And to do this, everyone needs to be in the loop. Gone are the days when Big Thinkers in Corporate HQ could come up with the killer new ideas. Today, companies like GE, Motorola and many others like them are breaking their necks to elicit input from the shop floor, the sales force, the supplier community, and the man and woman in the street. To create viable new products and services, these companies know they need to know more than they currently do. Enter the Internet.
Personal livelihoods are on the line.
Enormous new markets are up for grabs. Entire national futures are at stake. The Net fits into this radically evolving scenario in two fundamental ways. First, it enables companies to strengthen their own knowledge bases by incorporating insight from widely varying perspectives, and coordinating how that insight can be crafted into viable business strategies. Second, the Net enables companies to pay attention to their markets at a level of detail never before possible.