{"id":21406,"date":"2019-01-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/global2020prd.wpengine.com\/insights\/building-an-ecosystem-wide-matrix\/"},"modified":"2020-05-11T09:15:01","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T09:15:01","slug":"building-an-ecosystem-wide-matrix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.global-integration.com\/insights\/building-an-ecosystem-wide-matrix\/","title":{"rendered":"Building an ecosystem-wide matrix"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Amazon set to clean up once again after this year\u2019s holiday season spending spree \u2013 it is worth taking a moment to reflect on how they do it. What is powering them to exponential success is a super slick ecosystem-wide matrix organization. On the other side of the world, Alibaba is doing the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmazon’s core strength is in pulling others together in a matrix to work interdependently to deliver things more simply, easier and more cost-effectively than anyone else\u201d explains author and leadership expert George Bradt<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So whilst struggling P&G recently \u201cditched\u201d their complicated 3-way matrix structure in favour of six autonomous \u2018Sector Business Units\u2019, these tech behemoths continue to expand their matrix working to include more and more partners, suppliers and new business ventures.<\/p>\n

In reality even when organizations like P&G claim to have ditched the matrix they have usually only evolved into a different form, it\u2019s hard to imagine that P&G will not still operate global functions or share some critical capabilities and business processes across these 3 new SBUs.<\/p>\n

P&G\u2019s issues with their historic matrix structure appears to have been driven by too many people getting involved in decision making, and a lack of skills in how to manage accountability without control \u2013 leading to what P&G dubbed their \u2018Matrix Thicket\u2019:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Source: Company fillings<\/p>\n

As Amazon and Alibaba\u2019s continued success demonstrate, the future does lie in \u2018horizontal working\u2019 and joining up all the elements of a customer\u2019s experience \u2013 including extending beyond the traditional borders of our firm.\u00a0 However as we learn from P&G\u2019s experience, it is not always easy to get the right balance of connection, communication and cooperation across and beyond the business, without this becoming a tangled mess.\u00a0\u00a0 As in the quote above, the key is to work together to deliver things more simply, rather than letting the \u2018working together\u2019 bit make things more complicated.<\/p>\n

Thinking about your world, take a moment to draw out the \u2018ecosystem\u2019 that surrounds you and your customers \u2013 from internal teams, to suppliers and external regulators. Where would it help to strengthen the ties and connections between some of these players?\u00a0 How can you do this in a simple way that doesn\u2019t add meaningless layers of bureaucracy?<\/p>\n

Getting this balance right is what differentiates those riding the wave of exponential success, in all corners of the globe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Amazon set to clean up once again after this year\u2019s holiday season spending spree \u2013 it is worth taking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":21407,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-21406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","type-blog","training-matrix-management"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBuilding an ecosystem-wide matrix - Global Integration<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With Amazon set to clean up once again after this year\u2019s holiday season spending spree \u2013 it is worth taking a moment to reflect on how they do it. 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