The Guardian reports David Cameron as declaring war on "The public sector procurement managers who think that the answer to everything is a big contract with a big business and who shut out millions of Britain's small- and medium-sized companies from a massive potential market."

New McKinsey research shows that a payday could be arriving faster than expected. "A new class of company is emerging--one that uses collaborative Web 2.0 technologies intensively to connect the internal efforts of employees and to extend the organization's reach to customers, partners, and suppliers. We call this new kind of company The Networked Enterprise".

One of the most important things in any team, network or partnership is to define the rules of engagement (aka Ground Rules). The first step is to agree the major "trust destroyers" which would stop collaboration stone dead in its tracks. Enjoy this hilarious 3-minute video clip from Only Fools and Horses where Rodney tricks Del into a solo hang gliding flight to learn how NOT to build trust with somebody.

In the summer of 2009 I had the privilege of speaking to an audience of NASA scientists and researchers at the NASA Research Centre in Langley, Virginia on the topic of The Networked Enterprise and Bioteams in the context of major engineering and scientific enterprises. NASA have very kindly allowed me to publish the full video of my presentation here.

There are 10 really critical foundations to make a Virtual Enterprise Network a success: 1) Communities and Project Dynamic, 2) Network Ground Rules, 3) Group Membership Structures, 4) Practical Group Structures, 5) Complete set of Network Roles, 6) Appropriate Legal Frameworks, 7) Practical Exchange Model, 8) Viable Stakeholder Ecosystem, 9) Realistic Network Development Model, 10) Proven Development Road Map. This article offers an introduction to these ten foundations.

A unique reference card for printing on 2-sided A4 (Landscape) which folds into 6 sections showing the key priorities and resources in developing The Networked Enterprise through its 7 maturity stages with the 8 key techniques and their checklists. A must-have for all group collaboration coaches, leaders and practitioners!

NEWLY RELEASED 15-minute video of me (Ken Thompson) introducing the concepts of The Networked Enterprise (TNE) and Virtual Enterprise Network (VEN) at an event "Connecting Innovation" in Brighton (UK) organized by Use8 (The User Experience Society).

I recently had the privilege of being invited to speak to a NASA audience at their Research Centre in Langley (Virginia) on the topics of Bioteams and The Networked Enterprise. My talk was very nicely reported for NASA News by Jim Hodges.

I (Ken Thompson) spoke on the theme of The Networked Enterprise at an event "Connecting Innovation" organized by the University of Brighton and Use8 in Hove (UK) on 26 March. My full slide set is available here for download.

Alex Lin (CEO of ChinaValue Business New Media) has just conducted a major interview with me (Ken Thompson) where we explore in detail the concept of The Networked Enterprise for Chinavalue.net. Here are the full interviews in both English and Chinese.

My new book THE NETWORKED ENTERPRISE contains over 30 diagrams and charts which provide detailed Blueprints, Roadmaps, Worksheets and Techniques for creating successful Virtual Enterprise Networks. In a free downloadable 30-page PDF, produced in response to reader requests, I have put together a book overview plus about 20 of the book's key diagrams in full A4 page format to assist network facilitators, coaches and leaders.

In How To Innovate And Create New Business Opportunities When You Are A Small Fish: Here Comes The VEN, Robin Good and Ken Thompson argue that when you are a small fish, it may appear pretty difficult, if not altogether out of your reach, to be able to "network up" with other small firms to provide higher value services to major clients. But is it a real physical limitation or is it just that small companies lack a proven and effective business collaboration model - The Virtual Enterprise Network (VEN)?

The European Commission have recognised the massive strategic economic importance of Digital Business Ecosystems by publishing a hugely impressive multi-disciplinary book (240 pages) which seems to resonate with my own implementation-oriented ideas on Bioteams and The Networked Enterprise and merits detailed study by anyone interested in the convergence of business networks, digital technology and systems/ecosystems thinking. Download it free.