In industries like computers, telephones and automation devices, the goal is to enable the free flow of information. The marketplace will not tolerate the cost and inconvenience of competing, closed technologies. Companies thus cooperate in creating uniform communication standards, around which new products emerge, businesses expand and entire industries develop. It is producing similar connectivity in devices for industrial process control and building automation. The network economy also leads to companies who are generally competitors joining expertise and resources to expand markets or create new opportunities.
Cooperation is the pathway to growth and increased value in a network economy.
Companies that choose to remain as islands do so at their peril. Seize the Unknown Forget making the perfect mousetrap. In a network economy, wealth comes not from continually perfecting the known but from imperfectly seizing the unknown. 3.1 was perfect, yet its benefits to Microsoft and to legions of computer users were profound. For identifying and cultivating the unknown, the key attributes are agility and speed.