Commoditising the Supply Chain is a simple, yet powerful approach to disrupt an existing status-quo. Numerous companies have successfully employed this strategy in various industries/domains. This talk will briefly go over real-life examples that demonstrate this technique. We will then discuss how this technique can be applied by individuals when confronted with seemingly insurmountable challenges in daily life. TL;DR: Model your challenge / problem-scenario as a supply chain. 1. Identify the actors/entities involved. 2. Identify the "item" in short supply. 3. Commoditise the "item". Congratulations! you have found an "out of the box" solution to your problem.

1. Improve your Life
by
Commoditising the Supply Chain
BarCamp
Bangalore
02 FEB 2019
CVS / TheCodeArtist

2. How to achieve something
by
completely ignoring it

3. . WARNING - This talk is a half-built bridge .

4. How to achieve something by completely ignoring it
What do the following have in common?
● Microsoft in the ’90s
● Google in the ’00s
● Amazon in the ’10s
● Atlassian (makers of JIRA, Confluence)
● Uber *
● Elon Musk *
They all successfully
commoditised the supply chain
in their domain.
* ongoing

5. Commoditising the Supply Chain
Company ...commoditised... ...and benefited from...
Microsoft in the ’90s Applications, App-Dev Operating System Ubiquity
Google in the ’00s Internet access / usage Online Search, Online ADs
Amazon in the ’10s Catalog, Delivery Price, One-Stop Market-Place
Atlassian (makers of
JIRA, Confluence)
Software Development
Increased Enterprise spending on
Planning/Tracking SW - JIRA
Uber * Car Increased Private Transport
Elon Musk * Energy Intensive operations Energy “creation” and Delivery
* ongoing

6. Commoditizing
The Supply
Chain
According to a fable of Akbar and Birbal,
Akbar drew a line on a wall and asked to all
subjects to make this line shorter without
touching or removing any portion of this line.
All people thought at every angle, but did
not get any clue how to make it shorter
without touching it.
Birbal was a witty minister; he was well-
known for his presence of mind and
providing the solution of the complex
problems.
At last, Birbal accepted this challenge to
make the line shorter without touching or
removing any part of the line. Everyone was
surprised how Birbal would do that.
Birbal took a chalk and drew a bigger line
parallel to the existing line. In comparison to
the bigger line, the existing line was looking
short. Birbal did it, without touching or
harming the existing line.
TALES OF
BIRBAL

7. counter bullies at school
● Kid moves to a new school, finds a bully there.
● All other kids have already accepted the bully problem.
● No one stands against the bully.
● The new kid helps everyone with their assorted problems.
○ Helps the dumb kid with his homework
○ Helps the nerdy kid talk to his crush.
○ Helps a kid nurse his sick pet to a healthy recovery.
○ Helps the naughty kid pull pranks
○ Helps the geeky kid to get some rare item for his project
● Soon, all other kids have no other problems.
● Finally everyone unites and defeats the bully.
. Commoditise Attention, and benefit from a united community .
Image: The Little Rascals (1994)

8. Get that Promotion at Work
● Did application development to learn programming at school.
● Landed first job at a Tech Startup as a logo designer.
● Was always there to brainstorm/experiment.
● Discovered, Reported “bugs” in the company’s Operating System.
● Began Operation System device-driver development.
● Always shared learning with peers.
● Mentored other youngsters in the team.
● Developed insight into the domain/technology.
● Built a group of people who had faith in him.
● Up-Next : Team-Lead / Product-Manager / Senior-Architect
. Commoditise Learning, and benefit from Domain Experience .

9. Improve
your Life
Commoditise
The Supply Chain

10. Random Thoughts - 1/3
● Creating users for your product?
● The same company that produces Cola and Chips
also produces Toothpaste and Antacid
Source: themindunleashed.com/2013/12/10-corporations-control-almost-everything-buy.html

11. Random Thoughts - 2/3
● What companies are current in the middle of
“commoditizing their supply chain” ?
● Invest in them (if they can succeed)?

12. Random Thoughts - 3/3
OPEN SESSION
1. Name a challenge / problem scenario...
2. Who are the entities involved in this?
3. Define the “supply-chain”
4. How to commoditise the supply chain?

13. REFERENCES / READING LIST (More Related Topics)
● [Book] Thinking in New Boxes
● [Discussion] news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17047348
● [Article] stratechery.com/2015/aggregation-theory
● [Article] a16z.com/2016/03/07/network-effects_critical-mass
● [Article] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Ocean_Strategy

14. Commoditise the Supply Chain
Improve your Life
Thoughts?
Questions?
Suggestions?
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