Web 2.0: A Strategy Guide

Chapter 4. Companies Capitalize Competences

WEB 2.0 TRANSFORMS THE ECONOMICS OF KNOWLEDGE-BASED BUSINESSES EVERYWHERE. Companies of all sizes are being forced to rethink their strategies for competing in a hyper-connected, web-savvy world. These fundamental shifts in how work gets done are zooming across organizations, business and social networks, and an increasingly “flat world.” Executives, managers, and policymakers no longer have the luxury of a “wait and see” attitude, given the speed and volatility with which local and seemingly small events triggered by a few individuals and groups—users, partners, employees, and knowledge workers—can result in ripples throughout the world.

The speed and exponential nature of change in the business world is why 60% of the CEOs surveyed by PricewaterhouseCoopers consider networks and the networked world the most important factor in their strategies, much more than innovation or technology. Many of the “strategic inflection points” or “tipping points” disrupting their businesses and challenging their competitive leadership are cultural, social, and global, as well as user-generated. Some of the more unexpected items on the boardroom agenda include the knowledge economy, local and open innovation, global warming, social responsibility, and “creative capitalism.”

The terms “dynamic” and “dynamic capabilities” take on a whole different meaning and time frame in the Web 2.0 world. I was part of a team that first asked the research question, “How ...