Sweeping evolutionary change and a range of powerful disruptive forces have left the energy industry in a state of disarray. No doubt the industry has attempted to address those challenges on several fronts, but always on a piecemeal basis. As a result, cash flows continue to fall short and the sense remains that the industry has not fully adapted.

In The Final Frontier, author Justin Pettit argues that although companies have been focused on cost and productivity since before the collapse in oil prices, beyond incremental accommodations to change, scant attention has been given to what should have been a critical concern: their internal enterprise operating models.

Pettit provides an overview of the ten key challenges facing the oil and gas industry, including weak oil and gas prices, the "ripple effect" of unconventional energy sources, and mounting social license and environmental costs. And he explains why the pressures they exert in the aggregate cry out for nothing less than a radical new approach to how business is conducted from the inside out.

He then explores the redesign elements of a new internal operating model for IOCs, majors and independents, NOCs, and services companies in the upstream supply chain. He offers examples of how they can be successfully internalized and leveraged with real-world case studies of both successes and failures. Operating model redesign offers a way to cut costs and grow stronger by investing in companies' most important capabilities and leveraging the capabilities of others. It is an opportunity to tap into the creativity and entrepreneurial spirit of the talent pool and to empower employees to drive enterprise improvement. In The Final Frontier, Justin Pettit doesn't merely make a compelling case for a radical redesign of outmoded internal operating models, he lays out a blueprint for how to make that change.