From Global to Metanational: How Companies Win in the Knowledge Economy
"Metanational" is the term that Jose Santos, Peter Williamson, and Yves  L. Doz--management and technology professors at the international INSEAD  graduate school of business--coined to describe a new type of global  corporation. It refers, they explain inFrom Global to Metanational, to  "a company that builds a new kind of competitive advantage by discovering,  accessing, mobilizing, and leveraging knowledge from many locations around the  world." And as they unveil and dissect the concept, it becomes apparent that it  may indeed be an apt description for those worldwide enterprises most likely to  succeed in our rapidly changing times. Based on interviews with 36 companies  from America, Asia, and Europe (including long-established firms like 3M and  Toyota and newcomers like Acer and Shiseido), the authors describe innovative  ways to efficiently tap into "pockets of technology, market intelligence and ...  specialist knowledge scattered around the world," rather than relying solely on  input from a home nation or a few select locales. They explore how trailblazers  are identifying this information wherever they find it, parlaying it into new  products, services and processes, and merging the result with all sales,  distribution, and marketing efforts. Anyone involved in multinational business  should find this both provocative and potentially useful. --Howard  Rothman