21st century corporation....

The 21st century corporation Sparked by new technologies, particularly the Internet, the corporation is undergoing a radical transformation that is nothing less than a new Industrial Revolution. This time around, the revolution is reaching every corner of the globe and in the process, rewriting the rules laid down by Sloan, Henry Ford, and other Industrial Age giants. The 21st century corporation that emerges will in many ways be the polar opposite of the organizations they helped shape.


Indeed, if you've worked as a manager for at least a decade, you can forget much of what you've learned so far. Prepare to toss out your business-school case studies and set aside many of the time-honored principles that have guided generations of managers. The vast changes reshaping the world's business terrain are that far-reaching, that fundamental, and that profound. ''We're not witnessing just a little change in our economy,'' says David Ticoll, chief executive of Digital 4Sight Systems & Consulting Ltd., a business think tank and consulting firm. ''This is an epochal change in the history of production.''


To survive and thrive in this century, managers will need to hard-wire a new set of rules and guideposts into their brains. Not so long ago, for example, leaders believed that building assets over the long haul guaranteed competitive advantage. In this new century, success will go to the companies that partner their way to a new future, not those that put heavy assets onto their balance sheets. Leaders once thought that creating intense rivalries among competitors motivated their employees and assured success. But in the days to come, a company's fiercest competitor might also be its most important collaborator. Since the dawn of trade, every business leader has wanted to build an enduring enterprise. In the new century, though, many companies will be intentionally ephemeral, formed to create new technologies or products only to be absorbed by sponsor companies when their missions are accomplished.



Reference:http://www.businessweek.com/common_frames/ma_0035.htm?/2000/00_35/b3696011.htm