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Collaboration with Control (continued)

There are innumerable benefits to collaborating across organizational boundaries -- both inside and outside the four walls of the enterprise. For example, by bringing together all participants in the supply chain -- from internal manufacturing and distribution functions to external partners such as raw-goods suppliers, wholesalers or retailers -- businesses can dramatically reduce inventory and slice the amount of overall working capital that is tied up in the supply chain at any one time. Likewise, internal collaboration between formerly siloed functions or departments can drive efficiency and result in tangible bottom-line benefits.

"It really comes down to entrepreneurial thinking," says Twombly. "If you think about it, the chief job of an entrepreneur is to rally people around a vision -- most particularly, those people that you might not have authority over. You must constantly be thinking of ways to get them to pay attention to your particular needs. Simultaneously, the controls must be in place to make sure you aren't serving their objectives at the expense of your own."

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