"we must redefine art"

Em "A alternativa", um postal de maio de 2016, e em "A ascensão do artesão e da arte na produção, um postal de Abril de 2017, voltei à arte como a alternativa para fugir às estratégias cancerosas que nunca serão sustentáveis num país pequeno e pouco habituado a rigor e planeamento.

Como diria MacGyver:

That's our edge!

É afinal o twist na estória de David vs Golias, enquanto Saúl pensava que o puto David ia combater de igual para igual, David tira um seixo branco de um saco só com seixos pretos (parte I e parte II).

Ontem, apanhei este texto de Esko Kilpi, "Art, entrepreneurship and the future of work":

"Art creates suggestions for fresh ways of defining the world we live in.
...
Artists are like entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs are like artists. They turn nothings into somethings. Thus, artists give a form to ideas that for some other people might be nothing more than vague notions or emotional impulses. But it is often not easy.
...
Fostering creativity is a genuine goal for all in the post-industrial society. A creative economy needs individuals with the freedom, courage and capacity to think, learn and live imaginatively. We need people who can conceive ideas and who can realize them. Maybe all schools in the future are going to be art schools and all offices creative studios.[Moi ici: Mas não com a Nomenklatura que por lá anda agora]
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But we must redefine art. Art today often stands apart from everyday life. It is a pastime and an indulgence, admired in a gallery, museum or a concert hall from a contemplative distance.
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In the future art are not only objects we contemplate, but also experiences we possess and create."[Moi ici: Relacionar com o tema dos artesãos, dos nichos e Mongo]

"transparency created value"

A propósito de "Cooks Make Tastier Food When They Can See Their Customers":

"The results showed that when the cooks could see their patrons, the food quality got higher ratings.
...
The results were pretty compelling: Customer satisfaction with the food shot up 10% when the cooks could see the customers, even though the customers couldn’t see the cooks. In the opposite situation, there was no improvement in satisfaction from the baseline condition in which neither group could see the other. But even more striking, when customers and cooks both could see one another, satisfaction went up 17.3%, and service was 13.2% faster. Transparency between customers and providers seems to really improve service. [Moi ici: De pessoas para pessoas. O poder da interacção. A força de Mongo]
...
We consistently found that transparency created value.
...
Being appreciated makes work meaningful. People feel what they do matters. Human connections seem to trigger that.
...
What’s exciting is that these are often subtle alterations. It’s not expensive or difficult to create transparency between consumers and producers. Just by opening up the work environment, you could improve value and quality. Transparency becomes a low-cost strategic advantage."

Ao ler isto recordei-me do que escrevi sobre a Eureka em 2015 e 2018.

Fugir do anonimato

Temas abordados aqui ao longo dos anos: transparência, autenticidade, artesanato em vez de vómito industrial.

Em Março de 2015, escrevi "Outra forma de David bater Golias" onde publiquei:

A loja da Eureka em Sta Catarina ñ ganharia em mostrar a relação à fábrica?

— Carlos P da Cruz (@ccz1) March 10, 2015

Há dias descobri este exemplo de batota, de aposta na imperfeição dos mercados, de criação de relação e de distinção:

"There will be a little card with a photo of one of the Italian artisans who made your new leather shoes, bag, or jacket. You’ll also find a pre-stamped postcard with a hand-drawn map on it of all the places in Tuscany where Arno makes its products. You can send the card to whomever you choose, but if you’d like to send a thank-you note to the man or woman who made the item you just purchased, you can send the postcard back to Arno’s founders, who will deliver it to the right person.
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“We’ve been surprised by how many of our customers actually choose to send the cards back to us,”
...
Not only do their customers know where their shoes were made, they can see a picture of the shoemaker who crafted it by hand. It’s a level of visibility into the supply chain that we don’t see very often in the world of fashion.
...
Arno sells products directly to the consumer, bypassing traditional retailers–and their price markups–allowing it to sell products at a fraction of the cost of traditional luxury brands, with sandals starting at $198. The brand collaborates with family-owned factories in a small region just outside Florence, Italy. Products are made by a small team of artisans, who each have extensive experience making leather goods. One of these factories has chosen to invest in Arno, which is unusual since it is usually fashion brands that invest in manufacturing facilities.
...
Arno wants to take this approach a step further, by humanizing the manufacturing process even more and giving customers a glimpse of the person who actually made the item they purchased. Besides the photograph that comes in their package, they can go to the Arno website, which offers bios of each artisan full of details about their families and interests. For instance, Laura, Arno’s head of quality control, was born on the island of Sardinia, and went into an artisan apprenticeship program immediately after middle school. Since she lives two streets away from the factory, she goes home for lunch every day, and returns to her village every summer for a vacation.
.
“We really believe this is the future of luxury,” says Crowe. “People want to know how their products were made, and the natural extension of that is to connect with the human beings who made their new shoes or bag.”"

Como é que a sua empresa pode adaptar algumas destas ideias, para fugir do anonimato?

No mercado, provavelmente a sua empresa é como o Willy nesta figura. quem vai ter paciência para a procurar? E como sabem que ela existe?



Trechos retirados de "The future of luxury fashion? Getting to know your shoemaker"

Curiosidade do dia

Hoje, aproveitei o dia nublado para uma caminhada ao longo da marginal de Gaia desde o Cabedelo até para lá do Cais do Cavaco. No regresso, em frente ao Mercado da Afurada, a minha atenção foi capturada por isto:

Olhem para a imagem e vejam se algum coisa vos chama a atenção.





Sabem o quanto valorizo uma proposta de valor baseada na autenticidade, sabem o quanto associo Mongo a artesãos e artesanato.

Então, pergunto, qual o efeito desta mensagem:

"SENRAS DAIRY - Fabrico Artesanal de Queijo"

Para mim não faz sentido juntar o inglesismo "DAIRY" com a conotação "Artesanal". A primeira palavra retira qualquer força de autenticidade à segunda.

Mas eu só sou um engenheiro anónimo da província sem conhecimentos de marketing.

Mais outro exemplo: Provinciano, mas muito à frente (parte II)

Parte I.

Vai continuar a aumentar a frequência com que o tema vai ser objecto de conversa. O retorno do artesão e da arte casados com a tecnologia.

BTW, reparar nesta foto no final da página:

Fez-me regressar a Julho de 2016 e a uma pergunta que coloquei a empresários do calçado: "Não receiam que um dia um par de sapatos possa ser feito e vendido por um trabalhador a partir de casa?" É o que está a acontecer cada vez mais (recordar o lago de nenúfares)

"Craftsmen like Grasso, who is now in his 80s, have remained out of the limelight for decades, as globalisation has put the emphasis firmly on brand names and industrialised manufacturing. But an exhibition opening in Venice in September, at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, seeks to turn the spotlight back on European craftsmanship and its tradition of master craftsmen.
...
he believes the robotics revolution has a silver lining for traditional manufacturing. “There will be a premium on the human eye and hand. And Europe has got that,” he says."

Um sério risco da nata do online não ser para a fábrica, mas para o operário-artesão contratado directamente pelo vendedor online.

Trecho retirado de "Homo Faber: the master craftsman versus the machine"

Arte, sempre a arte

Desde 2011 que defendo aqui que o futuro das PME passa pela arte:

• Qual a alternativa?
• O papel da arte
• A ascensão do artesão e da arte na produção

Entretanto, esta semana descobri o livro "Thinking The Art of Management - Stepping into 'Heidegger's Shoes" de David Atkinson. Nele, descobri um artigo de 1987, "Portrait of the Manager as an Artist" de Vincent Degot:

"A long tradition (in terms of the history of industrial capitalism) tells us that business management is to be considered as a proper subject for "scientific" study. One of the reasons supporting this is that management is based on a rationalistic attitude of mind: to achieve optimum use of resources with a view to maximisation of corporate profits. However, a much older tradition teaches us that it would be unwise, from the scientific and rationalistic standpoints, to assume that the business manager is motivated solely, or even essentially, by the goal of maximum profit. To illustrate and define the ideas we shall be developing in the main body of this paper, let us first take a brief look at a rather different field, often known as the "history of art criticism"...To come back to our starting point, it is clear that, while management can benefit from general techniques, applicable in companies of all kinds and themselves reflecting some changes in fashion, it must make allowance for the conditions prevailing within each particular company. This can be done only through experience, given that classroom tuition cannot cover the whole gamut of combinations of factors which have to be handled in practice. This means that a manager may perform brilliantly in one context but poorly in another (in the same way as some painters are at their best with portraits, others with landscapes, and so on). Consequently, one of the talents of the true manager lies in his ability to discover the working environment best suited to his particular gifts."

E ainda:

"In the first place, it might be said that the work has a more overall dimension that the decision: a decision may form part of a work (just as an iconographic motif may be an integral part of a painting). In that case, we must allow that the decisions are not necessarily of the "hard" type (i.e. based on strict economics), but may be of the "soft" variety we have discussed elsewhere. The work comprises perception of the need for something to be done at some point, evaluation of the right decision needed and, finally, implementation of that decision in practical form. There are of course many decision-theories which make due allowance for these three phases, but what we are more, particularly concerned with here is the extent to which each phase leaves room for personal initiative;
...
The creative work commences when its author starts to realise, on the basis of random information - chatting in the corridor, a glimpse of a computer print-out, a report by a consultant, something said at a staff meeting, etc -, that a specific action of some kind will be called for in due course. The creative manager -displaying one of his characteristics to which we come back later - feels that possibility in the form of an impulse, a violent desire for action. He then has to convey to other people all or part of his initial "intuition" - assuming, of course, that others will have to be involved. To this end, he may have to adapt his project to suit the corporate culture context, and relevant external trends (fashions) which could help to support it. In practice, this process is not so clear-nut and deliberate as thus expressed. Owing to this adaptation, the project may fit in with a prevailing "style" or reflect a local "taste" (cultural segment). One way in which he displays his personal talent is his skilful use of the factors in presence when mobilising his entourage to mete the project feasible. He may, for example, be led to formulate it in rationalistic terms as a means of demonstrating its advantages for the corporation, and this reformulation process may affect his original intention. In the same way, there have been times when external factors (patrons, critics) have affected the composition or the subject of a painting."

"O que passa-se?" (parte II)

Parte I.

O artigo continua com um exemplo já conhecido aqui do blogue, a Local Motors (postal de 2012, outro de 2016 e outro de 2017).

"A small U.S. startup called Local Motors offers an intriguing glimpse into the future of manufacturing. The company manages five so-called microfactories around the world, which primarily use 3D-printing equipment to produce such modern-day curios as Olli, a self-driving shuttle bus with IBM Watson artificial intelligence that can be hailed via a smartphone app and follows voice instructions; a cargo-carrying drone for Airbus dubbed the Zelator; and the world’s first 3D-printed car, the Strati — road-worthy if not a speedster — built live in 44 hours at the International Manufacturing Technology Show.
.
But the 3D-printing aspect of Local Motors’ business model is just a small part of what makes this company worth examining. The company is also crowdsourcing production designs from a network of global participants,
...
As the microfactory concept evolves, Local Motors will build new plants wherever its customers are located, and each manufactured item will effectively be one of a kind, built to suit the tastes and requirements of individual consumers. Scale is replaced by potential savings from engineering, design, parts, labor, and efficiency in a 3D microfactory. Local Motors describes this approach as making money from scope. In other words, it offers useful, attractive, bespoke products to customers who are within shouting distance of its factories, at a price that matches the distinctive value of the item.
Local Motors is still a nascent business — and may or may not ultimately succeed — but at its core it reflects a vital shift in production dogma that manufacturers of all sizes will have to reckon with in the coming years. After decades of chasing lower production costs and scale by extending factory footprints and supply chains deeper into emerging nations and distributing products around the world in huge quantities over complex logistics networks, manufacturers are finding that their globalized approach is losing its viability. In particular, their centralized management structure, lengthy supply chains, lack of product variety, and long shipping times are impeding regional agility — and, in some cases, placing them at a disadvantage to local competition.
Instead, the new strategic archetype for successful manufacturers will be based on a relatively simple idea: The most efficient manufacturing setup is the one that makes goods in appropriate volumes to meet demand at the point of demand, with plenty of room for local and individual customization. Much of this concept will be driven by advances in technology — 3D printing, factory innovations, e-commerce, data analytics, and the Internet of Things, to name a few
...
Moreover, the impact of the point-of-demand model will not be limited to the business-to- consumer environment. Suppliers in the business-to-business realm will also be under pressure to improve responsiveness as part of the campaign by their customers — that is, manufacturers — to shorten the value chain and more proactively serve the end consumer.
The implications are problematic for some companies: Manufacturers that are today highly invested in a global factory network of multiple large centralized plants, managed by traditional operating systems, organizations, and processes, may find their business models becoming obsolete faster than they ever expected. [Moi ici: Recordar esta reflexão de 2014] However, the nimblest manufacturers stand to reap significant gains from this new model. As their supply systems become more responsive and as customer demand becomes less of a guessing game, inventory inefficiencies and the carrying costs of warehousing products in bulk — only to ultimately jettison some of them as dead stock — will decline. In addition, savings will be generated by the reduction in expensive long-range production planning and supply chain management. And for companies able to outpace rivals in producing products that are best suited to customer needs — making these items available when customers want them — sales margins should rise markedly."

Conseguem imaginar como isto vai mudar o paradigma económico? Conseguem visualizar o fim do mundo criado pelo século XX?

"O que passa-se?"

Normalmente aqui no blogue, chamo a atenção para a cegueira das empresas de consultoria grandes, parece que escondem dos seus clientes grandes o impacte de Mongo na sua actividade.

Julgo que é a primeira vez que encontro um texto de uma consultora grande sobre Mongo e as suas implicações na economia, nos ecossistemas e na dimensão das empresas.

"In the next manufacturing revolution, spurred on by technologies that reinvent the way a factory can create products, such as 3D printing and robotics, companies will also need to rethink what they make and where they make it. Products will come off the assembly line in small, highly customized batches, like a high-tech version of old-fashioned craftsmanship. [Moi ici: Digam lá se isto não é uma entrada à matador com Mongo em toda a linha!!! Desde os pequenos lotes até aos artesãos tecnológicos longe das máquinas-monumento tão queridas dos que pensam que o Normalistão do século XX automatizado será o paradigma produtivo do século XXI]
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The revolution is on its way, and within the next five to 10 years, manufacturers in all industries will find themselves in a race to efficiently produce products at the point of demand — that is, where their customers are — and to deliver these items when their customers want them, personalized to their customers’ individual tastes. They will have to make strategic choices to stay competitive, investing in technology that allows them to continually analyze data about their customers’ preferences and buying habits so they can adapt quickly to changes in market conditions. Factories will be smaller, [Moi ici: Imaginem os cromos da Junqueira ao ler estas blasfémias!] operating with minimal lead times and shorter value chains. Management will be decentralized, the supply chain will be simplified and shortened, and the distance separating the manufacturer from its customers will be sharply reduced.
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Although technology will enable this new manufacturing model, customers will compel its adoption. In emerging markets as well as developed regions, customers increasingly expect products that match local cultural preference rather than homogeneous global brands and business-to-business services. The auto industry pioneered this localized model as long ago as the 1980s, when Japanese automakers entered the U.S. market with cars tailored to American tastes. But only recently have other industries taken up this approach — with refrigerators, toothpaste, furniture, clothing, and software that are designed for each region. The popularity of e-commerce has changed the customer experience, giving people more information about products and competitors’ products, pricing, and, through peer reviews, quality. For the first time, customers can reasonably demand from mass producers products that look and feel like they were made next door.
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Nimble manufacturers will reap significant gains from the point-ofdemand model. As their supply systems become more responsive and as local customer demand becomes less of a guessing game, inventory inefficiencies and the carrying costs of having to warehouse products in bulk will decline. The expense of supply chain management and production planning will drop as well. And companies able to produce personalized products that are best suited to customer needs when customers want them will enjoy higher sales margins. By contrast, as point-of-demand manufacturing takes hold, companies that operate global factory networks with large centralized plants, managed by traditional operating systems, organizations, and processes, may find that their business models are outmoded."

Ao chegar aqui recordei, "Pedro Nuno Santos quer Estado como motor do desenvolvimento", porque estava a nascer em mim um outro pensamento, o oposto... o que esperar de um contrarian-militante! O que seria a orientação geral de um governo para facilitar a transição para este tipo de sociedade?

Empresas pequenas, DIY, empreendedorismo verdadeiro não treta para sacar Portugal 2020, fiscalidade normanda, legislação laboral, democratização da produção.

Esta transição vai acontecer, inevitavelmente, pedida, ordenada pelos clientes, pelas tribos de Mongo. E teremos governos cada vez mais incapazes de perceber o que se passa, questionando-se, "O que passa-se?", cada vez mais crentes nas virtudes do Normalistão, num mundo que se afasta cada vez mais desse paradigma.

Trechos retirados de "Manufacturing’s new world order: The rise of the point-of-demand model"

Ainda a suckiness e o caring

Ontem um empresário com quem trabalho e que faz o favor de seguir este blogue enviou-me um e-mail para mim e para o resto da equipa com esta imagem:

Ainda numa reunião recente tínhamos falado no "Too Big To Care".

Hoje de manhã li e registei:

"So why not rethink your strategy and embrace the idea of building a tiny company? You might want to consider it, especially since Rowe says 'tiny' doesn't refer to size--or profit potential. Instead, it's a mindset."

Ontem naquilo que formalmente é uma acção de formação para empresários, mas que tento que seja uma conversa orientada para a reflexão e partilha de experiências falou-se disto:

"Like a tiny house where there's limited space for 'stuff,' a tiny business requires that you examine, prioritize and work with what you value and eliminate what you don't,"

Como não voltar aos nabateus e a Taleb sobre os artesãos saberem trabalhar com limites:

"the artisan is someone like me: You cannot be a promiscuous entrepreneur if you're an artisan. And also, you know where to stop. The problem is Steve Jobs stopped at the product line. The typical artisan knows where to stop.
...
Whereas if you hire someone [like] McKinsey, they'll end up making you keep going beyond and doing shit. They want you to expand until you end up in bankruptcy."

Trechos retirados de "Why More Businesses Should Embrace Being Small"

Acerca da suckiness, visitar isto e isto.

O papel das redes e as organizações de Mongo

Em Mongo, terra de tribos e de artesãos, as organizações vão ser diferentes das criadas para o Normalistão.

"network forms of organization - typified by reciprocal patterns of communication and exchange - represent a viable pattern of economic organization.
…
Pre-existing networks of relationships enable small firms to gain an established foothold almost overnight. These networks serve as conduits to provide small firms with the capacity to meet resource and functional needs.
…
I have a good deal of sympathy regarding the view the economic exchange is embedded in a particular social structural context. Yet it is also the case that certain forms of exchange are more social - this is, more dependent on relationships, mutual interest enter, and reputation - as well as less guided by a formal structure of authority. My aim is to identify a coherent set of factors the make it meaningful to talk about networks as a distinctive form of coordinating economic activity.
…
When the items exchanged between buyers and sellers processed qualities that are not easily measured, and the relations are so long-term and recurrent that it is difficult to speak of the parties as separate entities, can we still regard is as a market exchange? When the entangling of obligation  and reputation reaches a point that he actions of the parties are interdependent, but there is no common ownership or legal framework, do we not need a new conceptual toolkit to describe and analyze this relationship?
…
Network forms of exchange, however, entail indefinite, sequential transactions within the context of a general pattern of interaction. Sanctions are typically normative rather than legal.
…
In networks, the preferred option is often one of creating indebtedness and reliance over the long haul. Each approach does devalues the other: prosperous market traders would be viewed as petty and untrustworthy shysters in networks, while successful participants in networks who carried those practices into competitive markets would be viewed as naïve and foolish. Within hierarchies, communication and exchange is shaped by concerns with career mobility - in this sense, exchange is bound up with considerations of personal advancement.
…
Networks are “lighter on their feet” than hierarchies. In network modes of resource allocation, transactions occur neither through discrete exchanges nor by administrative fiat, but through networks of individuals engaged in reciprocal, preferential, mutually supportive actions. Networks can be complex: they involve neither the explicit criteria on the market, nor the familiar paternalism of the hierarchy, basic assumption of network relationships is that one party is dependent on the resources controlled by another, and that there are gains to be had by the pooling of resources. In essence, the parties to a network agreed to forego the right to pursue their own interests at the expense of others.
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In networks forms of resource allocation, individual units exist not by themselves, but in relation to other units. These relationships to establish and sustain, thus they constrain both parters ability to adapt to changing circumstances. As networks evolve, it becomes more economically sensible to exercise voice rather than exit. Benefits and burdens come to be shared. Expectations are not frozen, but change as circumstances dictate. A mutual orientation - knowledge which the parties assume each has about the other and upon which day draw in communication and problem solving - is established. In short, complementarity and accommodation are the cornerstones of successful production networks. … the “entangling strings” of reputation, friendship, interdependence, and altruism become integral parts of the relationship.
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Networks are particularly apt for circumstances in which there is a need for efficient, reliable information. The most useful information is rarely that which flows down the formal chain of command in an organization, or that which can be inferred from shifting price signals. Rather, it is that which is obtained from someone whom you have dealt with in the past found to be a reliable. You trust best information that comes from someone you know well. … information passed through networks is “thicker” [Moi ici: Como não associar este "thicker" ao densificar das relações em Normann] than information obtained in the market, and “freer” than communicated in a hierarchy. Networks, then, are especially useful for the exchange of commodities whose value is not easily measured. Such qualitative matters as know how, technological capability, a particular approach or style of production, a spirit of innovation or experimentation, or a philosophy of zero defects are very hard to place a price tag on. They are not easily traded in markets nor communicated through a corporate hierarchy. The open-ended, relational features of networks, with their relative absence of explicit quid pro quo behavior, greatly enhance the ability to transmit and learn new knowledge and skills."

"Neither Market Nor Hierarchy: Network Forms of Organization" de Walter Powell, publicado por Research in Organizational Behavior, Janeiro de 1990.

"Giants invariably descend into suckiness" (parte XI)

Mais uma achega sobre porque Mongo não é amigável para gigantes:

"the artisan is someone like me: You cannot be a promiscuous entrepreneur if you're an artisan. And also, you know where to stop. The problem is Steve Jobs stopped at the product line. The typical artisan knows where to stop.
.
Food is artisinal. And every single successful restaurant owner I know goes past the first restaurant and opens a second restaurant -- they go to the point of bankruptcy, typically. And I've seen that happen. Artisans typically have the instinct to stop. They say, "OK, I'm satisfied with this."
.
Whereas if you hire someone [like] McKinsey, they'll end up making you keep going beyond and doing shit. They want you to expand until you end up in bankruptcy.
.
Stoffel: So an artisan is someone who knows when to stop. That's one of your filters.
.
Taleb: Exactly.
...
Stoffel: Because you're producing to produce, and not because of something you love?.
Taleb: Exactly. You're going beyond your hobby point. You see, an artisan, as you notice, it becomes a hobby. So the distinction between hobby and work is blurred for an artisan. What happens sometimes is a hobbyist starts out, is doing OK, and then it turns into work."

"Giants invariably descend into suckiness" (parte X)

Trechos retirados de "Motley Fool Interview: Nassim Nicholas Taleb"

O futuro da economia é a arte

Há muitos anos que este anónimo engenheiro da província descobriu que o futuro da economia é a arte:

• A ascensão do artesão e da arte na produção (Abril 2017)
• O papel da arte! (Abril 2016)
• Criar valor, através da criação de escassez, por via da arte no trabalho (Maio 2011)
• Há sempre uma alternativa (parte II) (Maio 2011)

Por isso, não deixo passar isto:

• Step Inside the Factory Where Superstars Make Their Art
• The Future of Work: Join the Maker Movement (apesar de não concordar com tudo) 

Empreendedores literários

O tema não é novo neste blogue, mas é tão desconhecido no mainstream tuga que toda a divulgação é necessária, o renascer das livrarias independentes, o que o motivo e o que significa para o paradigma económico a que chamo de Mongo.

Escrevo sobre as livrarias independentes, mas apelo à capacidade de abstracção para que se abandone o exemplo concreto das livrarias para agarrar o que há de comum para outras áreas da economia.

Esta semana já devo ter recebido uns 2 ou 3 SMS da Bertrand a tentarem seduzir-me, mas ir lá para quê? Para mais uma vez entrar e sair sem nada que me agarrasse, sempre os mesmos livros e o mesmo tipo de livros...

"the saga of the independent bookstore underwent a major plot twist: The customers came back. Between 2009 and 2015, independent booksellers across America grew by an astounding 35 percent, from 1,651 stores to 2,227, ABA figures show. And the upsurge shows no sign of slowing.
...
the genuine social value of traditional neighborhood bookstores and how they’ve changed their own fates.
.
The full study won’t be published until next year, but in a newly released overview, Raffaelli notes what he calls the “three C’s” of his findings: community, curation, and convening. Independent bookstores early on embraced the community-oriented “localism” wave that has inspired the proliferation of craft brewers, farmers’ markets, and the like. Small bookstores carefully curate the books they sell to reflect their clientele’s interests and concerns. And in recent years they have repositioned themselves as “intellectual centers,” hosting events and convening people and ideas in shared spaces..
In other words, booksellers have learned to adapt to the vast changes in their own industry.
.
“We don’t think of them as booksellers anymore — they’re literary entrepreneurs,” says Raffaelli. “I think that’s an important distinction.”
...
“We have a niche,” Egerton says. “The idea is to serve the community.”
...
Layte cites the notion of the “third place” — a gathering space beyond home and work. It turns out we need destinations like neighborhood bookstores, she says, “to be full humans.”"

Nada disto é novidade para este blogue... e traduz-se numa expressão que cunhei este ano: o truque é perceber que o papel da livraria não é o de vomitar livros, despachar um output, mas o de ajudar o cliente a arranjar um input que ele vai introduzir na sua vida para atingir um resultado muito pessoal. E isto é voltar ao tema de Ulwick:

"Making the job-to-be-done the unit of analysis means it is the job — not the product, the customer or customer demographics — that is to be studied, dissected and understood. This means that companies should not define customer needs around the product, but should instead define customer needs around getting the job done."

Eventuais dificuldades para o avanço mais rápido deste tipo de abordagem em Portugal:

• falta de massa crítica (pode eventualmente ser minorado ao conjugar livros com outras ofertas "indie booksellers, through word-of-mouth and personal recommendations, can have a big impact on the sales of everything else")
• falta de espírito empreendedor livre, muita gente acha que ganhar dinheiro a vender cultura é algo pecaminoso e tem de ser o Estado a apoiar e subsidiar. Assim, os apoiados e subsidiados vêem o Estado como o seu verdadeiro cliente e nunca chegam a criar a empatia genuína com os clientes-alvo, e raramente o fogo permanece para além do tempo em que ardem os fósforos por falta de skin-in-the-game

Trechos retirados de "Bookstores escape from jaws of irrelevance"

Mongo e JTBD

Por um lado Mongo, o progresso dos espaços com as suas próprias cervejas artesanais. Por outro lado, o mesmo conselho referido neste postal recente, "Olhar para os clientes-alvo":

"To find a solution, Sarah and her team reconnected with Gatorade’s core customer, the serious athlete. What they found was that these athletes did much more than just hydrate during athletic events"

Olhar para o cliente-alvo, para o seu contexto, para o seu dia e descobrir que há outros serviços que o espaço pode prestar.

No princípio do ano mudei de casa e antes de arranjar um espaço para escritório, enquanto tinha as minhas coisas num contentor (recomendo vivamente), usava o McDonalds do nó do Fojo em Gaia como base de trabalho, tirando a música muito alta para o meu gosto, tinha uma mesa, tinha internet e electricidade.

Depois de uma caminhada matinal, estabelecia-me e ficava por lá das 8h30 até às 13h30. Era interessante reparar como aquele espaço se mutava ao longo da manhã. Pequenos-almoços e cafés e pequenas reuniões para a fauna do início da manhã. Reuniões de trabalho, entrevistas de emprego ou entrevistas a traidores industriais, entrevistas a jornalistas, o advogado carregado de papéis e ainda com mais marcadores fluorescentes e post-its do que eu a meio da manhã. Depois, à hora do almoço os estudantes da secundária a 500 metros e toda a panóplia de gente que precisa de um almoço rápido, barato e sem receio da higiene.

Esta abordagem em torno do Job-To-Be-Done presente em "Breweries Find That Coffee Is Their Second Favorite Beverage".

BTW, eu que bebo café sem açúcar (que mascare a realidade) sei que há muito café horrível a circular por este país. Assim, quando o costume de usar açúcar ou adoçantes com o café cair, vai nascer a procura por melhor café. Procura essa que vai ser difícil de ser servida por empresas mais preocupadas com a eficiência do que atender às chamadas de atenção de uns consumidores-chatos. Nessa altura estará criada a oportunidade para alguém avançar com café artesanal.

Derrubar/baixar barreiras à entrada

Ontem li "En Bretagne, une personne sur trois est surqualifiée pour son job" e foi um festival de pensamentos que emergiram... lembrei-me da caridade, metáfora para os que acreditam que é uma questão de oferta e não de procura.

Lembrei-me da previsão que faço acerca de Mongo e da ascensão/regresso dos artesãos. Lembrei-me que quanto mais as pessoas têm formação menos predispostas estão para empreender. E os artesãos do futuro serão, muitas vezes, gente com formação superior mas capazes de serem fazedores e artistas  que interagem com tribos com as quais reforçam laços e co-criam valor.

Lembrei-me das barreiras fiscais que os Estados conluiados com os incumbentes ergueram, mantêm e até reforçam, para reduzir a probabilidade de gente com ideias fora da caixa aparecer e disrupcionar o status-quo.

É preciso derrubar/baixar as barreiras para que mentes livres de modelos mentais do passado arrisquem com mais frequência na criação de experiências de co-criação mais poderosas e que requeiram naturalmente e possam suportar gente com mais formação.

A propósito de ver ao longe

Ontem, numa empresa disseram-me:

Se você for ver a idade das pessoas que trabalham aqui na empresa vai descobrir que dentro de 10 anos cerca de 80% delas não vão estar cá. Estarão na reforma.

Pensei logo, e onde vão conseguir gente nova para substituir essa geração?

Esta manhã, no local onde tomei café estava uma cópia desactualizada do JN, dei uma vista de olhos rápida e ainda tirei esta foto:

Vamos esquecer o título porque acredito que se trata de treta simplista, como se fizesse sentido apoiar empresas que tinham a procura insustentável. O que me interessa é o lead:

"... o Homem [Moi ici: ehehe, vê-se logo que é um machista heteropatriarcal] é cada vez menos o factor-chave da produção e os empregos serão escassos"

Aqui no blogue estamos numa outra onda. A demografia vai ser implacável e a breve trecho vamos ter um choque de falta de mão-de-obra neste país pouco recomendável para quem trabalha, dado o jugo fiscal que vigora. E em Mongo, vão descobrir que o factor-chave de produção será o humano capaz de interagir e co-criar com uma rede de outros humanos. Automatização e robôs terão o seu lugar a produzir o que restar do modelo do século XX e das grandes séries. No entanto, o grosso da economia será baseada em artesãos modernos apoiados por algumas máquinas.

"humans are the source of economy"

"This is a future where the human(e) corporate will be defined by its capacity to drive collaborative humane intelligence, agency, care, creation and discovery – not its aggregative efficiency to manage financial capital and procure in scale; these efficiencies are likely to distributed and platformed to the whole economy – with rise of zero overhead platform bureaucracy.
.
This is a future in which investing for the human development of an organisation manifests on its asset register.
.
This is a future which embraces a tomorrow, where humans are the source of economy not redundant to its function."

Todo este texto "Beyond Labour" está relacionado com a previsão que faço para Mongo como um mundo de artesãos.

O exemplo da cerveja

Um texto, mais um, desta feita de Richard Florida, sobre o exemplo da evolução das cervejas artesanais nos Estados Unidos, "Can Craft Breweries Transform America's Post-Industrial Neighborhoods?".

Democratização da produção, diferenciação e um "live and let live" (empresas do mesmo sector, lado a lado geograficamente, mas que verdadeiramente não se consideram concorrentes, não é um jogo de soma nula, quanto mais o ecossistema criar valor mais todos ganham), regresso da indústria às cidades (um tema recorrente no que vou pensando e encontrando).

BTW, este é um outro exemplo da ascensão de artesãos do futuro:

"the craft beer revolution, ... is highly clustered. The good news is that many of these clusters are taking shape in places that have been subject to disinvestment and deindustrialization.
.
Craft breweries find it beneficial to locate near one another so they can sell each other excess grain and hops, share equipment, and even train one another’s staff. The smallest breweries, in particular, garner large proportions of their revenue from their taprooms. Locating in a thriving brewery district can drive up foot traffic and attract beer tourists.
...
While craft breweries do in fact compete against one another in these brewery districts, their products tend to be much more differentiated than those of the big brewers, making competition less direct.
...
The rise of craft brewing also tracks with a desire, most pronounced among millennial consumers, for “adventure” and “variety” in the products they choose, according to the study.
...
Even more importantly, brewpubs and microbreweries provide their neighborhoods with community gathering places, while craft beer brands convey a sense of pride and identity to places that could use a morale boost. And unlike traditional bars, taprooms and brewpubs tend to be family (and sometimes even dog) friendly."

Artesãos do futuro

Ao folhear muitos postais deste blogue é fácil relacionar entre si algumas palavras-chave:

• Mongo;
• tribos;
• diferenciação;
• paixão;
• artesãos;
• autenticidade.

Por exemplo, há dias escrevi:

"Em paralelo a esta evolução, que vai sugar os mais apaixonados para uma nova Idade de Ouro de artesãos do século XXI"

No caderno de Economia deste fim de semana encontrei um texto que relaciona estas mesmas palavras-chave, "À procura de artesãos no tempo dos ecrãs táteis":

"No entanto, quem aposta com visão em segmentos como o têxtil, a carpintaria, a latoaria, a joalharia, a encadernação, a cerâmica, os bordados, o restauro ou a cestaria pode ter um futuro promissor pela frente,
...
outra área de forte procura: o trabalho artesanal em madeira. “Todos os dias chegam pedidos de marceneiros, profissionais de serralharia artística.” São cada vez mais, também, os casos de sucesso de novos negócios, sempre de nicho, que começam no risco, chegam à autossustentabilidade e culminam na exportação.
...
Ao contrário do preconceito que possa persistir, de que o trabalho do artesão é pesado, sujo e moroso e de que a produção não se adaptou ao consumidor contemporâneo, “o artesanato não ficou estagnado”, sublinha Luís Rocha. O sector está a rejuvenescer e a qualificar-se.
...
a formação superior conjugada com a técnica adquirida nos cursos profissionais resulta na evolução criativa que tem dinamizado o sector. Ao mesmo tempo, “a procura [de produções artesanais] tem aumentado porque o mercado está cansado do produto massificado e quer, cada vez mais, objetos com forte cariz cultural, identitários e diferenciadores”. Cabe ao artesão “ganhar essa oportunidade”, analisa o diretor, que defende o investimento em marcas culturais com design de luxo.
...
Se nos domínios da carpintaria, marcenaria e costura, encontrar emprego por contra de outrem é relativamente comum, nos nichos da cerâmica artística, vidro ou bordados, muitos não esperam que o mercado chame por eles e criam diretamente oportunidades, uma situação que se terá acentuado nos últimos seis anos. “O desemprego fomentou o empreendedorismo e isso foi muito importante para dinamizar o sector”"

E na linha do que tenho reflectido aqui sobre o seru e a não-necessidade de máquinas-monumento , sobre o impacte de Mongo na dimensão das empresas, sobre o impacte da digitalização na redução da fricção de que falava Coase, na ascensão do DIY e dos makers, é interessante a referência aos ecrãs tácteis no título. Acredito que os artesãos do futuro trabalharão cada vez com mais tecnologia e mais valor acrescentado.



BTW, ontem fui a Rio Tinto com 4 moradas de lojas e fábricas de candeeiros. Ao chegar a uma delas, com todo o aspecto de oficina artesanal, deparei-me com caixas com marcas de renome e referências a feiras italianas. Fui recebido com atenção e simpatia mas comunicaram-me que tinham deixado de trabalhar para o público e começado a trabalhar para marcas portuguesas do segmento médio-alto e focadas na exportação.

Beyond Lean (parte II)

Na parte I procurámos demonstrar que o futuro será muito mais do que a automatização. A explosão de tribos de Mongo requer estruturas produtivas com um ADN diferente do que aquele que o século XX nos legou.

A evolução tecnológica vai trazer, também, a democratização da produção, a redução de barreiras à entrada e, por isso, a explosão no número de pequenas empresas life-style business.

Em paralelo a esta evolução, que vai sugar os mais apaixonados para uma nova Idade de Ouro de artesãos do século XXI, teremos a reacção das empresas grandes no seu combate final pelo domínio da decrescente fatia de mercado que representa os que continuam dentro da caixa e optam pelo preço como o critério prioritário de compra. Essas continuarão a optar pela automatização como forma de reduzir custos.

E em paralelo com as duas correntes anteriores teremos uma terceira impulsionada pela demografia e tão bem ilustrada em "Rise of the machines".

Até que ponto Portugal vai ter de ser pioneiro nesta terceira via?

Demografia, marxismo social e a atracção pela emigração, são uma combinação tremenda que só agora começa a ter o seu impacte. Recordar:

• Fico com a ideia de que muita gente ainda não percebeu isto
• 1 + 1 = 3 ?
• Empresas que não têm tempo para definir um futuro
• Curiosidade do dia