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Two rapidly growing trends -- globalization
and technological innovation -- are having an enormous impact
on the very fabric of the way business is conducted. As
each reinforces the other -- technology enabling firms within
an industry to capture economies of scale and scope by going
global; global firms relying on technological innovation
to enhance their capabilities -- continuous strategic and
organizational change across all industries will result.
This dynamic environment motivated the research documented
in Globalization, Technology, and Competition, which
explores the dramatic influences of these two important
forces on the structure of industries, the strategies of
firms competing in these industries, and the organizational
forms needed to support the new creative strategies of these
firms.
Focusing on information technology and telecommunications,
the contributors address how innovations in these technologies
are stirring firms and industries to react. Analyzing a
variety of industries including financial services, manufacturing,
and retail, as well as specific organizations such as Asea
Brown Boveri, Federal Express, and Saturn, the authors'
conclusions fall into three related areas. A new fusion
of computers and telecommunications is already occurring,
presenting competitive opportunities and threats to business
that have never before been encountered and which promise
to radically affect all companies, whether or not they were
significant users of technology in the past. Indeed, the
fundamental structure of firms is being altered, and
"networked" organizational structures that enable
more cooperative work are emerging. As a result, the creation
of new industries -- and the fundamental restructuring
of existing ones -- are imminent. This restructuring
is pervasive, changing forever the ways in which people
work together, suggesting substantially different organizations
to support their efforts, and shifting the basis of the
strategies pursued by firms in these industries to new concepts
of competitive advantage.
The authors also probe how the suppliers
of the technology will keep pace with this trend in the
upcoming decade. Although traditional computer and telecommunications
companies seem to recognize the demand for fused services,
they are not currently structured to provide it. Many computer
companies, software developers, systems integrators, and
specialized hardware suppliers are betting that they can
focus on only part of the customers' needs and still deliver
superior value. It remains to be seen how such a strategy
will play out.
The distinguished contributors to this volume
include executives from leading companies that have built
integrated computer and telecommunications networks for
global competition; executives from the companies providing
computers, telecommunications, and software to enable global
competition; and academics and other professionals who are
studying these industries and their confluence.
Stephen P. Bradley is William Ziegler
Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business
School. Jerry A. Hausman is MacDonald Professor of Economics
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Richard L.
Nolan is professor of business administration at the Harvard
Business School.
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