Chapter 1
The Social Enterprise
A New Source of Competitive Advantage
Not every organization that is engaged in social media qualifies as a social enterprise—but they all can be. Threadless, Dell, Booz Allen, GE, and ARM are all on their way as are IBM, Procter & Gamble, and Best Buy, whose efforts you will hear more about in the coming chapters.
Today, organizations are at different places on the social enterprise learning curve. While organizations are making their way up the curve in their own unique ways, Figure 1.1 captures some of the stages in which most companies find themselves as they evolve into social enterprises.
Figure 1.1 Stages in Social Enterprise Evolution
At the bottom of the social enterprise learning ladder are what I call “wait-and-seers,” those organizations that are watching on the sidelines with senior-level leaders not yet convinced of the effect of social destinations or of how to go about being a part of the new communications landscape. Close by are the “been-there-done-that” types, companies who have jumped off the learning curve altogether, dissatisfied with their early attempts' lack of achievement.
I understand both of these camps. Social media represents a whole new way of doing business, one where, in the early days, none of us had been trained. Many mistakes were made as people forged ahead without a road map: organizations misrepresented themselves ...
