04 January 2007

Systems Thinking and the Corporation

I believe that systems thinking will be as tranformative of today's dominant institution (the corporation) as the Enlightenment was to that generation's dominant institution (the nation-state).

If you want a few great examples of real world success stories that stem from systems thinking, look at http://ceu-bse-fall2006.blogspot.com/

He points to how Toyota has so outdistanced its competitors through the use of systems thinking and how WalMart and Proctor and Gamble used systems thinking to both grow even more rapidly. Good and interesting stuff.

Here's an excerpt:
"What Toyota has so successfully done over 50 years is employ what Amory Lovins calls 'optimizing whole systems' rather than isolated parts of the system. By doing this Toyota will not only become the largest car maker in the world next year, they will also have annual profits and a market capitalization bigger than their next five competitors combined. And they are also the leading automaker in terms of environmental performance." [italics added]

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