弹性企业尼古拉斯·维塔拉里

ATime forBusiness RevolutionWe are in the middle of a huge and exciting historical transformation. It is comparable with any of the big dislocations and transformations in history, possibly comparable with theorigins of agriculture or the beginnings of the industrial economy. A planet with 7 billion people, limited resources, the near tripling of the global middle class,environmental pressures, new sources of demand, and new learning needs. As we attempt tounderstand the impact of the new middle class in emerged nations like China and India,newly emerging Africa is powering ahead in mobile applications. There is a new ingenuityemerging from heightened competition; the clash and convergence ofmany cultures ismaking its presence feltnot onlyon our TV screen but also in the fragile stability of theglobal economic infrastructure. This is an awesome time to be alive and to rethink the way business is conducted.The growthof a new global middle class and a new phase of global competition forcesus to rethink howwealth is created. New skills are needed relative to globalization’s latest phase, the highly competitive multi-focal globalization—the ability to interpret and anticipate global demand acrossheterogeneous markets; the ability to create new supply chains; the ability to market throughmore social mechanisms online and through mobile devices; the desire as well as the abilityto work in these markets without the traditional oligopolypowers that western companieshave enjoyed since the 1970s. The new global market, with a new global middle class, presents us with a radicallychanging, fast growing but essentially different business environment from what we’veexperienced in the past. But what is this new business or changed environment? We in theWest tend to think of globalization’s new phase in terms of stock markets, stockperformance and shareholder value. Indeed,asForbesreported in September 2011, manycompanies have been performing exceptionally well, yet markets remainsjittery andoscillated up and down randomly. Yet market sentiment is our education and our legacy. Weconduct business with one eye on the markets, and we carry the traditional market playbookunder one arm. Yet, the new actors in this transformational world, one where the rules of business are beingturned upside down, think of the 21stcentury as a wholly new experience of life. For them it means, at last, the detachment from rural living and poverty,oran encounter withwealth for the first time, orthe unprecedented opportunity to engage with a globalcommunity. For the majority of people on our planet,the 21stcentury is their first encounterwith the huge wealth-generating machine, entrepreneurism,economic freedom and,in someregions, growing political freedom. As this new world emerges around us, there are visionary business leaders in the oldeconomies who do things differently anyway; who have anticipated change; who reframe thebusiness landscape in their own terms. They are not neglectful of global trends and emergingpopulations but they have a singular means of acting, a practice that is all their own, thatallows them to reframe our perceptions of how wealth can and should be created. Steve Jobs is a classic example, a man who has taken his firm from computer hardware andsoftware, a somewhat ailing niche producer at that, to create a new dominant framework forproduction in smartphones, music, video and software distribution. The excitement and opportunity of this era stems from the convergence of new conditionsand brilliant minds likethose ofJobs and Bezos. Pioneers like Jobs and Bezos are capable of reshaping our understanding of how business canbe done. But the corollary of that isalso in place: the conditions to do business indramatically new ways exist right now. The two coming together, the pioneers and new economic conditions, provide us with hugehope and optimism that humans can transcend their own and the planet’s limitations, onceagain. As well as pioneers,there are leaders such as those at Walmart who sit patiently and thenstrike. We see companies like Walmart;Ford Motor Company;Forbes, the global publisher;and GM all taking the first steps along the trail blazedby Jobs and Bezos. They might nothave architected the game plan perfectly for the route they need to take but they arechanging. Meanwhile,hungry challengers in Asia, India, Africa and Latin America, companies likeSamsung, Alibaba, BYD, Tata, SafaricomandEmbraer,need no second invite to emulate andsurpass the ingenuity of even an Apple Inc. The conditions in the new phase of globalization are perfect for pioneers of a certain type,sapient leaders who are knowledgeable about markets, products, IT,the Internet,the web andcustomers. It is the erapar excellencefor leaders who are wise across multiple disciplines.They have found a “sweet spot,” a system or structure that allows them to stitch together newwaysofoperating. All this is an evolutionary story,and pioneers o