My latest read – Competing in a Flat World

Searching for the next emerging career in business?  Its Network Orchestrator and this does not refer to computer networks or chamber music.  If you understand fluid, globalized supply chains your on the right track.  Competing in a Flat World: Building Enterprises for a Borderless World proves success is less about what a company can do itself and more about what it can connect to in the global world in order to succeed.

Enter Globalization 3.0 and now business must be in a position to take advantage of a Network Orchestrator.

This book follows Li & Fung, a garment company which produces annual sales over $8 billion for some of the most respected brands in the world.

What may surprise you is that Li & Fung do not own any factories.

This book may be crafted for business schools but its larger impact is for educators.

More importantly parents should read this to see how the world has already changed and learn how their children (regardless of profession) will enter a vastly different marketplace.  The changes from their generation are drastically different.  Li & Fung’s message is quite simple: evolve or die.

To fully understand this book you must understand The World Is Flat from two perspectives. First, “flat” does not mean equal.  Flat means equalizing. This refers to the “flattening forces that have empowered more individuals to reach farther, faster, deeper, and cheaper than ever before, and that is equalizing power – and equalizing opportunity, by giving so many more people the tools and ability to connect, compete, and collaborate.”

Second, understand “flat” has already altered business.  Li & Fung have woven this into their new business structure via the Network Orchestrator.  There are three principles for “network orchestration” powered by technology in a flat world that are applied in manufacturing, services and other industries.  I immediately recognized the correlation to computer networking organizations and statewide educational school districts.

Throw away the old General Motors business model. Li & Fung’s network orchestrator plays three primary roles related to the focus, management, and value creation of the firm or network.  They define ‘network’ as the global supply chain and illustrate how companies in the same marketplace compete for business not by how many customers see their product but rather by how fluid and elegant their supply chain has manufactured and shipped their product.

Their manufacturing process has changed so rapidly that I was surprised to learn “country of origin” is very misleading. The parts of a garment that are created to make the final product are often manufactured in several different countries and in many cases different steps in the assembly are performed in different countries. In this situation, the only phrase that is applicable is, “country from which the finished product is shipped.”  For Li & Fung this even includes a retailer’s price tag applied at the factory.

Network Orchestrators do not own manufacturing facilities so they need a different type of leadership. This permits great opportunity for entrepreneurs and kills the rigid command and control systems.  Network Orchestrators also have a bigger challenge to defining value. Value has evolved into leveraging a company’s intellectual property (IP) across the network.  If you understand the implications of this then you know how important Network Orchestrators are impacting business.  Now think of applying this to your organization.

Book Website

Tags: Competing in a Flat World, Fung, Jerry Wind, China, India, globalization, education, Supply Chain, offshoring, Multinationals, manufacturing, technology, reading, trends