hen you think of innovative companies - out there charging ahead of the pack, blazing new ground - old economy giants Cemex and Caterpillar are probably not the first that come to mind. Think lumbering elephant not agile butterfly, right?

Yet these companies, and others like pioneer Cisco, are using the transforming power of the Internet to change the rules of competition. These Internet Generation Companies, or IGCs, as international management professor Peter Brews calls them, have undergone a metamorphosis. But the beauty of their technological virtuosity isn't a matter of technology for technology's sake, he says. Their business model allows employees to perform "higher, value-added creative work." The benefits for companies that make creative use of Internet technology include sizable cost savings, more agile manufacturing processes and efficient supply chains, better customer service and more effective internal communications.

In this issue of UNC Kenan-Flagler's alumni magazine, you'll read the fascinating cover story behind these successful IGCs and about other people and companies who are embracing the power and the necessity of innovation.

"To generate revenues and grow, innovation is the only real answer," says management professor Dick Blackburn, who teaches a course on product design and development. In the story, "Metamorphosis: Transforming Your Company With Innovation," Blackburn and colleagues offer their thoughts on how to make innovation and creativity take flight in your company. Alumni at Starbucks and an international justice nonprofit show how they are champions of innovation - on the job.

In our Career Springboard section, we offer a guide to global assignments; one of the pivotal skills identified for successful expatriates is their ability to be innovators. It's something that alumni profiled in the magazine - such as Joe Galli, president and CEO of Newell Rubbermaid, and Claire Babrowski, president of the Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa sector for McDonald's - deal with every day.

The future depends on companies that boldly make innovation an intrinsic part of their cultures.

Sam Moore, vice president of research and development for North Carolina's Burlington Chemical Company, puts it this way:

"The only thing a small company like ours can thrive on is innovation. If we don't create, we don't eat."

Perhaps now it's your turn to emerge from the cocoon.

Kim Weaver Spurr
Editor