Adaptive Enterprise: Creating and Leading Sense-and-Respond Organizations (Hardcover)

Unpredictable, discontinuous change is an unavoidable consequence of doing business in the Information Age. Because this intense turbulence demands fast - even instantaneous - response, many large companies are fragmenting themselves into smaller, quick-response units. But in doing so, they relinquish important advantages of scale and scope. Is it possible to have it both ways? Can large, complex firms adapt successfully and systematically to unexpected change?

Yes, says Stephan Haeckel, but only if leaders learn how to manage their organizations as adaptive systems. In Adaptive Enterprise, Haeckel updates the concept of the corporation for the Information Age with a radical and comprehensive rethinking of organizational strategy, structure, and leadership. He outlines the new sense-and-respond business model that is helping companies systematically cope with the unexpected.

Haeckel argues that when unpredictability is a given, the only strategy that makes sense is a strategy to become adaptive - to sense early and respond quickly to abrupt changes in individual customer needs. As a result, a firm's operations must be driven by current customer requests - implicit as well as articulated - rather than by plans to make and sell what customers are forecasted to want in the future.

Here, for the first time, is a clear and comprehensive strategy for transforming firms into adaptive systems. Adaptive Enterprise is both a new way of thinking about business and a handbook for leadership of postindustrial organizations. It maps out, with examples and illustrations, a step-by-step plan that companies can use to transform themselves into a new type of organization - one in which change is not a problem to be solved, but rather an indispensable source of energy, growth, and value.

Some additional opinions about this book.
Here are what some other early reviewers have said about Adaptive Enterprise: *****'Adaptive Enterprise is a must read for anyone whose firm is under technological attack. Its useful insights will be essential for both corporate executives and entrepreneurs who wish to understand the differences between the sense-and-respond business model of today's digital economy and the traditional make-and-sell approach.' --George H. Conrades, Chairman and CEO Akamai Technologies, Inc. and Partner, Polaris Venture Partners *****'Adaptive Enterprise is that rarest of business books that is rooted deeply in intellectual theory and at the same time offers critical advice for the practice of management. Understanding the principles articulated in Adaptive Enterprise will be the top priority of any business leader who wishes to survive—let alone prosper—in the emerging information economy.' --Rashi Glazer, Professor and co-Director, Center for Marketing and Technology, Haas School of Business, University of California at Berkeley *****'Steve Haeckel takes the 'sense and respond' and 'managing by wire' concepts to a new level of precision and practicality.' --Pierre Hessler, Executive Board Member, Cap Gemini Group *****'At last, a theoretical framework that helps companies understand their business and strategic choices in times when the old rules no longer apply. Adaptive Enterprise provides a practical handbook for business leaders who are serious about improving the future profitability of their companies. I wish I had had it years ago to use as part of my armory.' --Reg Munro, Executive General Manager, Old Mutual, South Africa *****'If you think you know what your future will be, this book is of little value. If, however, you are realistic about the future of your company, Adaptive Enterprise is of inestimable value!' --Vince Barabba, General Manager, Strategy and Knowledge Development, General Motors Corporation *****'Read Adaptive Enterprise to learn about the new fundamentals for designing and managing organizations. Stephan Haeckel's conceptual framework for a sense-and-respond organization is concrete, clear, and highly applicable to today's needs.' --Chris Argyris, James B. Conant Professor, Harvard University *****'Steve Haeckel has given new meaning to the idea of customer focus. Effective strategies will presume continuously changing customer priorities.' --Gordon Wyner, Vice President, Mercer Management Consulting *****'Adaptive Enterprise is an important and well-written contribution to the management literature. In an age where the only certainty is rapid, unpredictable change, Haeckel offers an intelligent, powerful presentation of the customer-driven, sense-and-respond organization necessary for an enterprise to survive.'--Frederick E. Webster, Jr., Charles Henry Jones Third Century Professor of Management, The Amos Tuck School of Business Administration *****'Adaptive Enterprise is an excellent resource for business leaders who need to improve their firm's capabilities to anticipate and respond to rapidly changing external conditions. By providing the framework, examples, and leadership requirements, Adaptive Enterprise will help executives develop their sense-and-respond organization.' --H. Paul Root, Director, Knight Ridder Center for Excellence in Management, Florida *****'Stephan Haeckel offers a fresh perspective on leadership, accountability, and commitment.' --Arvin F. Mueller, Vice President, General Motors *****'Adaptive Enterprise provides the clearest and simplest set of tools necessary for a long company life.' --Peter Schwartz, Chairman, Global Business Network