In a new book, From Global to MetaNational, Strategy experts and Insead Professors, Yvez Doz, José Santos and Peter Williamson argue that the future form of successful global enterprise has now changed from the multinational to the metanational.

Multinationals are characterised by packaging home-country know-how to new markets - locations abroad are seen primarily as sources of potential cost advantage.

"Metanationals" are characterised by harvesting distributed knowledge from all over the world and leveraging it into innovative products whose delivery shape may vary in their different markets and geographies.

The authors argue for three key capabilities in becoming an effective metanational:

1. Sensing – to be able to detect new opportunities through "sensing networks"


2. Mobilizing – to be able to turn these opportunities into effective actions through “magnets”


3. Operationalizing – to be able to scale up and deliver globally

They suggest that whilst most multinationals are strong in operationalizing they are very weak in sensing and mobilizing - interestingly these two capabilities require a collaborative networked approach rather than the old forms of hierarchy and matrix management.

In a chapter entitled, The Tyranny of Distance, the authors contend that ICT in itself, even if backed up by a large investment budget, cannot fully address the problems of mobilizing dispersed knowledge.

For a free first chapter of the book click here.

For an interview with the authors on Gurusonline.tv.

Tags: organizational teams, virtual enterprise networks

Bioteams Books Reviews

Organisational teams: thin slice for responsiveness

January 22, 2007 | article by Ken Thompson in Book Reviews (37)

Humans and animals do not need complete information to act; they can operate on various clues provided there is a sufficient context. Organizational teams can also use this thin slicing technique in conjunction with short messaging to enhance their performance. Malcolm Gladwell’s introspective book Blink digs deep into the abyss of human cognition to illustrate the human ability to think at a subconscious level. The idea of thin slicing is used where one is introduced to only a few snippets of information which lead to a series of conclusions based on moments of rapid cognition – an ability claimed to be intrinsically dormant in most humans. By bioteams guest author Max Bhanabhai.

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Amazon.Co.UK

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