The Support Economy – Why corporations are failing individuals and the next episode of capitalism, by Shoshana Zuboff & James Maxmin (2002)

According to Zuboff and Maxmin we are on the verge of what is called a ‘Support Economy’. Where in the ‘old’ economy corporations have put themselves in the middle of the solar system with customers at the complete end of it; now the individual, who sometimes takes the role of customer, has to be put back in the center. Corporations have to become more modest in their role of facilitator, in supporting the individual in living his or her life. This shift towards a Support Economy is very complex since it involves a change of logic. The standard enterprise logic of corporations, based on managerial capitalism has to change towards a logic of distributed capitalism to avoid the Transaction Crisis. This crisis concerns the chasm that has arisen between individuals and corporations. Individuals have changed while the logic of corporations has not adapted. Many corporations are still organized around transaction value, while they destroy the possibly much greater relationship value through what Zuboff and Maxmin call starvation, inflation, tyranny and mimicry. A praiseworthy book for those who want to understand the consequences of the change of logic in the market.