Winning with the
Enterprise 2.0
© 2006 New Paradigm Learning Corporation
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A New Approach to Business is Required
Due to profound changes in the global business environment, information technology and managementthinking and experience, a fundamental change is occurring in how companies compete. In particular, therise of pervasive, networked IT is enabling new business strategies and designs—that enable firms tocreate differentiated value and/or lower cost structures—and therefore competitive advantage. A newapproach to business is required. It is a new model of the firm, or the Enterprise 2.0 as I and others havedescribed it.
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Others may know it better as
the Open, Networked Enterprise
(ONE), a label we’ve alsoused to illustrate the shift. Such enterprises orchestrate resources, create value and compete verydifferently than traditional firms. They also drive important changes in their respective industries andeven the rules of competition. Research and experience shows those that understand these changes cangain rapid advantage in their markets and build sustainable businesses.This report lays out a description of the Enterprise 2.0 and evidence for ten dimensions of change. Assuch, the report summarizes important aspects of the IT&CA research.If there is one theme that cuts across all ten dimensions and defines the new enterprise, it iscollaboration. These ten dimensions correspond to ten traditional, long standing “axioms” of competitiveadvantage—axioms that are now being challenged in the global networked economy and the new era of collaboration.Conventional wisdom holds that firms compete by:1. Thinking global and acting
local
2. Maintaining mission critical capabilities
within
their boundaries3.
Hiring and keeping
the “best” people as the basis for excelling in innovation4. Controlling and fiercely
protecting
proprietary resources and innovations—especially IntellectualProperty through patents, copyright and trademarks5. Planning differentiated products and services and then
“pushing”
into the market through effectivemarketing campaigns based on mass media6. Achieving operational excellence through
optimal business processes
, especially to achieve“enterprise integration” and building “hardwired” business structures based on the age oldorganizational chart.7.
Managing knowledge
to ensure it is available to a firm’s human capital8. Avoiding vulnerabilities through
secrecy
—viewing transparency as either a threat or limitedobligation for compliance with regulations9. Building the brand—corporate or product—as an
image, promise or trustmark
10. Viewing IT primarily as something
within
the enterprise to be organized to achieve corporateobjectivesFor many, these are motherhood approaches to competitiveness. However, the demands on mom arechanging, as are the possibilities and rules for parenting.Our research investigated hundreds of organizations through executive-level interviews andsecondary research to develop an analysis of the impact of the ten dimensions on competitiveness.Quantitative and also qualitative, case-based evidence indicates that transforming business strategies withrespect to these ten dimensions pays off in terms of differentiated value and/or lower cost structures—
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