Recently I read a blog post regarding an online encyclopedia which has been the lifeline to many students’ assignments and a source of knowledge for many others: Wikipedia. My views about Wikipedia, their business model, their values, their approach, differs drastically from Lurie’s. Lurie makes the claim that Wikipedia shouldn’t exist because “it’s basic operating procedure defies our strongest convictions about incentives, work and community” (Lurie). His argument stems from the view that Wikipedia has limited regulation of their service and that the service does not turn a profit. In opposition to the statements made in Lurie’s post, Wikipedia still does use a top-down approach for managing its anonymous editors, administrators and stewards. As he very opportunely suggests in his post, Wikipedia has many knowledgeable and competent individuals vying for the sought after roles of stewards and rollbackers just to name a few. These individuals apply to work for free. From a business perspective, employee satisfaction seems far from being an issue!
Wikipedia as a service is completely customer orientated. Its success is largely attributed to its ability to offer value propositions which other online encyclopedias are unable to deliver. Most notably is the ability for any user to edit the vast archives of knowledge provided by Wikipedia. Lurie does make the observation that “people find it inherently satisfying to participate”. From another perspective, Wikipedia successfully models a business which has strong customer relationships and partnerships with key resources. Wikipedia is the sixth most visited website on the internet and has stewards who have a long list of impressive credentials. In essence, a company reaches a whole new stratosphere of success when both the company and clients strive towards the same vision and values. Profit then becomes a natural part of the process.
Image taken from here
Source referenced:
Lurie, Stephen. “The 36 People Who Run Wikipedia.” Medium. Matter, 5 Nov. 2014. Web. 9 Nov. 2014.