Back in the 1920s, the Russian economist Nikolai Konratiev observed that the capitalist economy tended to grow in waves of economic development.  Ever since then, business management theorists have noted how new methods and organizational models tend to emerge from the new industries and disciplines created during those waves.

For example, the scientific method of management was a child of the age of oil, the automobile and mass production.  Hierarchical management models were seen as the best way to meet the needs of large increasingly complex global organizations.  Over time, this thinking matured into specific techniques such as Six Sigma, The Balanced Scorecard, and countless other management theories and processes.

Since the early days of the Web, many have speculated that the leaders of the dot.com and Web 2.0 eras would likely be the first to develop new technology-enabled management practices.  For years, we have heard about innovative business and IT management techniques at companies such as Google, Amazon, Salesforce, Netflix, and many other firms that have such successfully sustained high levels of creativity, growth, efficiency and business/IT integration.  What can we learn from these examples?

The focus of this research will be to look at the emerging organizational design and management practices at leading Web 2.0 era firms to determine what lessons can be learned to help our clients across a broad range of industry sectors.