Hagel thinks about Unbundling and Rebundling

From John Hagel’s blog:


The core message of my article on “Unbundling the Corporation” was ultimately a growth message – unbundling is a pre-requisite to sustainable and profitable growth. Unbundling does not lead to smaller enterprises, but instead creates powerful growth platforms. In a nutshell, the article argued that most enterprises today are an unnatural bundle of three very different kinds of businesses – infrastructure management businesses, product innovation and commercialization businesses and customer relationship businesses. By trying to manage the inherently conflicting demands of these three businesses within a single enterprise, executives undermine the potential for profitable growth.

Hagel notes that companies have already begun unbundling infrastructure in the Outsourcing arenas. Now, they are starting to look at separating product innovation from customer relationships – like Big Pharma’s relationships with Doctors and biotech’s innovations. Very interesting as a thought model. Works well in conjunction with Pip Coburn’s thoughts as well at his models in the Change Function book.

Thanks to John Maloney of Value Network Clusters for the pointer.