Organizations are struggling to build and maintain sustainable competitive advantages in today's global marketplace. Today's businesses are confronted with increasing environmental turbulence arising from global competition coupled with frequent changes in competitive dynamics, the introduction of new technologies, shortened product lifecycles, and external and internal pressures.

In a changing environment, companies have to be capable of discerning environmental shifts and rapidly realigning their strategies and internal capabilities consistent with the environmental changes. This requires companies to learn to continually re-interpret and respond effectively to shifts in the marketplace. Each relevant shift in the environment requires a corresponding real-time strategic response and a corresponding transformation of the company's capability.

The scope of this transformation includes changes in competency, structures, processes, practices, and tools in order to support the strategic change. Flexibility, velocity, and adaptability are essential to survival, and the strength and profitability of a company will be proportional to its strategic effectiveness and its operational responsiveness.

Organizations must learn to anticipate changes and respond rapidly and decisively if they are going to prosper over the long-term.

Organizations that do not learn to respond effectively to environmental shifts run the risk of losing market share and ultimately their existence.