Management guru C.K. Prahalad has an amazing knack for zeroing in on what’s salient. Among his other big ideas, he’s introduced business practitioners to the importance of delivering services to emerging markets. In his latest book, The New Age Of Innovation, with co-author, M.S. Krishnan, he advances the need for a new paradigm in business.
The duo discusses their book in the New Age of Innovation blog where Prahalad asserts that our industrial system has reached an inflecton point.
He writes,
“Ubiquitous connectivity (e.g. cell phones and PCs), digitization, convergence of technology and industry boundaries (e.g. consumer electronics, computing, communications), and the emergence of social networks have collectively put a turbo charge on this transformation. This transformation is affecting all industries.”
The transformation, he argues, is changing the way firms create value and, therefore, the way we all work.
He poses the following questions:
a. How are these trends playing out in your industry? Obvious impact (e.g. advertising, music industry) or subtle but significant (e.g. insurance) or weak signals for now but accelerating (e.g. shoes)?
b. Is there an emerging consensus among your colleagues on how it will transform the way you work? The way you approach your customers?
c. How will it impact the work of CIO/CTO/HR professionals? How well prepared are you for the changes needed in the basic approach to the function and the new skills needed (e.g. global project teams, flexible and resilient business processes)?
d. Will the nature of relationships between the CEO, business unit managers, and CIO/HR change? Should it?
e. Do your colleagues see IT as strategic or do they still persist in believing IT does not matter?
This transformation in business is dramatically changing the way firms will create value. How shall we adapt our business models to operate successfully in the new paradigm?
Good questions.
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