The Experience Economy ─ Work Is Theater & Every Business a Stage

Future economic growth lies in the value of experiences and transformations--good and services are no longer enough. We are on the threshold, say authors Pine and Gilmore, of the Experience Economy, a new economic era in which all businesses must orchestrate memorable events for their customers. The Experience Economy offers a creative, highly original, and yet eminently practical strategy for companies to script and stage the experiences that will transform the value of what they produce. From America Online to Walt Disney, the authors draw from a rich and varied mix of examples that showcase businesses in the midst of creating personal experiences for both consumers and businesses. The authors urge managers to look beyond traditional pricing factors like time and cost, and consider charging for the value of the transformation that an experience offers. Goods and services, say Pine and Gilmore, are no longer enough. Experiences and transformations are the basis for future economic growth, and The Experience Economy is the script from which managers can begin to direct their own transformations.

B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore are cofounders of Strategic Horizons LLP, an Aurora, Ohio-based, thinking studio dedicated to helping enterprises conceive and design new ways of adding value to their economic offerings. They are coauthors of The Experience Economy and Authenticity.

Pine, who also wrote Mass Customization, is a Senior Fellow with both the Design Futures Council and the European Centre for the Experience Economy, which he cofounded.

Gilmore is also a Batten Fellow and Visiting Lecturer at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.