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The Spider's Strategy

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The Spider's Strategy

Creating Networks to Avert Crisis, Create Change, and Really Get Ahead

FT Press,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Your firm networks with many partners, but is your spiderweb strong? Are you prepared if disaster takes out a partner?

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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Comprehensive
  • Well Structured
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

Dr. Amit S. Mukherjee, a brilliant corporate strategist, outlines why the networked structures that large firms rely upon can also create significant hazards for them if breakdowns occur. Given today’s interconnectivity, companies that cannot quickly adapt to their partners’ emergencies may themselves suffer catastrophic losses. Mukherjee details the four primary capabilities that networked businesses must possess and explains how to achieve them. getAbstract advises that senior and middle managers will profit from this thoughtful book and its instructive case histories.

Summary

Adaptability: “The Fire That Changed an Industry”

In March 2000, a lightning-sparked fire damaged millions of mobile-phone chips at Royal Philips Electronics manufacturing plant in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Archrivals Nokia and Ericsson were Philips’ two major customers for these chips. Philips executives told Nokia and Ericsson that it would take a week at best to get up and running again. Eventually, it took much longer.

Thanks to its internal expertise and its chip-inflow monitoring program, Nokia knew to track the Philips situation daily, and had the capacity to do so. Lacking a similar program, Ericsson maintained a business-as-usual stance. Nokia promptly instituted a three-part mitigation plan. First, it worked with Philips to fix the problem fast. The solution involved Philips rearranging its global chip-production activities. Second, Nokia redesigned some chips so Philips could easily manufacture them elsewhere, and so other suppliers also could make them. Third, it got other manufacturers.

Nokia’s heads-up response enabled it to weather the manufacturing delay and, in the “third quarter of 2000,” boost its mobile-phone market share to 30%. In contrast...

About the Author

Amit S. Mukherjee, Ph.D., founded an executive-education and consulting firm. Previously, he was a faculty member at INSEAD and at Georgetown University.

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