Where Are the Smarts Located in a Smart Business Network

Weizenbaum (1977) wrote: “Tools shape man’s imaginative reconstruction of reality”. That has always been so. The creations of the visual and performing arts follow not only from the tools, but also from the concepts of technology. The defining technologies of the 20 th century were mechanical; everyday conversation, news reports and talk shows use mechanical metaphors, such as to “push the gas pedal”, to “overhaul”, to “mesh with” and so on. The defining technology of this decade is communication technology. Management systems of the 20 th century focused on making the company seen as a machine, efficient. Management systems of this and the next decade focus on the company as part of a communicating network. Economic and management structures follow not only from requirements of lowered costs, faster work and higher quality, but more deeply from the images and concepts which we all absorb unconsciously from the environment, and which are changing from the images of mechanical machines to the images of a globally-connected fluid network of interacting nodes. The network provides much more than a tool for enhanced business practice; it provides a conceptual framework that changes perceptions of organizations and of business strategy and operation. The title of this book, “Smart Business Networks” is taken to mean businesses using electronic networks. An “old boy network” or a social network in which individuals do business based on social interaction, is not within the context of this paper. In the network referred to here a node is a business unit, and a link carries information, goods and services, and money, between such nodes.