I found a very interesting document over at ChangeThis, Lessons from a Starfish World written by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom.

Summary:
Such seemingly dissimilar groups as the Apache Indians, music swapping programs, Wikipedia, Alcoholics Anonymous and Al Queda have one thing in common: they are all starfish. According to Brafman and Beckstrom, each of these resilient groups succeeds because they are absent any hierarchy (head) and conventional organizations (spiders) best watch their backs.

I like this phrase in their text: Size matters. There is power in being small.

Lesson to learn: small and agile organizations can beat the big guys.

Update April 7, 2008.
I have written a book review at The Starfish and the Spider.