Winter 1998, Vol. 39, No. 2

 

As you'll have noted, with this issue we introduce a redesign, our first in seven years. Eighteen months ago, we decided it was time for a facelift (following a series of focus groups with readers) and have spent a great deal of time since then defining our goals, searching for the right designer, and then slowly, painstakingly, joyfully putting together a new book. It's meant to look like a journal, still; it's also meant to be more inviting than your run-of-the-mill journal. Profound thanks to our design team at Laughlin / Winkler Inc. — Mark Laughlin, Ellen Winkler, and Margarita Barrios Ponce. I think they produced a book that beautifully balances classical typography with contemporary flair, and I know they kept us laughing for eight months, too, which is not usually the case with redesigns. Equally profound thanks to the readers who have responded patiently to our many requests for feedback. They include: Joshua Adelson, Anne Blanchard, Marty Guay, Mark Burton, Stephen Clark, Gwen Foreman, Gregory Hennessy, Alan Hollander, Katherine Josz, Charles Malovrh, Connie O'Hare, Terrence Oi, Katrina Pugh, Raad Siraj, and Ralph Wellborn. We're happy with the new look, but we also see it as a work in progress. Please use the survey included with your copy to let us know what you think.

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Our lead article in this issue is from Gary Hamel. We think you'll find this piece — on strategy innovation and the quest for value — stimulating as well as thoughtful.

In the era of knowledge-based competition, knowledgeable employees are a firm's most important resource. However, most firms haven't found a workable successor to the old job-for-life-if-you're-loyal model. Dave Ulrich proposes ways to foster employee competence and commitment and suggests that these qualities, compounded, will create intellectual capital.

Thomas Davenport, David De Long, and Michael Beers studied knowledge management, more traditionally, as an IT problem. The successful knowledge management projects they observed shared certain traits: for example, that knowledge was managed as an asset on the balance sheet.

The job-for-life model may not have been definitively replaced, but it is dead. Huge layoffs are still a part of the corporate landscape, even though we hear less about reengineering than we once did. Karen Mishra, Gretchen Spreitzer, and Aneil Mishra propose compassionate ways to manage the victims and survivors of downsizing.

We don't usually publish articles in a Q&A format, nor have we published many case studies, but the article by James Sebenius is both. It's also an in-depth study of how one man managed international acquisitions over time.

Forward-thinking finance professionals link finance decisions to corporate strategy; the article from John Boquist, Todd Milbourn, and Anjan Thakor applies that philosophy to capital allocation decisions.

Some of the city states in the Far East have had great success managing infrastructure centrally; doing this hasn't yet taken hold in the sprawling, decentralized United States. John Kasarda and Dennis Rondinelli describe a fascinating experiment taking place in North Carolina; a public-private group is building a system of transportation, telecommunications, services, and knowledge centers to support area industries.

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After almost twelve years with Sloan Management Review (the last five as editor), I've decided to explore new professional opportunities. Leaving turns out to be terribly sad, even though it was my choice to go. I know that the next editor will bring fresh enthusiasm and vision to the role. Thanks to the deans of the Sloan School, our wonderful SMR contributors, and the top-notch SMR staff for twelve years of shared work, achievement, and camaraderie.

— Sarah Cliffe

 

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