Executive summary

Today we stand at the threshold of a new age in human history the Cyber Age. Our economic, social, political and cultural environments are rapidly and radically changing. We are leaving the industrial world of the past 250 years and entering the new networked world of cyberspace the global, interactive and multimedia information and communications network. We are now part of a network society, operate in an information economy, work in a cyber metropolis, live in a global village, trade in a borderless world, and have an address in cyburbia.

In this completely new environment, it is not likely that we can use yesterday s strategies to solve todays problems and expect to be in business tomorrow. In the networked world, we will be confronted with great challenges but also offered limitless opportunities. How we meet these challenges and grasp these opportunities will determine our future success.

In the continuously changing global environment, strategic advantage can only come from being leaders rather than followers of change, and the only way that we can be leaders of change is through continuous strategic innovation. Continuous innovation must be embedded throughout the entire commercial pipeline, and in every link in our supply chain.

In order to develop innovation in the new dimension of cyberspace, we will need to create a new dimension in thinking within our organisations. We must learn how to think into the future, with imagination , about its possibilities. By learning about the future and evaluating its possibilities, we can develop the hindsight, insight, foresight and wisdom on which to base the values, vision and strategic actions that will form the foundation for our innovation. Our strategic actions must be based not only on present realities, but also (and most importantly) on future possibilities.

Success in the networked world of the twenty-first century can only come from competing through continuous corporate innovation. The potential is there in every organisation. All it takes is a change of mindset, and a change of mindset is free of charge!