Bennett Harrison's book Lean and Mean is a lucid introduction to the rapidly changing structure of global business. Although Harrison is unusually frank about the difficulty of using economic data to draw conclusions, he is out to burst bubbles. He argues: The power of large companies is not dissolving - it's concentrating and consolidating. Small firms are not the primary engines of innovation and job creation - they're systematically backward in their technology. Businesses are not becoming more entrepreneurial - rather, they are committing to an ever-deepening system of alliances.
Harrison tackles these trends with a tremendous wealth of knowledge drawn from his and others' work. As businesses reorganize for global production, they find ways to increase their flexibility - such as switching between suppliers. Firms do not need to be centralized in one spot, so long as they can coordinate their activities and resources.
Yet, as production becomes more complicated, it is increasingly difficult for any one firm to master all necessary skills. The result is more "networked production systems" created by strategic business alliances. The "networking" is both technical and social: it is facilitated by telecommunications, but its upshot is the growth of long-term relationships.
Networked production systems have enormous consequences. Perhaps most importantly, he argues, they contribute to a divergence between rich and poor in the global economy: the flexibility of large global firms increases their bargaining power and permits the shift of costs and risks to suppliers. His prescription for avoiding this "dark side" of flexibility: "Technology, training, and technical assistance."
Harrison's arguments are valuable as far as they go. But if networks provide flexibility to the powerful, they offer everyone else a way to cooperate as well. Creative use of the Net may lead to a more complex and hopeful future then Harrison's dark analysis would predict.
Lean and Mean: The Changing Landscape of Corporate Power in the Age of Flexibility, by Bennett Harrison, US$25. Basic Books: (800) 331 3761, fax +1 (212) 207 7203.
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