In 1989, Rob McEwen inherited through a takeover Goldcorp Inc., and became the CEO of the 50 year old gold mine which at the time was a small Ontario company.
McEwen, while trying to shakeup the company and boost its income, launched the Goldcorp Challenge on internet. He posted his company's exploration data online in exchange for ideas/solutions to its dilemma (inability to find more gold deposits) and in return offered a reward of $575,000! The response to the post was astonishing, receiving thousands of proposals from the whole world.
Having a background in finance made McEwen more open and adaptable to new ideas and change. He was like an outsider to the company as he did not have any background in mining but he transformed Goldcorp into one of the most successful companies by taking such an outrageous move of sharing the company’s private data.
Having a background in finance made McEwen more open and adaptable to new ideas and change. He was like an outsider to the company as he did not have any background in mining but he transformed Goldcorp into one of the most successful companies by taking such an outrageous move of sharing the company’s private data.
This daring and risky adventure makes it fit into the 2 e-commerce paradigms; the Buy side and the Sell side.
- As a Buy side e-commerce company, Goldcorp posed as a buy side/buyer (of knowledge/ideas) from potential suppliers (individuals, companies, research institutes, etc). From the map/diagram, the main source of interaction between the sources (suppliers) and the company (buyer) was through the Company's website.
- As a Sell side e-commerce company, Goldcorp (a Supplier) sells the mined gold to a wide array of customers ranging from Wholesalers, Banks, Private Giant Companies, Retailers,...to Customers, Jewellers, etc (ustomer's customer).
Today, Goldcorp Inc. is North America's fastest growing senior Gold producer. This major success has opened more project avenues for the company to work on, namely:
- On March 31, 2006, the company bought Eleonore gold project in Quebec from Virginia Gold Mines Ltd., and in August, same year Glamis Gold Ltd was also bought over for $8.6 billion USD and became one of the largest gold companies in the world.
- In 2008, Goldcorp was named one of the BC’s Top employers.
- In 2009, one of the Goldcorp’s mines called “Marlin mine” became the first in Central America to be fully certified under the International Cyanide Management Code for the Manufacture, Transport and Use of Cyanide in the Production of Gold.
- In February 2010, Goldcorp finished it's business deal with New Gold Inc. to buy over 70% interest in the El Morro project in North-Central Chile.
- And recently, in September 2010 Goldcorp stated its intention of buying The Andean Resources Ltd (project of finding metal resources) which is located in Southern Argentinian.
The growth of Goldcorp Inc. reserves over the last 5years
The E-business models adopted by the company would be the following:
- Business-to-Consumer.
- Business-to-Business.
References:
'Everything I needed to know about business..I learned from a Canadian. Chapter “Moving an Elephant with a Mouse Changing the Unchangeable". Featuring the wisdom of Rob McEwen'. Available from
http://books.google.co.uk/booksid=p13ErcZh2HUC&pg=PT173&dq=Rob+Mcewen+The+CEO+of+Goldcorp+Inc&hl=en&ei=RB-6TIL8LoOhOt-owKQN&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Rob%20Mcewen%20The%20CEO%20of%20Goldcorp%20Inc&f=false
[Accessed 17th October 2010]
Wikipedia: 'Goldcorp'. Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldcorp#History [Accessed 18th October 2010]
'Goldcorp Financials'. Available from http://www.goldcorp.com/_resources/financials/MDA_FS_Final_Combined_2010_03.pdf [Accessed on 13th October 2010]
'Goldcrop Fact Sheet'. Available from http://www.goldcorp.com/_resources/GC_FactSheet_Web.pdf [Accessed on 13th October 2010]
Goldcorp is a very interesting company in terms of "Buy-side" and "Sell-side". It's interesting because on the buy-side, they aren't really buying any products. Instead they're buying the world's ideas. They're making the whole world aware of their plans and ideas via their website in return for ideas and solutions on their problem of the lack of gold they had been able to find over the last few years. This turned out to be a very successful investment as they only had to give a tiny amount of money to the best ideas and solutions compared to the amount of gold they discovered. You can see how much the gold has been increasing by over the last few years.
ReplyDeleteOn the sell-side of the business, Goldcorp sell the gold on to a number of buyers. This can include state banks, gold suppliers, private companies and retailers. So from the sell-side perspective, it is quite a typical business supplying gold to the mass market.
Their desired strategy is to make their secrets and they're business ideas available to the whole world and hope to get more ideas and solutions to their problems from individuals like geologists, other companies etc. However, there is a possibility that this may lead to a downfall of their business. This is because other companies can use their ideas and implement them in their own businesses. They have to remember that their sites aren't the only ones with gold in them. There are hundreds of other sites around the world and other international companies may use their ideas and techniques to mine gold on their site. If they are successful in doing this and end up finding more gold than Goldcorp then this could lead to losing supplying contracts etc and other companies may become more successful than Goldcorp.....
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ReplyDeleteSorry, made a mistake, I was saying this case is also reported in the wikinomics book, and it clearly shows how we live in a society where knowledge is valued and paid for. The supply of knowldege has been considered as a source of wealth for many nations and of course, for companies. People putting together ideas, or linking up with others who have them, they are the new intermediaries in the knowledge economy.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the diagram, it is very clear. And also for the references. Time to follow the Harvard referencing system that will help you in your assignments.
REgards
JR