Building organizational fitness in the 21st century

The 21st century promises to be characterized by rapid change in technology and relentless competition spurred by globalization. It is hardly news that in this environment firms will have to possess the capacity to adapt or suffer the consequences - low performance and ultimately death and destruction. Unfortunately, firms do not seem to be adaptive. Consider these startling findings by Foster and Kaplan regarding the survival rate and performance of U.S. firms. Of those firms in the original "Forbes 100" list published in 1917, 61 ceased to exist by 1987. Of the remaining 39 only 18 stayed in the top 100.