The future is networks interview with professor henrich greve from INSEAD

The future is networks
Professor Henrich Greve from INSEAD believes that
companies will need to collaborate with networks of
partners to gain access to new knowledge
Customers the world over are becoming more sophisticated and, as a result, so
too are the products and services they require. That means that in order to bring
new and innovative offerings to market, companies must draw on a wider base of
knowledge than ever before.
And while companies can extend their own knowledge to a degree, they can
also partner with organisations with other specialisations to benefit from their
knowledge. As he explains in this interview with The Economist Intelligence Unit
(EIU), Henrich Greve, professor of entrepreneurship at business school INSEAD,
believes that the need to share knowledge will become so critical that in the future
collaboration among networks of partner companies will become the defining mode
of work.
This interview is part of an investigation into the future of work by The
Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored by Ricoh Europe. For more, visit
/>Professor Henrich Greve
INSEAD

The EIU: What is the single biggest trend that will shape the way we work in the future?
Henrich Greve: That would be working in networks, where you work with people from other
organisations.

What does it mean to work in a network?
It means working not really in the traditional way of being a customer or a seller or some other
demanding or giving part, but really working more as a partner. They will be doing things together,
such as research, development, joint production, joint services, sales – pretty much anything that
an organisation does could end up being done by a mixture of people from different organisations.

What are the drivers behind this trend?

It’s a combination of firms being less willing and less able to do everything they need on their
own. What firms are discovering is that customers are less receptive to the type of traditional
product that relies on one knowledge base. Instead, what you see is that the products or services
that really do well are the ones that blend industries, mix knowledge spheres and shift the
boundaries. For this, firms need new knowledge, and getting that knowledge inside the firm is
hard. Increasingly they are turning to collaborations, working together at all stages to make sure
that things work. An example is the iPhone. If you think of all the industries that are inside an
iPhone, there are quite a few.

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How prevalent are networks already?
They are already prevalent in some industries. Classical examples that we do know a lot about
are biotechnology and pharmacy, where it is very hard to do all of the things that are needed
for medication to get to the patient, inside one firm. It’s also prevalent in industries that have
products that involve electronics or computing devices. So I’m not talking about industries that
you would traditionally think of as being computer-driven. A car has some obvious semiconductors
because you will have music-playing and other devices in it, but there are also many - that decide
what the engine is doing. Of course, if you want to design and put together a car, as a carmaker
you’re not going to have the expertise in making or adapting those devices. You will need some
help from the makers.

If every vehicle has to have an on-board computer, would it not be more efficient to
employ your own people to work on the semiconductor parts of the vehicle?
For many of these types of devices there are choices, and I can imagine different firms making
different choices. They could try and develop that expertise internally. One reason for doing it that
way is maybe because they find that it is cheaper; maybe they find that there is some advantage to
having the expertise internally. But the other option is that if you can work well with another firm,
then you really don’t need to know the internal parts of that device. You don’t have the need for

the expert knowledge. Instead, what you need to do is know how to communicate with people who
have that knowledge. It’s often easier. A lot of people prefer to know how to communicate with
accountants rather than learning accountancy.

The products or
services that really
do well are the ones
that blend industries,
mix knowledge
spheres and shift the
boundaries.
Professor Henrich Greve
INSEAD

What will the situation look like in ten years?
We will see more blends of knowledge that we hadn’t thought possible. And we will see new value
from that. Firms aren’t necessarily going to look all that different, but what is inside them is going
to be very different because more and more work is going to be crossing boundaries. They are
going to have to learn from each other how to design things, they may have to work together to
produce things. If you think of yourself, as an individual, ten years from now, you might have a lot
of conveniences in terms of products and services that are combined in such a way that they add
value across fields of knowledge. But at the same time you are probably carrying those products
on the way to a workplace where you’re going to have a pretty complicated job of interacting with
people from one or more other organisations in order to do something useful.

Overall, do you see working in networks as a force for good or a force for bad?
It’s important for organisations. It’s going to be very useful for them to be more flexible in what
they offer. But it’s going to be pretty challenging for their employees. There will be an increase in
the number of people whose work will be less structured and less localised. They’ll have to move
around more, and we’re not sure exactly what the reaction to that will be. But I think it’s pretty

clear that some people will discover that they shouldn’t be in networked work. Then the question
is: will the organisation be able to make good separations, so that some people can stay at home
at the organisation while others will take on the more challenging roles? To the extent that if
it takes a while to discover these things, or to the extent that career incentives push you to be
in a network regardless of whether you like it or not, working in networks is not going to be an
altogether positive experience. There are going to be some minuses. But there are also going to be
employees who find that working in networked organizations is just right for them.
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