The Connected Corporation

The following is a brief excerpt from, "The Connected Corporation," being distributed at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2001 by Accenture. Its focus: the shape of the 21st century corporation. Corporations must re-shape themselves to survive long-term. This requires a whole series of new connections. A key area of focus for CEOs will be to ensure that the right connections are made with the right people and organizations.

Foreword by Joe W. Forehand, Managing Partner & CEO, and Vernon Ellis, International Chairman, Accenture

It was the economist John Maynard Keynes who famously remarked that "in the long run we are all dead." How many CEOs would recognize that Keynes’ observation applies not just to individuals but to corporations too?

As we consider business in this new century, it is a sobering fact that precious few of the successful corporations of 1900 made it to 2000. In fact, just 15 of the top 100 U.S. corporations in the early years of the last century still exist today. Given the extraordinarily fast-moving and demanding business environment which businesses face, we can be pretty certain that most of the corporations represented at Davos this year will cease to exist long before the end of the century.

Yet, we are optimistic about the possibilities for the 21st century corporation. We see great potential in the way in which corporations are beginning to re-shape themselves to cope with the future. Paradoxically, it is becoming apparent that the best way to ensure survival is not to shore up the boundaries of the corporation as it is defined today. Instead it is to recognize that corporations exist within an ecosystem characterized by a huge number of complex relationships and the blurring of industry and organization boundaries.

As this study explains, they are becoming "connected corporations," with a whole series of connections -- facilitated but not dominated by information and communication technologies -- underpinning everything that they do. Accenture is just one example among many: we have become a network of businesses -- including consulting, technology, outsourcing, alliances and venture capital -- with many alliance relationships and joint ventures.

Many of the connections which exist -- within a corporation, and between competitors, suppliers, alliances partners, customers, shareholders, and the rest of society -- have long existed, but their nature is changing greatly. A key area of focus for CEOs will be to ensure that corporations have the right sort of connections with the right people and organizations.

These developments raise a more profound issue. CEOs -- and those who assess their performance -- may have to re-consider what constitutes success for the corporation. If we accept that most corporations will not survive in the very long term, we need to think differently about leaders’ objectives.

There is little merit in trying to cling to a particular organizational form. Instead, CEOs should concentrate on helping their people to act entrepreneurially and make the most of their talents, and ensuring that they work together to achieve the corporation’s common purpose. With the emergence of the connected corporation, they have never had a better chance to do this.

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