This book is not about the nuclear industry. It is about what corporations have to do to survive massive changes that are about to happen to the world economy.
Books on the dot-com collapse are generally strong on hindsight but insight is far more useful and foresight is more valuable still. This book has both.
Its analysis of the dot-com era is brief but compelling. The authors contend - quite rightly in my view - that, dot-com madness notwithstanding, the digital economy is here to stay and that, in the next few years, it will continue to revolutionise the way we live, work and carry out business. The focus of this work is on the aftermath of the dot-com collapse.
The thesis is that scope for dot-this and dot-that entrepreneurs will continue to exist but that the true engines of the digital economy will be existing corporations. Clicks-and-mortar corporations will thrive in the new economy provided - and here is the thrust of the book - that they change to meet its demands. Camrass and Farncombe contend that these corporations will need to break up their constituent businesses into units that thrive in their respective market niches. Each will adopt an approach that better meets its customers' needs. This 'atomization' of the corporation is one-step beyond outsourcing. Its rationale is to benefit not just from cost-cutting but from forming partnerships in which both parties profit from their own assets and from the relationship itself. Leveraging profits from such relationships will be so key to the new economy, the authors contend, that a company's 'relational capital' will need to be taken into account when calculating its true shareholder value and new entities will spring forth to facilitate these relationships and thrive on the relational capital they engender.
This is both a thoughtful and a thought-provoking book. Its scope is broad but it is concisely written. Although it has copious notes, case studies and supporting information, the authors wear their expertise lightly. Anyone who has heard them speak on this area will not be surprised to learn that the book rattles through its briefly but precisely explained contentions with an often entertaining panache. This book is an important and enjoyable read for anyone who has a stake in the connected economy and that probably means you.
A complement to the 'Atomic Corpration' is Ricardo Semler's 'Maverick', who if Camrass and Farncombe are right, is a man twenty years ahead of his time.
