The 10 Principles of Open Business: Building Success in Today's Open Economy

The revolutionary power of the internet has accelerated the demand for a totally new kind of business. Stakeholders now demand more open, connected and meaningful relationships with organizations, and the world's leading brands are taking note. But whilst many have the ambition to become Open Businesses, few have the ability to get there.

The 10 Principles of Open Business is a serious, challenging, wide-ranging and practical guide to organizational design for the twenty-first century. Covering essential topics such as Crowd Funding, Co-Creation, Open Data, Transparency, Open Innovation and more, this book provides the tools to assess your own organization and take the first steps towards becoming a truly Open Business. Each chapter describes a key principle of Open Business and includes a goal status tool which the reader can use to benchmark their own organization. These principles offer a holistic strategic solution, leap-frogging the tick-box exercise of simple implementation of social technologies.

Including case studies and interviews from leading proponents, the book offers valuable insights hard-won from experience. With a Preface by The Chief Marketing Officer of Tesco Matt Atkinson, and interviews with Editor of The Guardian Alan Rusbridger, former UK Defence Minister Tom Watson and presidents, VPs and CEOs of international blue chip companies and ground-breaking start-ups, The 10 Principles of Open Business will make organizations future-ready like never before.

About the Authors

David Cushman is a father and husband working in London and living in Cambridgeshire, UK. He works with a wide variety of businesses and brands as Strategy Partner at The Social Partners – an agency in which WPP has a majority stake. Previously he was Co-Founder of Open Business Consultancy 90:10 Group, Director of Social Media at Brando Social (an early social media agency) and Digital Development Director at Bauer Consumer Media. He has 25 years' experience in business, 14 years of those in digital business. He is an ex-journalist and current blogger (FasterFuture.blogspot.co.uk). He is often in demand to share his thinking around the world and has presented keynotes in Berlin, Madrid, New York, London, Hannover, Amsterdam and Cork. He is a permanent member of the Financial Times Judgment Call panel, author of The Power of the Network, and a trustee of Citizens Online – a UK Charity which aims to ensure no-one gets left behind by the internet revolution.

While this book is credited as being authored by David Cushman, the ideas within it, the inspiration for it and vision behind it are owed at least as much to Jamie Burke. Jamie was unable to contribute as much to this book as was originally planned, mostly because he has set off on the journey of creating his own Open Business. RetailerSaver.com is Britain's first online FMCG retailer buying group. Watch that space.