External infrastructure

No man is an island. John Donne

Any organization exists within a framework of other organizations with which it has relationships, as illustrated below.

Manage the infrastructure: There should be clear interfaces to external organizations and these should be managed, i.e. someone should have responsibility for dealing with customers, for liaising with the community or for managing an alliance partner. There should also be clear, published policies as to how these various organizations will be treated.

Watch out for change: The infrastructure has a habit of changing unnoticed - suppliers may be bypassing the organization to supply its customers directly. The organization should in turn be looking at opportunities to create changes itself. Instead of products being supplied through a distributor, the end users or consumers could be supplied directly, as with record companies distributing their music directly to the public over the Internet.  >>>