Collaborative Enterprise: Why Links Between Business Units Often Fail--And How to Make Them Work

Drawing from the experiences of successful synergy initiatives at companies such as 3M, ABB, Canon, Mars, Shell, & Unilever -- as well as failures in a wide variety of industries -- the authors offer a comprehensive & practical approach to distinguishing hype from reality, & demonstrate how executives & managers throughout the organization can realize the true potential of intra-company collaboration by: recognizing the biases that prevent synergy from taking place; evaluating collaboration opportunities to decide whether an initiative is needed; judging when the costs or risks of a synergy initiative outweigh the benefits; & sorting out appropriate roles of parent-co. executives & business unit managers.