The Multinational's Nemesis: The Rise of ICT-Enabled Distributed Collective Intelligence?

The Multinational Corporation bestrode the 19 th , 20 th and early 21 st centuries like the Colossus of Rhodes. Through their efficiency in organizing and effectiveness in achieving goals, multinationals have shaped the world in which we live perhaps even to a greater extent than governments and the people they purport to represent. Yet just as the Rhodes colossus was toppled from below, the rise of grass roots, virtual groups represents a similar seismic nemesis to the modern multinational. In this panel we will debate whether ICTenabled distributed collective intelligence organizations are truly a challenge to the multinational’s hegemony in three areas: 1) are these new organizational forms as efficient and effective as traditional multinationals at enabling coordinated action, 2) are these new organizational forms superior to multinationals in providing social community, and 3) are these new organizational forms qualitatively more effective than multinationals as drivers of social change. Is the hierarchical colossus about to meet its nemesis: the rhizomorphic virtual