San Francisco 2008
Summary
Customer orientation and data-driven marketing
Introduction and context
The 2008 San Francisco seminar took place at a time when the world was on the brink of a massive digital shift. The financial crisis was spreading unrest internationally, while new technological platforms, social media, and data-driven services were beginning to change how people communicated, shopped, and worked.
What made the seminar special was that participants got to experience this transformation while it was still in development. Many of the perspectives that would later become standard in digitalization, customer experience, omnichannel, and platform economics were presented here as emerging models and experiments.
Through four academic days – from Berkeley and Haas School of Business to Google Campus, Adobe Scene7, IBM Almaden, Forrester Research, the Oxford community and Santa Clara University – participants gained insight into how innovation occurs when technology, culture, organization and people develop in interaction.
It was also clear that Silicon Valley was not just about technology. It was about environments that shared knowledge quickly, built networks and allowed ideas to move between research, business and entrepreneurship. Already in 2008 it became clear that the winners of the future would be those who managed to connect people, data and organization into one holistic customer experience.
Program overview
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Day 1 – Berkeley / Haas School of Business
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Innovation as an ecosystem, entrepreneurship and “How Breakthroughs Happen”.
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Day 2 – Google Campus, Mountain View
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Platform economy, data-driven innovation, product development and Google's innovation culture.
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Day 3 – Adobe Scene7, comScore, EMC², Forrester Research, 24/7 Customer and Seagate
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Customer experience, Web 2.0, global customer behavior, analytics and early multichannel understanding.
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Day 4 – Berkeley / IBM Almaden / Oxford / Santa Clara / Innovation Norway
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Cross-channel, virtual worlds, innovation culture and global innovation models.
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These four days covered the entire innovation journey:
from research and idea development, to customer experience, organization, technology and global digital platforms.
Main academic topics
A. Innovation as an ecosystem
One of the strongest impressions from the San Francisco seminar in 2008 was the understanding that innovation rarely occurs in isolation within one organization. Through lectures, discussions, and company visits, it became clear how Silicon Valley functioned as a living ecosystem where universities, entrepreneurs, investors, research communities, and technology companies continuously influenced each other.
Berkeley and the Haas School of Business showed how innovation in practice is as much about culture as it is about technology. Talent mobility, knowledge sharing, and a high tolerance for experimentation were not accidental features of the environment – they were the very foundation that allowed ideas to develop quickly and scale globally.
It also became clear that innovation in Silicon Valley was not primarily seen as a project, but as a continuous process. New ideas were allowed to mature through collaboration, testing, and learning. This contrasted with more traditional organizations where innovation was often treated as something to be planned and controlled from the top.
For many of the participants, this was an important realization: the competitiveness of the future would not just be about products or technology alone, but about the ability to build environments where people, expertise and ideas could be developed together over time.
B. The early phase of the platform economy
The visit to Google in Mountain View was one of the most forward-looking elements of the entire seminar. In 2008, Google was already a global giant, but the company also emerged as an experimental innovation environment with a culture that was clearly different from many traditional businesses.
What made the biggest impression was how Google thought about platforms, data, and connected services. Products like Gmail, Maps, and News were presented not as stand-alone solutions, but as parts of a larger ecosystem where services, data, and user experiences constantly reinforced each other.
The seminar provided early insight into what would later become the basic logic of the platform economy:
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network effects
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continuous data collection
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scalability
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integrated services
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and rapid innovation cycles
Google's 70–20–10 model also illustrated how innovation was built into the organization. Employees were given the space to explore ideas outside of their primary work tasks, contributing to a culture of curiosity and continuous development.
In retrospect, it is clear how important these perspectives would become. Many of the principles presented in 2008 today form the basis of modern digital platforms, AI systems, and global technology companies.
C. Customer Experience as a Holistic Discipline
Another key theme throughout the seminar was how customer experience was evolving from being a marketing concept to becoming a strategic discipline that impacted the entire business.
Contributions from Adobe Scene7, comScore, Forrester Research and 24/7 Customer showed how digital customer experiences were already becoming increasingly complex and data-driven in 2008. Interactive product displays, personalization, customer behavior analysis and seamless channel experiences were presented as crucial factors for future competitiveness.
What made the biggest impression was the understanding that customer experience could not be solved through design alone. The entire organization had to work together:
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technology
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logistics
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marketing
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customer service
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analysis
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content
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and management
...had to function as one whole.
These were early signs of what would later become modern omnichannel strategies. As early as 2008, customers expected digital services to be intuitive, fast, and consistent – regardless of channel.
The seminar also made it clear that data alone does not create good experiences. Data had to be combined with an understanding of people, needs and behavior. This perspective would later become enormously important in retail, the public sector and service development in general.
Reflections and discussion:
The discussions throughout the seminar gradually evolved from being about technology to being about people, organization and culture. Many of the participants experienced that the seminars challenged traditional ways of thinking about digitalization.
It became increasingly clear that technology alone could not create innovation. Several presentations emphasized that many businesses invest heavily in systems and platforms without simultaneously developing culture, leadership, and collaboration.
Through conversations, company visits and professional discussions, an understanding emerged that the businesses of the future must be able to connect:
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people
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technology
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organization
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customer experience
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and learning
...into one coherent whole.
An important theme was also how innovation must be allowed to be experimental. Several of the environments in Silicon Valley showed that learning often occurs through small tests, rapid iterations and openness to failure.
This perspective made a strong impression because it stood in contrast to many more traditional organizations where control and structure often dominated development work.
The seminar therefore generated reflections that went far beyond technology alone. It was about how organizations must develop a culture of collaboration, curiosity, and continuous learning if they are to succeed in a digital world.
International perspectives
One of the most interesting aspects of the 2008 San Francisco seminar was how it highlighted differences between innovation cultures in different parts of the world.
The United States emerged as an environment characterized by:
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high risk
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quick decisions
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capital access
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experimentation
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and strong belief in scaling
Europe, for its part, had a stronger focus on:
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structure
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quality
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processes
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regulation
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and stability
The Nordic perspective stood out by combining high trust with relatively flat organizations and strong collaborative cultures. Several discussions pointed out that the Nordic region could have unique advantages in a digital economy precisely because the societal model is built on trust between people, institutions and the working world.
This was an important reflection:
Innovation is not just about capital and technology. Culture and societal structure also play a crucial role.
Many of the participants were left with the feeling that the best innovation environments of the future would likely combine:
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The pace of Silicon Valley
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The structure of Europe
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and the Nordic culture of trust.
What did we take home with us?
The most important thing participants took home from San Francisco in 2008 was perhaps not specific technologies, but a new mindset.
The seminar showed that digitalization is not about “laying technology on top of” existing structures. It is about understanding how technology affects:
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people
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organizations
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culture
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work processes
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customer experiences
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and community development.
Many of the perspectives that later became central to omnichannel, customer experience, agile development, and platform economics were presented here in an early phase.
It also became clear that organizations that succeed digitally often have something in common:
they manage to create flow between people, information and technology.
Another important perspective was the understanding that data alone does not create value. Data must be interpreted, understood and used to improve human experiences and services.
For many of the participants, the seminar was therefore the start of a new way of thinking about innovation and digitalization – more holistic, more people-centered and more oriented towards interaction.
Relevance today
Today, San Francisco 2008 appears remarkably relevant.
Many of the topics that were discussed as emerging trends at the time have today become the foundation for modern social and industrial development:
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platform economy
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AI and personalization
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omnichannel strategies
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agile development
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innovation labs
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data-driven services
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customer experience as a management responsibility
What is perhaps most interesting in retrospect is how clearly the seminar described the need for holistic thinking as early as 2008. Digitalization was not presented as an IT project, but as a transformation of entire organizations and societies.
This perspective is still just as relevant today – perhaps even more so. Artificial intelligence, global digital platforms, and increasingly complex customer journeys mean that organizations still have to balance:
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technology
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people
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culture
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organization
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trust
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and learning.
That is also why San Francisco 2008 still stands as an important part of the basic narrative in The Invisible Capital and Value-Creating People.
The seminar showed something early on that is still true:
Value is not created by technology alone.
They are created in the interaction between people, relationships, culture and knowledge.
Peder Inge Furseth
Peder Inge Furseth was a central academic driving force behind the San Francisco seminars and helped make the meeting with Silicon Valley relevant for Norwegian and European businesses. Through his role as professor at BI and as academic director of the program, he helped the participants put the lectures into a larger context – where technology, innovation, business development and people had to be seen in context.
In San Francisco, participants met entrepreneurs, researchers, technology leaders and investors from some of the world's most innovative environments. Furseth's strength was his ability to connect these experiences to practical challenges and opportunities in Norwegian businesses. He helped translate Silicon Valley's ideas and working methods into a Nordic context where collaboration, trust and long-term value creation are strong.
Throughout the entire seminar series, he was an important bridge builder between research, business and technology. For many participants, he therefore became more than a professional leader – he also became a mentor who inspired new thinking about innovation, digitalization and commercialization.
Read more about Peder Inge Furseth here
From studies and seminars to today's professional universe
The studies, seminars and field trips documented on this page are part of the knowledge base behind The Invisible Capital. Topics such as customers, technology, innovation, digitalization and value creation have followed developments over several decades – but the disciplines have also continued to develop.
At The Invisible Capital, we are therefore continuing to work on these questions in our own subject series. Here, we connect previous theory, research and experiences with newer knowledge, new technologies and today's challenges for people and businesses.
Innovation
Innovation is not just about new ideas. Value is created when knowledge, technology and ideas are developed into products, services, processes, organizational forms and business models that are actually used. The series on innovation goes from Schumpeter to modern innovation research and covers, among other things, incremental, radical, disruptive, open and user-driven innovation.
→ Explore the Innovation Series
The customer
The customer is not just the recipient of what the business produces. In a competitive market, the customer is a crucial determinant of whether the business actually succeeds in creating value. The series about the customer goes deeper into customer orientation, customer insight, customer experience, satisfaction, loyalty, trust and the encounter between people.
→ Read the customer series
Value creation
What does it really mean to create value – and who creates it? The series on value creation moves from economic theory and key researchers to a broader understanding of how people, expertise, institutions, businesses and the public sector contribute to value creation.
→ Read the series on value creation
Digitization
Digitalization has evolved from stand-alone technologies to a fundamental part of how businesses work and create value. The Digitalization from A–Z series follows developments through internet, web, e-commerce, search, UX, social, mobile, omnichannel, cloud, data, platforms and digital transformation – up to today’s AI First developments.
→ Read the series Digitization from A–Z
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence represents the next chapter in digital evolution. In our own AI universe, we investigate how artificial intelligence works, how AI finds and uses information, how it evaluates sources and websites, and what the development can mean for people, businesses, and value creation.
→ Go to the articles about artificial intelligence
Recommended literature
How Breakthroughs Happen
Andrew Hargadon explores how innovation rarely arises from a single brilliant idea alone, but rather through the ability to connect existing knowledge, people, and technologies in new ways. The book shows how collaboration, networking, and sharing of experiences create the foundation for breakthroughs and continuous innovation in both Silicon Valley and modern business.
