In the world of national defense, countries warily track each other. But they have also learned to become vigilant of stateless, viral networks like Al-Qaida. Something similar may be happening in global business. Sam Palmisano of IBM recently told FT.com that traditional multinational companies need to abandon their almost colonial approach to operations outside their home country.
And they need to focus on a growing breed of stateless movers and shakers - what Business 2.0's latest issue calls "micro-multinationals".
Professor (and former Dean) Hal Varian at UC Berkeley discusses them more in this NY Times column: "Cosimo Spera, (who) started a company to develop applications and services for mobile phones; his company has five employees in the United States, eight in Spain and two in Italy."
"Entrepreneurs are willing to do things that big international corporations will not do - like staying up until 11 p.m. and using cheap voice-over-Internet technology rather than expensive international telephone service."
And should I add - fly on redeyes in coach class at 15 to 20% of what a business class seat would cost - and a big company executive expects - on international flights.
Wired magazine adds: "Micro-multinationals turn inside out an organizational fad of the 1990s: the incubator... Incubators allow startups to concentrate on what economists call a "comparative advantage" - the thing that any economic entity does best and most cheaply. Alas, incubated startups were also at the mercy of their patrons' whims. Micro-multinationals, by contrast, control their own fortunes."
Fascinating new global cells. Like Al-Qaida, but these nurture and create value, rather than destroying it.
