The Great Fragmentation
And Why the Future of Business is Small

The Great Fragmentation: And Why the Future of All Business is Small is a business survival manifesto for the technology revolution. As the world moves from the industrial era to the digital age, power is shifting and fragmenting. Power is no longer about might and ownership; power in a digital world is about access. Existing businesses need to understand this shift and position themselves to survive and thrive in an environment where entrepreneurs and start-ups enabled by access to technology are genuine threats.

Author Steve Sammartino is widely regarded as a thought leader on the subject of technology and business, and helps companies transition from industrial-era thinking to the mindset and processes required to compete in today's digital marketplace. The Great Fragmentation shows how technological changes such as Big Data, gamification, crowdfunding, Bitcoin, 3D printing, social media, mashup culture and artisanal production will forever change business and the way we live our lives.

• Examine how the digital era has altered where we work, how we work, where we live and what we do
• Discover how the digital era has impacted social and economic structures, including educational systems, financial systems and government policy
• Understand that the social media and collecting 'friends' is just the tip of the iceberg in a digital business environment

Weaving together insights from business, technology and anthropology, The Great Fragmentation provides both corporations and entrepreneurs with a playbook for the future of work, life and business in the digital era.

Preface vii

About the author xi

1 The industrial deal: the shift from industry to technology 1

2 A global revolution: industrial leapfrog 9

3 The social reality: beyond the surface of social media 19

4 Life in boxes: the industrial formula for living 29

5 Rehumanisation: words define our future 47

6 Demographics is history: moving on from predictive marketing 63

7 The truth about pricing: technology and omnipresent deflation 79

8 A zero-barrier world: how access to knowledge is breaking down barriers 91

9 The infinite store: rebooting retail 103

10 Bigger than the internet: 3D printing 115

11 Screen play: post-mass media 129

12 Too big to fail?: the great financial disruption 153

13 The 3-phase shift: a closer look at the web 167

14 The big game: an introduction to gamification 179

15 System hacking: a great idea with a bad reputation 197

16 The job, the factory and the home: how location follows technology 205

17 A stranger from Romania: building a real Lego car 217

18 Market-share folly and industrial fragmentation: industrial metrics 231

19 The externality reality: is this the end of privacy? 241

20 Business = technology: the 4Ps revised 249

Recommended books and documentaries 259

Index 263

STEVE SAMMARTINO had his first startup before the age of 10, running an organic egg farm in the 1970s before the words ‘organic’ or ‘startup’ had been invented. He now travels the world helping companies transition from industrial era thinking to the digital age. He is an expert on the shift to the digital and connected economy, and loves helping people make sense of it all. Read Steve’s blog at www.stevesammartino.com