Two Examples
Privately
(Intuit did not monetize this product. They paid for all the data charges): “FASAL” by Intuit Labs — Ran experiment at Intuit to enable farmers to have instant access to pricing and relevant information in order to make informed decisions. Bosses did NOT agree with even running the experiment because they thought it would essentially be a lost cause because of how they perceived farmers to be. In the end, the experiment was a success and both Intuit and the farmers saw a significant increase in profits. As of this video, there are 400,000 farmers that have access to this information, doubling every few months.
Governmentally
“China Economic Miracle”: China ran an experiment by which they controlled the market in every area except for one (Shenzhen) where they allowed for a free market and foreign investment. Today, this has been opened up to all of China. More people, in less time, as moved out of poverty as a result.
Scott cook discusses the Benefits of Design-Thinking and Dangers of “Soft Tyranny”
One key benefit of experimentation in business in this way is that this allows the movement of decision making from politics and power point to actually enabling great ideas that would have never otherwise been actualized. In franchises and small business, nothing is more important than allowing this as it allows for future innovation easier and faster.
The dangers of “Soft Tyranny” in business is that this type of business does not allow for spontaneous experimentation because there is/are: Too much bureaucracy, too many rules, and too many places needed to ask permission