Creating the competitive organization of the 21st century: The boundaryless corporation

In the 1980s many organizations gained competitive advantage through downsizing and financial restructuring. The 1990s confront us with the need to get back to basics. Large organizations are searching for a competitive advantage by being faster than their competitors in satisfying customer needs. These competitive organizations are capable of ongoing adaptation to environmental demands. In this article the authors speculate on the way these “self‐renewing” organizations are organized, the managerial processes that enable them to capitalize on speed, and the characteristics of the leaders who manage them.