Emergence of a Global Economy

The emergence of a global economy which is highly competitive, fast changing and based to a great extent on knowledge as a key asset has sparked a major paradigm shift in all the elements related to building sustainable prosperity. This includes:

• shifts in the importance of and the requirements for growing globally competitive enterprises
• shifts in the processes we employ to produce and deliver value-added products and services
• shifts in the organizations we use to coordinate our economic activity (including how we structure and lead these organizations)
• shifts in the variety of organizations that provide the infrastructure to support our economic activities
• shifts in the nature of institutions, programs and program strategies we use to distribute and apply the wealth created by our globally competitive enterprises

The arrival of this new knowledge-based economy sparked an ongoing global organizational revolution as government policymakers and business leaders seek to understand this new kind of economic game and struggle to develop new strategies and skills to allow companies to compete globally.

These complex economic challenges are not simply a problem to be faced by companies relying on international trade. They affect all firms and most importantly these global commercial challenges also directly affect most other aspects of our lives. Our health care and education systems, social services, arts and culture activities all depend on the revenue generated by globally competitive innovative enterprises.

In times of fundamental change such as the one in which we are living, we need to acknowledge that it is the innovators who play a significant role in helping our organizations to survive and thrive.

These new realities have surfaced some major needs which organizations and societies need to address in order to build sustainable prosperity in this new world.

• A New Imperative for Innovation: Arrival of the global knowledge-based economy has dramatically increased the need to practice focused innovation in all our organizations (business, education, governments and nonprofits).

• The Need to Learn how to Innovate: We need to practice disciplined thinking about innovation and to draw on programs, processes and tools to help us learn how to innovate and how best to support the development of entrepreneurial innovators and the innovative organizations they create.

• The Need to Grow Globally Competitive Innovative Enterprises: While innovative practices need to be nurtured in all types of organizations, our attempt to build sustainable prosperity (jobs, wealth and well-being) will not be possible unless we dramatically increase our capacity to build globally competitive, innovative enterprises.

• The Need for a New Understanding and Respect for the Role of Cross-Sector Networks to Support Innovative Enterprises: Increasingly, public-private partnerships are exploring how to create network organizations to serve as the "soft infrastructure" to facilitate timely, effective and efficient innovations.