Business Network Transformation: Rethinking Relationships in a Global Economy

The global economy is reshaping relationships among companies in new and not always comfortable ways. Leveraging unprecedented opportunities in communication and collaboration, companies are gaining competitive advantage through networked business models, tapping into talent across the globe to defend themselves against commoditization and disruptive innovation. Such rapidly changing market dynamics are stressing established companies investment in rigid "Built-to-Last" systems and processes. The new era instead calls for fluid, "Built to-Adapt" networks in which each company focuses on its differentiation and relies increasingly on its partners, suppliers, and customers to supply the rest.