collaboration happens in a network, as organizations open themselves up to a variety of stakeholders and communities. The network is dynamic and fit for purpose with the agility to change the components and how they relate to each other legally and operationally as purpose and context evolves. Harnessing the strength of contributors, the network benefits and connects all parties in new and innovative ways. In short, the collaborative network is the organization.

This illustrates, using real-world examples, the benefit of collaboration, the five factors of a successful network collaboration, the value proposition of the collaborative network, and the role of the network choreographer.
You increasingly have to think through what relationships make the most sense—the customer is the most important relationship. Peter Drucker Keynote Speech, Collaborative Commerce Summit June 2001

The genius of Peter Drucker was that he made very complex thoughts and concepts seem simple. It was in the summer of 2000 that he gave an interview to James Daly, Editor of Business 2.0, a popular business magazine at that time. In the interview, which was published in August 2000, a few short months after the crash of the dot-com market, Drucker stated:
• The corporation as we know it is unlikely to survive the next 25 years. Legally and financially, yes. But not structurally and economically. As entrepreneurs as well as educators and advisors to business people, we had been considering the impact of advances in communications and information technologies, as well as the loosening of trade. As a result, we had begun work on a book, Collaborative Communities: Partnering for Profit in the Networked Economy.
• The central thesis of the book was that an organizational form was beginning to emerge that was entrepreneurial in nature and relied on a network of partners to satisfy the needs of customers newly empowered by technology. Indeed, we supposed that the end was near for the traditional vertically integrated corporation.