Deframing Senryaku (Deframing Strategy: How Digital Technologies are Transforming Businesses and Organizations, and How We Can Cope with it)

The term “digital transformation,” also known as DX, is frequently featured, but the essential impact of digital technologies on businesses and economies has not yet been clearly defined. This book introduces the concept of “deframing” to help understand the impact of digital technologies on economy. Deframing, which is essentially a made-up word, means “destruction” of the existing frames. Deframing consists of three elements: dissolution and reintegration, specific-optimization, and individualization. The first element “dissolution and reintegration” suggests that businesses specialize in a certain aspect and eventually reintegrate the aspects beyond the existing frames. The second element “specific-optimization” refers to optimization with regard to specific users beyond the frame of the ready-made products without causing any increase in customization costs. The third element “individualization” is indicative of the era in which individuals harness their capabilities beyond the frames of organizations.

These changes are already visible in various aspects of the society. For example, instead of going from shop to shop looking for a pair of our favorite shoes, we can instantly order shoes with a design and texture of our choice. In another case, social networking services function not only as places for sharing pictures and comments, but also as places for information-sharing, advertisements by influencers, and merchandising. In crowdsourcing services, many individuals are harnessing their capabilities for jobs which were performed by computer system companies or design firms. As can be seen in these examples, deframing is a key concept to comprehensively understand the wide-ranging transformations in business models, industrial structures, and work styles.

The concept of deframing is backed up by the theory of organizational economics. Organizational economics, which is one of the key fields of economics, explores why organizations exist, and which of the market transactions and hierarchical organizations have rationality. While “transaction costs” play an important role in businesses, digital technologies have drastically reduced transaction costs in many areas of the society. This reduction in transaction costs has led to the era of deframing. Based on such academic theories, the book analyzes the latest cases of digital innovations such as platforms, economy-sharing, and coworking spaces around the world, and provides a social trend for general audiences.

It will be my pleasure if this book can help you to understand how digital technologies are transforming the society, and also how academic theories such as economics can provide insights into the state-of-the-art digital innovation and social transformation.

 

(Written by TAKAGI Soichiro, Associate Professor, Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies / 2019)