Chapter 4 – Concepts of collaboration: supply chain management in a global food industry

Less than a decade ago, the days of the giant conglomerate seemed over; they were too big, too complacent and too inflexible. However, the US economy has grown fast since 1992 with many big organisations becoming flatter, less bureaucratic and hierarchical in structure. The big corporation of the 21st Century looks like being a loose alliance, a confederation of small entities, held together by knowledge and competencies, shared values and integrated missions. The edges of these amorphous organisations will become more fuzzy, but, their control, through patents and contractual agreements seems likely to grow. The knowledge economy requires ‘big science’ and only big corporations with big R&D budgets look likely to be able to afford it. Of course the human brain cannot continue to accommodate an exponential growth of knowledge and the 300 year old explosion of knowledge was flattening off by the 1960s. It is this diminishing returns to Research and Development that means the future belongs to the big corporation with deep pockets.

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