In the beginning, there was nothing. Then came the Big Bang. And zillions of years into the future will presumably come a colossal implosion of the universe, returning it to its original state. That's some way off yet, but from the thesis of Kenichi Ohmae, the guru of management strategy, we can conclude that we are already witness to such a phenomenon, albeit in a different context. According to Ohmae, the explosive creation of nation states and definition, by solid lines, of national borders, triggered by the Industrial Revolution, ended in 1985 (see "India Has Enormous Advantages"). Today, we are witnessing the implosion, where four great forces-corporations, capital, communication, and citizens-can freely criss-cross national boundaries. A single, virtual world is being formed, comprising hubs of economic activity, or region states, interconnected by technology, and unrelated to the geographic limits of the nation states that they are part of.

It is not unexpected thinking from a man of Ohmae's profile. Born in Japan, he was educated in America, is married to an American, and lives in Tokyo. A doctorate in nuclear engineering from MIT, Ohmae worked for Hitachi as a design engineer on Japan's prototype fast breeder reactor. But it was as a partner in McKinsey, where he co-founded its strategic management practice, that he earned the title "Mr. Strategy". Voted among the top five management gurus in the world by The Economist magazine in 1994, Ohmae ran for Governor of Tokyo in 1995, has authored over a hundred books, founded several companies, and is advisor to governments of China, Malaysia and Japan. Like a true global citizen, he shares a passion for martial arts with his fellow Japanese, and a passion for motorcycles with Americans.

It is, after all, a borderless world. According to Ohmae, cross-border communication, consumption or travel, and access to global information has rendered nation states a 'cartographic illusion'. But what do we make of the proclamations by national leaders who promise 'prosperity' or 'jobs', either by shutting out the rest of the world, or through public work projects, or by just creating more government jobs? Ohmae feels that political tirade on economic issues is akin to having show trials: pieces of theatre designed to assuage people who are still mired in the psychology of the 19th century nation state. Jobs are no longer created by national politicians. If they are, it is by letting go the governmental grips on economy. "The Region states have consumers and financial investors who care not at all for national stability, who avoid taxes wherever possible, and who take the availability of jobs for granted as they know they can work for anybody anywhere in the world," he points out.

Decline of the nation state should not, however, be mistaken for its death. "Quantum physics is widely accepted and recognised. But we continue to expect that gravity will play a role in daily life. Similarly, we do not discard all of the economic dimensions of the old world," says Ohmae. He breaks up the future into four dimensions of the invisible continent, bound into one by optical fibre networks.

Bakeries will continue to bake cakes and delivery trucks will continue to make rounds of streets in the 'Visible Dimension'. There is a 'Borderless Dimension' brought about by globalisation. If the Cold War disintegrated the world, the era of globalisation has integration as its chief by-product. Then there is the 'Cyber Dimension'-that of the World Wide Web, which affords a flexibility derived from a variety of communication technologies and activities involving the internet. With a mobile phone as your electronic wallet, you no longer walk alone; bakeries may take online orders, and delivery trucks may have satellite-based tracking systems. All this has led to a fourth dimension, the 'Dimension of High Multiples'-or the often-exaggerated values put on some companies by the stockmarket.

Labelling the world into dimensions is merely a framework of context. An high-speed Internet connection alone, is just that. It cannot achieve competitive advantage unless accompanied by strategic thinking. And strategy, for Ohmae, means sustaining values for the customer better than those of competitors. The key to strategy, he says, lies first in invention, then commercialisation of invention. Where others saw mere marshland, Walt Disney saw a world of magic and moolah. But Ohmae's thesis raises bigger concerns. What will be the governance model of the invisible continent? How will the prosperous region states interact with the nation states? We are just beginning the journey, he says. The full implications of the new paradigm are yet to be ascertained, even by the master of strategy himself.

INTERVIEW "India Has Enormous Advantages"

In an exclusive interview to BT in late 1995, management guru Kenichi Ohmae expounded on his thesis of region-states in a borderless world. Excerpts: What does the borderless world mean for India? What we are witnessing today is the end of a paradigm shift that, after being triggered off by the Industrial Revolution, lasted for about 150 years. This was characterised by the nation-state, where solid lines defined the borders of one country from the other. What is happening now is that the four great forces of corporations, capital, communication, and citizens can freely criss-cross national borders. The creation of Windows and the launch of CNN-both in 1985-marked the end of the traditional paradigm. It was around the same time that President Reagan in the US and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the UK were trying very hard to deregulate the banking, airline, and telecommunications businesses. These are inherently borderless industries. But, in a lot of emerging economies, telecom, aviation and banking are often the most regulated... While it is desirable to deregulate these sectors, it is understandable if they are not done fast. I am suggesting that faster deregulation in these sectors can be restricted to Bangalore or the areas that are chosen. But what are the implications for a nation-state that is rapidly liberalising its economy, such as India? India has enormous advantages if she recognises that she possesses inherent factors that will contribute to her victory. And that is engineering. In the earlier paradigm, you needed to have a strong military, natural resources, land mass, or population to win. Now, not only does India have the engineering capabilities, but also English-speaking capability, which is a must, and an earnest working population. India should seek wealth through a network that focuses on value addition through intelligence instead of through labour. That, by itself, is not the advantage. This sounds similar to what Harvard University's Michael Porter argued in the Competitive Advantage of Nations... I don't think so. Porter does not talk about regions; I am specifically talking about them. In fact, I don't think India as a nation will prosper. That is why we have come to Bangalore. We are not interested in India. I am sorry to say this, but those parts of India that are interesting to us are places like Bangalore and Hyderabad. Because you need space to grow. I would imagine that a population of five to seven million people will be the optimum business unit. You would do better if you could liberalise these regional forces. Because you would then have the human resources to manage the critical factors of success.