The best ideas for new products and services no longer originate only within organisational walls, they come from almost anywhere and anyone. Yet while collaboration has become essential for innovation and performance, organisational complexity is making it harder than ever to achieve. Teams that are large, virtual, diverse, and composed of highly educated specialists struggle to share knowledge, shift workloads flexibly, and work together effectively.

Based on research with over 90 multinationals and a global survey of more than 7,000 respondents across 33 countries, this report reveals how to harness collaboration as a trainable organisational capability.

The report introduces a comprehensive model spanning three critical dimensions:

1. Collaborative Architecture - Building peer-to-peer collaboration within your enterprise through managing complex teams, leveraging enterprise social networks, and making talent visible across organisational boundaries.

2. Collaborative Innovation - Expanding to cross-enterprise collaboration and open innovation with customers, choosing the right collaboration mode for different challenges, and making partnerships work effectively.

3. Collaborative Ecosystems - Leveraging collaboration with multiple stakeholders including suppliers, competitors, and NGOs to drive innovation at scale.

The report provides practical frameworks including toolkits for building trust in complex teams, creating high-performing virtual teams, and leveraging enterprise social networks. Case studies demonstrate how organisations like IDEO make talent visible through social platforms, while research from leading universities reveals how to choose the right collaboration mode for different innovation challenges.