Food for thought from today's NYTimes biz section:

After spending decades growing and merging themselves into their behemoth proportions, big businesses are rediscovering the charms — and the innovative side effects — of thinking small. By breaking huge business units into smaller, nimbler teams, companies stand a chance of rekindling the creative spark that got them rolling in the first place.

As my clients labor to consolidate and streamline their back office processes, they can free up resources to focus on customers, product development, and other strategic efforts. A centralized, honed transaction processing and information reporting hub can meet the needs of a number of small, decentralized entrepreneurial spokes, offering big business efficiency and analytics.

Read more:

Even the Giants Can Learn to Think Small
By JANET RAE-DUPREE
The New York Times
Published: August 3, 2008