Security practices must nowadays adapt to the characteristics of the open society and open economy. They must therefore move on from the temptation to adopt a bunker mentality to the introduction of dynamic security procedures and mechanisms, whose overall philosophy is rooted in the selective, segmented sharing of information, knowledge and skills. This dynamic view of security, accepted as an integral part of wealth creation, is still a new idea.
Countering the bunker mentality
By definition open societies are reluctant to welcome the concept of security and safety devices. They are characterised by movement, speed, the circulation of information and ideas, the mobility of individuals, the transfer of capital and technologies, trade in merchandise and organisation into multiple, interdependent subsystems. How, therefore, could they accept calmly that which seeks to curb their innate thought processes, unless the very essence of the ‘security’ problem has fundamentally altered?
But before we proceed with an exploration of this intellectual reform, let us examine in detail the challenges that the twenty-first century company must face.
The Challenges
The alpha and omega of the company is simple: it is to accept the challenge of sustainable performance management; in other words, in the context of finance-based capitalism, the company must generate rising profits in a world that is typified by hyper-competitiveness and the fading away of protected markets (this is well illustrated by the commercial offensive from China and India).
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