Objectives
that Suggest Using a Distributed Network Strategy

• Scale -- Distributed strategies have no upward limit on operational size.  And counter to conventional economic models, there tend to be increasing returns to scale rather than diminishing ones, so-called "network effects."

• Diversity -- Diametrically opposed strategies can be pursued simultaneously within a distributed system without compromising the system's integrity.  Diversity of all kinds is a measure of health rather than an operational challenge.

• Scope -- Distributed systems can be all things to all people. It's a byproduct of it's ability to embrace diversity at any scale. Distributed systems grow by creating and filling initially small, specialized niches.

• Rapid adaptation -- Since every part of a distributed system has the power to anticipate or create changes in its environment, and adjust its strategies accordingly, very few opportunities go unexploited.

• Non-dominance -- Many circumstances require a trusted, honest broker that doesn't take sides (or is on everyone's side).  Conventional corporate approaches tend to create multiple paths for one person or party to dominate others.  Distributed approaches can be designed to work in the other direction, creating multiple paths to level playing fields.

• Complex problem solving -- Personally, I think of ecological issues here, where local circumstances vary enormously, impacts of actions are felt in unpredictable ways, a number of different scales are relevant simultaneously, and so on.  Conventional organizational approaches founder in the face of such complexity, or impose silver-bullet solution that, well, don't solve anything.

• Values-based -- The core agreements within distributed systems tend to have a high ethical content, and blend well with additional values and communities of belief.

My observation is that many, if not most, of the commercial, social and ecological issues of today are struggling with very needs.