die in fünfzehn Sprachen übersetzt wurden.

Nachdem er sein Doktorat in Sozialwissenschaft beendethatte, verbrachte Davis zwei Jahrzehnte an der HarvardBusiness School sowie an den Universitäten Columbia undBoston. Nach dieser akademischen Laufbahn wandte er sichmehr und mehr Geschäftstätigkeiten zu, um intellektuell mög-lichst aktiv zu bleiben. Nun ist er sehr aktiv in der Forschung,als Autor, als Berater, als Redner in Seminaren, Training undVideo. Er arbeitet im Moment an zahlreichen Projekten mit,die vorwiegend mit Ausbildung zu tun haben.

Dr. Davis ist Berater in den Bereichen Strategie, Manage-ment und Organisation für grössere und schnell wachsendeUnternehmungen. Viele seiner Kunden haben ihn in den ge-schäftsführenden Vorstand miteinbezogen. Zu diesen Kundenzählen Apple, Arco, Bank of America, Chase Manhattan Bank,Chemical Bank, Citibank, Digital Equipment, First Chicago,Herman Miller, Marriott, Mercedes-Benz, Metropolitan Life,Primerica, Olivetti, Sun Microsystems, Wang, Xerox und vieleMitglieder von Young Presidents Organization.

economy of rhe future, buttheir commercial engineeringis many decades away. Othersenses, such as intuition andextrasensory perception, arealso in their infancy insofar ascommercial applications areinvolved, and they too belongto the next economy, if at all.Neural network computersand artificial intelligence willhave to evolve much furtherbefore we may even under-stand. the potentials of thesesenses.

The basic forms of inforrna-tion start to get more complexwhen you realize what can bedone with them - their func-

tion. Basically, we do fourthings wirh information: gen-erate it, process ir, store it andtransmit ir (Figure p. 32: TheArchitecture of Information).Anything that is done withany product or service, thatdeals with any of the fourforms of information, can bedescribed in this way. Doingone or more of these is whatmake the information aspectof business become the mostvaluable part in the future.OP: Are these forms and func-tions a kind 0/ rnultimedia?Prof. Davis: Yes, the cornbina-tion of those is mulrirnedia,anyone by itself is not.

OUTPU'I~ 9403 Goldach Nr.8/92

INTERVIEW

OP: You are looking ahead tothe decades in the next century.How do you know that?Prof. Davis: Economies, andthe industries, businesses, andproducts wirhin thernpeople and all other livingthings - have a life cycle. Foreach cyde, the first phase isembryonie. a gestation periodwirhin the framework of theprevious economy, like a childborn and reared by adults.After this relative long periodof gestation and development,a critical take-off point isreached and the new economyenters the growth phase, com-parable in human terms toearly adulthood. Also likepeople, an economy developsfurther, into maturity. Theforth and final phase is theaging where viraliry and eco-nomic results diminish nomatter how many resourcesarepumped into rhe effort.

In the life cyde of an econ-orny, each technologicalbreakthrough produces a sub-sequent quantum leap inbusiness growth. When theparticular technology matures,growth slows. For example, inthe 1950s, biology discoversthe double helix rhat havetaken several decades to in-volveto what we have today interms of bio-technology. Andtheyare just now beginning tobecommercial products.

So the answer is: If youknow what the path of devel-opment is you can make someprojections into the future.OP: What do you mean by "in-Jormationalize the business"?Prof. Davis! Today, informa-tion-based enhancements havebecome the main avenue torevitalize mature businessesand to transform rhern intonew ones. In every economy,the core technology becomesthe basis for revitalization andgrowth. Information technol-ogies are the core for today'seconomy, and to survive allbusinesses must information-a1ize. From small stores togiant global corporations, thepoint to grasp is not merelycreate and control theirdestiny. The value of anyproduct can be increased byincorporating intelligence, in-formation content, and serv-

OUTPUT, 9403 Goldach Nr.8/92

Dr. Davis consults about the strategy, management and orga-nization 0/ both major corporations and fast growing enterprises.

ices. Businesses can modernizeeven their most mature pro-ducts and services by ernbed-ding information features andfunctions. Increased valuedoes not come from materialchanges so much as from newintangibles. Choice, variety,and service embedded in tradi-tional products create smartproducts and new marketopportunities. Profitabilityfrom the new features, in fact,often exceeds rhe profit fromthe original product or service.The more information you.put into a product, or themore you are able to use a pro-duct to pull out information,the more you evolve beyond

Information is the

core technology of

today's economy.

the original purpose into newones. These new ones, whichare based on information, maypresent even far greateropport-unities than the original.OP: The title 0/ chapter 4 in thebook 2020 Vision: "ls it time tokilt your organization, before itkilts your business" seems to beprovocative?Prof. Davis: What I mean hereis if you or your companyspend less then rwo-third ofyour time and energies onyour business, and more thanone-third on your organiza-tion, if so, then you have abusiness that exists to supportan organization, not an organ-ization that exists to supporta business. Then, ir may betime to kill your organizationbefore ir kills your business.Just keep your ears open thenext time you are in youroffice. Are all the people youmeet, whatever their jobs,energizing about the businessor about customers or ern-ployees? About cornpetitors inthe marketplace? About pro-ducts or protocol?

The number one-third Iused is with regard to my defi-

runon of bureaucracy in thebook Future Perfect.OP: What about bureaucracy?Prof. Davis: I define a bu-reaucracy as a business, or anyotber institution, that exists tocarry out an organization. Thatmeans if more then one-thirdof the talk energy focus arten-tion of the people then it's anorganization and if less thenrwo-thirds of these are on thebusiness, then you have a bu-reaucracy.OP: That means to flcus onbusiness more, and on organiza-tion less?Prof. Davis: If you work in acompany, whatever its charac-teristics, the chances are goodthat you would like to have amore flexible organization.And a more innovative one. Amore risk-taking and entrepre-neurial organization, and onethat is more creative, adaptive,and responsive to change. Youwant all those good things.But do you know what you'llhave if you really get them?You'll have more organization!

If you really want all thesemarvelous attributes in yourorganization, the way to getthern is to focus on yourbusiness more, and on yourorganization less.. Today,poised halfway through oureconomy, there is too muchtalk about organization, pro-ducing too few results. Themore it is discussed, rhe morewe foster its runaway growth.The more managers focus onit, the more of ir we will have.We need less organization, notmore. Of course, we do needmanagement and organiza-tion, but how do we get thekind that accurately suits ourhuman and economic needs?Here's how you might begin.

The present organization isgenerally a poor predictor ofthe kind that is needed for thefuture and, therefore, of thekinds of changes that will haveto be made. Since you shouldorganize in relation to thekind of business you will be in,that not-yet-exisring busines-ses is the best source of infor-mation for what the futureorganization should look like.The process is straightforward.First, get the best possible fixon the business you will be-

31

INTERVIEW

come. Next, as best you can,understand what kind oforganization it will take to runthat future business. Then,compare the future organiza-tion with the one you havenow, and initiate a plan to getyou from here to there.

The bestplace to look for thebasis of organization change isin the future business, and theworst place JO look is in thecurrent organization. The pre-sent organization, however,may be a good predictor ofwhat will prevem you fromdeveloping the kind of orga-nization you will need. Like allcreatures, it has avested inter-est in cominuing to exist. Trytelling a parem that the chil-dren are grown and no longerneed pareming, or a businessfunction or governmembranch that it is too powerfuland needs trimming. Ratherthan correcting what is nega-tive in your current organiza-tion, focus on trying to under-stand what kind of future

Datacomputers

startedhere

telephonesstartedhere

business would be the mosreffective, and let the new orga-nization evolve from it.OP: Comparing your book"Future Perfect" with "TheMythical Man-Month" of ProfBrooks, do you have to revise itas ioell?Prof. Davis: It is more truenow then it was then because Iwas writing about the futureand rhis future is now. I wroteabout time-base cornpetition,and now, it is a very commonbusiness. Most of what Iwroteabout then has come to pass.I'm rather amazed that there isnothing in the book that I seethat is not true. I am not goingto issue another or a secondedition but in many regards2020 Vision is the son ofFuture Perfeet. it is the exten-sion of my thinking.OP: Prof Davis, I thank youvery much for this edifYinginterview. It is impossible totreat the whole spectrum ofyourbooks, but therefore it is advisa-ble to read them. DJII

Text

Sound

Image

Generation Processlng StorageFUNCTIONS

Transmission

The Architecture of Information

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