This quote highlights a fundamental shift in corporate strategies driven by the modern push for agility and cost-efficiency. Traditionally, companies maintained proprietary teams housed under their own roofs, which allowed for tight control over processes, intellectual property, and product development. Such an approach fostered a sense of security and specialization, enabling firms to differentiate themselves through unique capabilities and tightly integrated workflows.

However, the pursuit of lean operations often encourages organizations to outsource, share, or open up their resources to external entities, driven by the desire to reduce overhead and increase flexibility. While this can lead to faster innovation, lower costs, and a more adaptive supply chain, it also dilutes the proprietary advantages that once served as company-specific differentiators. This strategy may inadvertently make companies more vulnerable to competitive imitation or loss of control over critical components of their IP.

In the age of digital transformation and globalized markets, maintaining proprietary teams is more challenging, yet arguably more important for safeguarding core competencies. The tension between the need for efficiency and the preservation of competitive advantages is at the heart of current business debates. Companies must carefully weigh the benefits of flexible arrangements against the risks of losing their unique strengths. The quote underscores that in the relentless pursuit of lean, some organizations have sacrificed their long-term strategic advantages for short-term gains, which may impact their innovation capacity and market positioning.

This phenomenon also speaks to a broader trend of de-privatization, where knowledge, resources, and talent are increasingly shared across organizational boundaries. Whether this evolution serves a company's best interests depends on how meticulously they manage the trade-offs involved, ensuring that their core advantage is not compromised amidst the drive for efficiency.