This is how we all live. And then the outside walls separate the organization from its suppliers, its regulators, the media, the shareholders, and in all cases, customers. So the GE answer is that those are the boundaries that you permeate. You never get there, but that is what the ideal form of organization looks like. At GE, we say that there are only three tools to permeate boundaries.
Integrated organizations move money, people, and ideas or information across boundaries.
Even holding companies move money. Cash cows, growth engines, move money to other parts. That's important, everybody knows that. But what distinguishes the integrated organization or the boundaryless organization is the moving of people, and ideas. In a holding company, you typically have what they call the silo or the chimney.