In today’s hyperconnected economy, the rules of value creation are being rewritten. Companies that once thrived on control, efficiency, and scale are now being outpaced by those that foster collaboration, connectivity, and community. The most forward-thinking brands are no longer simply offering products or services—they are building dynamic environments that unlock exponential value for all participants.
In contrast to conventional pipeline business models, interaction fields foster collaboration across multiple elements and multiple stakeholders to co-create mutual value through ongoing, collaborative process. A good interaction model is an essential framework that defines how a product or system operates based on user behavior. The result: resilient, adaptive, and exponentially scalable businesses that outperform their competition.
From Pipelines to Platforms: A Business Model Revolution
Traditional pipeline business models have dominated the industrial era. In a pipeline model, companies create products or services, push them through a linear value chain, and sell to end consumers. Control and ownership of the value chain are centralized. The customer plays a passive role, and success hinges on efficiency, quality, and distribution.
The entire process is one-directional, from production to purchase. Think of classic automotive manufacturers, consumer goods brands, or even media companies: They control resources, make decisions internally, and deliver finished offerings to passive recipients.
The pipeline model has proven effective in a stable, predictable market landscape. But today’s customers are led by digital interactions, operating in a world where speed, responsiveness, and adaptability are paramount. This model is increasingly obsolete not least because it is limited by internal capabilities, and unable to harness the power of external networks.
While many companies have built powerful brands and efficient supply chains, a pipeline model’s value is limited by what a company can produce and deliver through its own resources. A pipeline model struggles to keep up with today’s expectations for personalization, co-creation, real-time data, and artificial intelligence.
In contrast, an interaction field is a dynamic, multi-stakeholder environment that enables participants to interact, collaborate, and co-create value. It is not a supply chain or a marketplace. It is a living ecosystem that fosters continuous interaction among users, partners, developers, regulators, and even competitors.
Value is not delivered in a straight line; instead, using new technologies, interaction fields scale through network effects, shared resources, and a shared sense of purpose. This allows businesses to grow faster, innovate more effectively, and build more resilient market positions. Additionally, considering various form factors, such as mobile, tablet, and desktop, during the development of these interaction fields is crucial for visualizing the foundational structure of a product.
Characteristics of an Interaction Field Business
Successful interaction field businesses typically share three defining characteristics:
- Open Ecosystems: They allow diverse participants—customers, partners, institutions—to connect and engage freely. Value is co-created, not just delivered.
- Purpose-Driven Engagement: These models are anchored by a clear, compelling purpose that unites all stakeholders. Real-time interactions are driven by data, AI, and network effects.
- Network Orchestration: Rather than owning every touchpoint, they orchestrate interactions, data flows, and collaborations to drive exponential value. A shared purpose aligns participants toward collective benefits—not just individual profit.
This model isn’t just a theoretical framework—it’s the engine behind some of today’s most iconic and high-performing companies.
Key Components of Successful Interaction Field Businesses
Successful interaction field businesses are built on several key components that ensure a cohesive and effective interaction model:
- Conceptual Models: These abstract, diagrammatic representations of entities, structures, and relationships help us grasp the big picture and understand complex interactions within the system.
- Information Architecture: This involves the organization, labeling, and hierarchy of data, providing a more concrete representation of the interaction model and ensuring that information is easily accessible.
- Screen Layouts: Visual representations of the key primary functions, verbs, and nouns form the foundational structure of the product, guiding users through their interactions.
- Components: These are based on functionality and provide hierarchy and structure to layouts. They can have multiple patterns to represent them, ensuring flexibility and consistency.
- Patterns: The building blocks of the interface, patterns bring harmony and consistency to the user interface (UI). They can be reused across different components to achieve specific functions, enhancing the overall user experience.
By integrating these components, interaction field businesses create dynamic, user-centered environments that foster collaboration, innovation, and exponential growth.
Business Interaction Model Examples
Uber: Orchestrating Mobility and Logistics
Uber operates not just as a ride-hailing service, but as a platform that connects drivers, riders, restaurants, couriers, and businesses. The interaction field here includes:
- Real-time matching between drivers and riders or couriers and customers.
- Surge pricing algorithms that respond to supply and demand.
- Data sharing that improves logistics, traffic routing, and urban planning.
- Integration with public transit, scooters, and even freight services.
- Understanding user context in real-time matching and data sharing, which enhances the overall user experience.
Uber’s strength lies in orchestrating network effects: as more drivers join, wait times drop; as more riders use the app, driver earnings rise. New services like Uber Eats and Uber for Business layer onto the existing ecosystem, compounding growth. The more participants engage, the stronger the system becomes—classic hallmarks of an interaction field business.
Amazon: An Expanding Ecosystem of Digital Interactions
While Amazon began as a classic pipeline business (an online bookstore), it quickly evolved into a complex platform ecosystem that exemplifies the interaction field model.
Key components of Amazon’s interaction field:
- Amazon Marketplace allows third-party sellers to list products and compete on a level playing field.
- Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) enables sellers to tap into Amazon’s logistics infrastructure
- AWS (Amazon Web Services) supports millions of developers, startups, and enterprises.
- Alexa and smart devices facilitate ongoing customer interaction through voice and IoT.
Capturing the usage ratio is crucial to understand user context and significance, enhancing the visualization of scenarios through data-driven tools.
Through these touchpoints, Amazon creates a self-reinforcing system where data, customer behavior, supplier performance, and infrastructure all feed into one another. Everyone in the ecosystem benefits—from shoppers to sellers to developers—while Amazon becomes the orchestrator of value creation. This interaction field is why Amazon can expand into new verticals so effectively.
Airbnb: Co-Creating the Future of Travel through Interaction Design
Airbnb is a prime example of an interaction field business that goes far beyond simple platform functionality. While it began as a peer-to-peer lodging marketplace, Airbnb has evolved into a dynamic ecosystem where all users—guests, hosts, local businesses, service providers, and even regulators—interact to shape the global travel experience. Transitioning from initial brainstorming to more concrete models is crucial for refining insights gained from user research and collaboration with stakeholders, ultimately leading to more effective design outcomes.
Here’s how Airbnb exemplifies the interaction field model:
- Hosts and guests don’t just transact—all users engage in cultural exchange, build trust through reviews, and shape community standards.
- Airbnb Experiences allow locals to monetize unique skills and knowledge, expanding the ecosystem beyond accommodations.
- Data-driven tools help hosts optimize pricing, improve listings, and personalize guest experiences in real time.
- Partnerships with cities and governments foster responsible tourism and regulatory compliance, enhancing sustainability and local economic impact.
Airbnb’s strength lies in its ability to orchestrate value through a shared purpose: creating a world where anyone can belong anywhere. It doesn’t own real estate or deliver hospitality in the traditional sense—it curates interactions that empower millions of users to co-create value. The more diverse the participants, the richer and more resilient the ecosystem becomes.
This interaction field approach not only fuels growth but helps Airbnb adapt to changing consumer behaviors, travel trends, and even global crises—like its quick pivot during the COVID-19 pandemic toward long-term stays and remote work travel. The most exciting part: By tapping into the collective power of its community, Airbnb continues to scale sustainably provide the best possible experience.
How Interaction Fields Drive Exponential Growth
The key advantage of interaction field models is their ability to scale non-linearly. Interaction models serve as a structural basis for building effective designs, contributing to exponential growth. While traditional businesses grow by adding more products, employees, or facilities, value in interaction fields grows exponentially with each new participant, data point, or interaction.
This happens because:
- Network effects amplify utility and engagement.
- User-generated data drives personalization and innovation.
- Third-party contributions expand the ecosystem’s capabilities.
These businesses don’t rely solely on what they own—they leverage what others contribute. What this achieves is a more agile, resilient, and scalable business that thrives in complexity and change.
Interaction Fields vs. Platforms: Not All Platforms Qualify
It’s worth noting that not every platform is an interaction field. Some digital platforms merely enable transactions (like booking a flight), without fostering sustained collaboration or shared purpose. True interaction fields go deeper: they orchestrate engagement across diverse stakeholders and encourage participation in the innovation process. Interaction libraries play a foundational role in supporting design systems and style guides, ensuring a seamless user experience.
That’s why Airbnb isn’t just a platform—it’s an interaction field where hosts, guests, local communities, and service providers all contribute to a shared travel experience. It’s not just about booking rooms; it’s about co-creating interactions-based travel ecosystems.
What This Means for Business Leaders
For companies still operating in a pipeline mindset, the shift to interaction fields requires:
- Rethinking competitive advantage from internal capabilities to ecosystem orchestration.
- Investing in platforms and data infrastructure to enable participation at scale.
- Identifying new stakeholders beyond just customers and suppliers.
- Building shared purpose that aligns economic and societal value.
The implementation phase is a crucial part of the design process where insights are transformed into tangible concepts.
Rethinking Strategy for the Interaction Era
To adopt an interaction field model, companies must undergo a strategic transformation. This involves moving from a “control” mindset to a “collaborative” mindset. Rather than optimizing internal operations, they must focus on enabling value creation across an entire ecosystem. Interaction design is crucial in this process, as it helps create meaningful relationships between users and technology.
Questions to consider include:
- Who are all the potential participants in your ecosystem—not just customers?
- How can you facilitate meaningful interactions among all users?
- What data and insights can be shared to create relationships and drive collective innovation?
- What unifying purpose can anchor your ecosystem and attract continued engagement?
At Vivaldi Group, we work with organizations to uncover these answers, building interaction fields that go beyond linear transactions to deliver sustainable, scalable value.
For more details on interaction field companies and business models, I recommend my book.
[1] Wikipedia entry: Taxi Medallion, accessed June 6, 2020
[2] https://www.wired.com/story/new-york-city-flexes-extending-cap-uber-lyft/
[3] Douglas Rushkoff, Team Human, W.W. Norton, New York, 2019.