About The Book

The Support Economy:
Why Corporations Are Failing Individuals and the Next Episode of Capitalism

by Shoshana Zuboff and James Maxmin

The Support Economy begins with a compelling premise: People have changed more than the organizations upon which their well being depends. Today’s individuals seek life on their own terms, as unique individuals. But as consumers, employees, and citizens they are forced to bend or do battle. They confront a universe of organizations-- from insurance companies to airlines, school systems to hospitals-- still fitted out for the old mass order. These enterprises remain in the grip of an inwardly focused business model that drives efficiency at the expense of the people it should be serving. The result is that business’ wealth creating capacity is in decline, while individuals suffer.

The chasm that now separates the new individuals from the old organizations is full of pain and frustration. Paradoxically, it also presents the opportunity for a new leap forward in wealth creation. This chasm signals the shift from the concentrated hierarchical “managerial capitalism” of the twentieth century to a new “distributed capitalism” aligned with the needs of today’s people.

The Support Economy challenges business orthodoxy with erudition, insight, and startling originality. Here at last is a book that explains why we have been abandoned by our institutions and what we can do about it. It speaks to the profound upheavals in modern capitalism and analyzes the emergence of a new enterprise logic that will define wealth creation in the twenty first century.

The Support Economy redraws the map of the commercial universe, putting the needs of each individual at its very center. This analysis is so wide ranging, fresh, and profound that one suddenly understands the world in a wholly new way. Through this unique lens, the meaning and connections among previously fragmented phenomena become shockingly clear. Matters as disparate as the rise of the Internet, the demise of Ford Motor Co., the crisis in healthcare, the popularity of organic foods, the public debacle of Hurricane Katrina, or the difficulties of army recruiting take on a new and compelling significance. They are revealed as some of the many expressions of a deeper master motion in economic history: the demise of the dominant twentieth century business model and the gradual emergence of a new episode of capitalism founded on the dignity of the individual.

Now published in seven languages, The Support Economy has become the must read “next big thing” book. Its message continues to diffuse throughout the world, because it speaks to the hopes and dreams of the modern individual. It sounds a call to action for every innovator in business, technology, social enterprise, and the public sector.