For your Bookshelf: Building the Flexible Firm: How to Remain Competitive
- PDF / 156,371 Bytes
- 3 Pages / 634 x 849 pts Page_size
- 58 Downloads / 178 Views
Volume 2 Number 1
Building the Flexible Firm: How to Remain Competitive Henk W. Volberda (1998) Oxford University Press, New York, NY; 0-19829-090X; 349 pages; £25.00 Certain trends in business have now become widely accepted: Ð The business environment is more complex Ð The rate of environmental change is increasing Ð Markets are becoming more global Ð Traditional industry boundaries are in a state of ¯ux Ð Many industries have become hypercompetitive Ð Product life cycles are shortening Ð Both new products and acquisitions have high failure rates.
Corporate Reputation Review, Vol. 2, No. 1, 1998, pp. 94±96 # Henry Stewart Publications, 1358±1988
Page 94
As a result, companies are encouraged to become more entrepreneurial, innovative and ¯exible. Yet, balancing being ¯exible with maintaining clarity of focus, coordination and control is a nearly insurmountable task for most managers. Volberda provides both managers and researchers with a thorough exploration of the concept of ¯exibility and the tools to create ¯exible organizations. The popular business press nearly explodes with examples of companies that have become so used to business as usual that they could not react even when they, and everyone else, was aware that change was required. IBM and General Motors are two often-cited examples of companies that have struggled for decades to become more ¯exible. Other companies, like Nike, are so ¯exible that they struggle to gain control of their organizations and persevere in strategic focus. Flexibility then requires an in-
herent paradox Ð accommodating change and stability simultaneously. In Volberda's words (p. 103), `a ¯exible organization must posses some capabilities which enhance its ¯exibility to avoid becoming rigid, but it must also be anchored in some way in order to avoid chaos.' The word `¯exibility' itself is often tossed around casually in both the popular business and more academic press. In some ways, the concept of ¯exibility is so simple that we all have an innate sense of what the word means. Volberda begins by delving into the elaborateness of the implied meanings and interpretations of this seemingly simple word. He starts with Bahrami's (1992, p.48) all-encompassing notion of ¯exibility `demanding agility and versatility; associated with change, innovation, and novelty; coupled with robustness and resilience, implying stability, sustainable advantage, and capabilities that evolve over time.' But rather than leave us to wrestle with this behemoth concept, Volberda breaks ¯exibility down into its component parts so that we both understand what it is and how to create it. Volberda does not assume that we all understand why organizations need to be ¯exible. Instead, he proves the case by reviewing the state-of-the-art thinking regarding the science of management over the last 100 years. He highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each school of thought that has emerged, explains why a new school emerged and demonstrates the inability of any school to explain the business environment toda
Data Loading...
