Competing in a Flat World

Competing in a Flat World isn't a theoretical exploration of what a business should be, it is a practical explanation of how a business has become at the top of its game. Based on the extraordinary experience of Li and Fung--the world's largest sourcing company and today's pre-eminent example of a "flat world" business-- top Wharton professor, consultant, and author, Jerry Wind with Li and Fung executives Victor and William Fung show how to redesign your business to succeed in this radically new era. This book reveals business secrets that helped Li and Fung grow to $7B in annual revenue with just 7,000 employees, and earned this century-old enterprise a spot on the "Wired 40" right alongside Google. Core to the book's benefits is its description and roadmap for the most important organizational skill flat enterprise leaders and companies will need: the ability to orchestrate a loosely-linked network of organizations operating fluidly at the edge of chaos. You will discover how to: Balance centralized control with local empowerment; specialization with integration; stability with renewal; firm-centric and network-centric views of your business Learn to compete "network vs. network," create "big-small" companies that combine scale and agility; and sell direct to the source by bridging marketing with operations Learn how to respond to flat enterprise's core challenges, including supply chain disruption, nation-state politics, and other "bumps" in this not-quite-100% flat world-from politics to terrorism.