Not at all-but a more flexible approach to organizing and guiding businesses will be necessary in the New Economy. In such an environment, the bureaucratic constraints of the parent are kept at bay. The new entity is an autonomous skunkworks, operating with senior management's blessing and protection. In the end, the new unit may consume the traditional business or spin off. In the resulting structure, the parent organization is subsumed by the e-organization.
Companies can move from one model to another or even combine various aspects of the three models.
For example, in cases where the parent organization is able to create an internal incubator for nurturing e-business, eventually the initiative will probably become larger and more visible to others in the parent organization. The initiative may then generate resentment and friction over such issues as resource allocation and culture. Once this situation occurs, the parent organization may have to restructure the e-business as an external entity. This is acknowledged even in the retail industry, which has been subject to the severest onslaught in the New Economy. Hence, transformation in their industry, as in many others, need not mean a complete tear-down of the traditional business.