Eric van Heck – författare

Why do the Dutch continue to play a central role in the global production, sales, and distribution of flowers? What are the origin and history of the bulb and flower industry in the Netherlands?

How are Artificial Intelligence (AI), complex algorithms, and modern distribution systems ensuring that fresh flowers reach their destination on time?

This very entertaining and informative book introduces readers to the global flower business, and highlights the surprising factors that helped the Dutch become global leaders on the flower markets.

The book reveals the complexity of the flower markets in terms of their ability to produce, transport, and deliver fresh flowers on a global scale. In addition, it explores how information advantage is created by blending business with technology, from robotized glasshouses to the use of AI-driven algorithms for flower production and distribution. In closing, the book presents lessons learned regarding the circular and digital transformation of the high-speed flower business and markets in order to deliver sustainable value for customers.

Combining the light beauty of flowers with the harsh language of the digital universe is a masterfully executed task in this book, organized as a bouquet of algorithms, data science, and digital platforms. Mandatory reading for all those interested in the flower business as well as for those who want to know more about the perfume emanating from digital systems. 

Eduardo Diniz Professor and Head of the Technology and Data Science Department, Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo, Fundação Getulio Vargas, São Paulo, Brazil

This unique book leads you through the bulb fields and auctions of the Netherlands, through history, logistics, auction design, and Internet technology, to draw lessons in business management from the study of flowers. With beautiful illustrations. A tour de force.

John Kay Economist, Author of Radical Uncertainty and Greed is Dead, and Fellow, St. John’s College, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

If you want to understand the impact of information and technology on a fascinat- ing industry, this book is a must-read. The author explains in a highly intriguing way how innovations propelled the flower industry from the sixteenth century till today. Whether you are working in the flower industry, a business student, academic, or just intrigued by the business behind flowers, you will enjoy this book! 

Martin Mocker Professor of Information Systems, ESB Business School, Reutlingen University, Reutlingen, Germany. Research Affiliate, MIT Sloan Center for Information Systems Research, Cambridge, USA

Scientists from management and strategy, information systems, engineering and telecommunications have discussed a novel concept: Smart Business Networks. They see the future as a developing web of people and organizations, bound together in a dynamic and unpredictable way, creating smart outcomes from quickly (re-)configuring links between actors. The question is: What should be done to make the outcomes of such a network ''smart'', that is, just a little better than that of your competitor? More agile, with less pain, with more return to all the members of the network, now and over time? The technical answer is to create a ''business operating system'' that should run business processes on different organisational platforms. Business processes would become portable: The end-to-end management of processes running across many different organizations in many different forms would become possible. This book presents you the outcomes of an energizing and new direction in management science.