MIT Sloan Management Review

You can bank on a tenfold improvement in the cost and capability of collaboration technologies over the next five years. What will your organization do with that?

Executives are set up to fail when they are given one leadership mandate while others in the organization operate under a different, conflicting set of directives.

In the early, hyped-up days of e-commerce, Internet retailers tried to focus customer and investor attention on the bells and whistles of their product offering or Web pages, and hoped that no one noticed the poor performance of backroom operations — or they deluded themselves into believing that good execution

Given its increasingly integral role in business and society, the Internet’s security flaws are troubling, to say the least.

Some weaknesses can be addressed with proper effort and resources, while others simply cannot be changed.

The Pension Protection Act of 2006 imposes new fiduciary rules and responsibilities on employers regarding investment advice to employees with 401(k) plans.

Serendipity is not a strategy, yet that’s the extent of most companies’ innovation planning. The importance of innovation to a company’s future is unquestionable. Then why do so few companies have a process for it? The authors of a September 2006 working paper, Crafting Organizational Innovation Processes, address that question.

The wave of corporate scandals symbolized by Enron Corp.’s downfall spurred federal and state authorities to clamp down on white-collar criminals. There are now more investigators, stiffer penalties and greater oversight for many corporate activities.

As companies rely increasingly on external suppliers, there is an emerging and compelling need for “maestros”

To tap fully into the swarm creativity of innovative customers and employees, companies must adopt a completely new mindset for doing business.

New product launches are highly complex and can pose major challenges to companies. But managing the interplay between product generations can greatly increase the chances for success.

Most companies segment their markets by customer demographics or product characteristics and differentiate their offerings by adding features and functions. But the consumer has a different view of the marketplace. He simply has a job to be done and is seeking to “hire” the best product or service to do it. Marketers must adopt that perspective.

Limitless material resources are not only unavailable most of the time, they may actually be a hindrance. And remaining lean and mean can often be a blessing.

Not all growth is good. An analysis of Fortune Global 500 companies shows that the businesses that grew within the limits of their growth corridors performed far better than others — even those that grew faster.

Differences in organizational values within of a top management team can impair how the group functions, with perceived differences having much larger repercussions than real ones.

Corporate culture has long been a vital, if elusive, element of a company’s success. Cost-cutting and entrepreneurial cultures, for example, have been credited for the long-term success of many companies. Conversely, culture clashes have been blamed for merger and acquisition failures and incompatible employees.

Special Report: Measuring to Manage

Posted March 7, 2007. Reprint 48302.

In recent years, companies have developed much more sophisticated strategic measurement systems, based on such tools as the balanced scorecard, key performance indicators, computerized dashboards and the like.