Competing in the Third Wave

"The third wave economy is dominated by service organizations, which now provide the vast majority of added value and jobs in all industrialized countries."

"The pace of technological change is shortening product life cycles and creating new opportunities for mass customization."

"Third wave ideas are diffused throughout the organization, but they must be harnessed and nurtured."

"Every business, to some degree or another, needs to reinvent itself for success in the third wave."

"Revolutionary companies do not accept the existing rules, practices, or traditions of an industry."

"Core rigidities are yesterday's core competencies?the same sets of skills, knowledge, and systems that provided superior customer value in markets that have changed. "

"The rise of economic webs has been a phenomenon of the high-tech industry."

"Even the best thought-out strategies can be successful only if well executed, and this depends on the commitment of a company's employees."

"Rather than trying to compete on all aspects of product and service delivery, third wave managers choose one of three propositions on which to compete: product leadership, operational excellence, or customer intimacy."

"Market leaders dominate their markets by being innovative and fast."

"The rise of knowledge workers is changing the balance of power within organizations and creating new tensions and responsibilities between managers and workers."

"Success in the third wave organization will be based on the creativity and value-added work of knowledge workers and on a recognition that this very creativity can be greatly influenced by managerial attitudes and styles."

"When designing work flows, the gaps and spaces are often the most valuable parts of the process where knowledge is exchanged."

"With strategy and key decisions being increasingly devolved down to operational level, the CEO's role is becoming one of setting the right purpose and direction."

"Few firms either measure the changing value of customer capital explicitly or set specific targets for its improvement."

"The link between satisfaction and repurchase (or loyalty) can be tenuous and sometimes downright misleading."

"Inadequate accounting is not the cause of poorly managed companies, but the two often go together."

"One of the most difficult managerial challenges of the third wave is how to adjust the balance between central control and empowerment necessary for the effective devolution of decision making."

"The design and behavioral consequences of control and measurement systems become even more important once reward and recognition systems are based on them."

"Intellectual assets have long been treated as a soft currency not to be taken seriously, but all this is changing."

"The biggest improvements in productivity come from how well managers use technology to improve the organization and quality of the workforce, and whether such improvements meet strategic objectives."

"Third wave companies will not only need better education for their people, they will require it."