The challenge of the borderless workplace. What's the connection between JP Morgan, IBM and Proctor & Gamble? They have all been in business for over a century and are still successful today.
What about Nokia, Compaq and Kodak? These originally ground-breaking companies have all hit headlines for failing at their own game. So, what brings a giant down? To fall out of step with your own market is fatal, and sitting panicked in the headlights of change, whilst the rest of the world moves on is no fun.
Is it possible to recover? Well, consider, for example, Proctor & Gamble. Several years ago, P&G faced a unique set of challenges. Its share price was down 50% resulting in a loss of $85 billion in market capitalization. Despite huge spending on R&D only 35% of new products reached their financial objectives. The new CEO Lafley was confident that better internal working practices were key to the company's future value. He wanted to ensure P&G "connected inside out better than any company in the world".
After internal analysis, P&G found that its most profitable innovations came from internal collaborations across business units or from external collaboration with researchers on the outside. Twenty cross-functional 'communities of practice' were established within P&G, and Lafley determined that 50% of P&G's products, ideas and technologies would be developed externally. Within years, P&G had improved its R&D productivity by 60% and more than doubled its innovation success rate. They had survived!
To succeed in today's business world, organizations need to become truly borderless not just global: resources, ideas and innovation need to flow freely to the point of need; organizations need to access the best talent and resources 24/7. Their profitable markets must be permanently open and available around the clock. This means organizations must transcend their existing borders - real or imagined - and adapt to the borderless workplace, and if they do, they will thrive as a result. How TMA World can help