“To do what has been so successful in the past is always the wrong thing; and to do more of it is to be doubly wrong” — Peter F. Drucker (1974)*

Forward-looking executives are re-energizing the extended enterprise as a management response to a triple squeeze: AI requires governed data not only across internal silos but also beyond the firm into supply chains, regional fragmentation is forcing new sourcing patterns, and many of today’s most important performance challenges now sit across company boundaries. The answer is not more patchwork, but a more coordinated operating model across the extended enterprise. Fortunately, technology has finally evolved, with Web3-oriented decentralized dataspace technology now making extended-enterprise management scalable in practice. This perspective has been further refined through our recent C-suite roundtables, and we are grateful to the C- and VP-level participants from BMW, Denso, Flex, IAV, Rivian, and Uber. Download the full note for the logic, the evidence, and the executive playbook.

Learn more about the logic and executive implications in our deep-dive paper:
Schlueter Langdon, C. 2026. Extended enterprise: What is it, why now, how to do it. Research Note (RN_DCL-Drucker-CGU_2026-03_V4), Drucker Customer Lab, Peter Drucker School of Management, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA

* Drucker, P. 1974. Letter to Mr. Richard H. Jenrette of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, Inc. Correspondence from Peter Drucker (1974-06-17), Drucker Archive, Drucker Institute, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA