Nupedia

1. How can Wikipedia maintain and grow its ability to harness the crowdsourcing of its “Wikipedians” to maintain high quality (and quickly updated) content? If Wikipedia can demonstrate effectively the potency of innovation in a competitive weapon it will simultaneously create and destroy value. Firms must be able to innovate while also fending off competitor’s imitation attempts. A successful strategy requires both an effective offense and a hard to crack defense. The reason for Wikipedia’s success is because it did just that when Jimmy Wales launched Wikipedia the free online Multilanguage encyclopedia. Wikipedia moved away from Britannic and Microsoft’s propriety business models to an open source model powered by user generated content and available to anyone on the Internet. In doing so it destroyed Encarta’s business, which Microsoft shut down. Wikipedia created substantial benefits for users by shifting to the open source model for content, Wikipedia created value for consumers by driving the price for the end user to zero and making the information instantly accessible on the Internet. Wikipedia’s innovation redefines the marketplace in their favor and achieves a competitive advantage. I believe that Wikipedia has to maintain its credibility, and ensure that it is providing accurate information to the public as well as to ensure that other Internet sites aren’t providing better information that’s more easily obtainable. Ones Wikipedia information has flaws it can…