MIT Sloan Management Review

SAP runs a 10-years old, online community network that has more than a million unique visitors a month. Mark Yolton, senior vice president of SAP Communities & Social Media, tells how his company is using social media for “outside-in” market insight and as a mechanism to immediately tell the world about its new products.

With social media fundamentally changing the ways in which businesses sell to customers — be they consumers or partners — a pivot point is at hand.

Online brand communities can bring customers closer to a brand, generate “buzz” and enhance brand loyalty. Yet, important as online brand communities are to consumer markets, little is known about the role they play in consumer decision-making. Although the popularity of online brand communities as a means of gathering pre- and post-purchase information continues to grow, knowledge about how to effectively manage those conversations remains scant.

Customer-oriented companies pride themselves on understanding the marketplace and integrating the best ideas into future products. But what would it be like if you found that you had hundreds, if not thousands, of knowledgeable users ready and eager to spend nights and weekends acting as extensions of your research and development department? For the Lego Group, the Danish maker of children’s creative construction toys, this close bond with the user community is not a pipe dream but a reality.

In 2006, MIT Sloan’s Andrew McAfee coined the term “Enterprise 2.0″ as shorthand for collaboration and sharing tools would mean for enterprises. In a recent interview with MIT Sloan Management Review, McAfee looks back at the past six years and reveals what he’s learned about the triggers that generate CEO interest in social networking, what he misread and why the idea of controlling information flows is becoming obsolete.

You can. But it requires a new set of measurements that begins with tracking the customers’ investments — not yours.

New research suggests that ads that complement online content can be effective — but not if they rouse consumers’ privacy concerns.

How do some companies get their customers to do something that’s useful for the company but not really for the customer?

There’s no sense in denying it: interpreting weak signals into useful decision making takes time and focus. These three stages can help you see the periphery—and act on it—much more clearly.

Want success for your radical innovation? Think like a community organizer.

That’s one of the messages of Market Rebels: How Activists Make or Break Radical Innovations (Princeton University Press, 2009), a new book by Hayagreeva Rao.

Recent research suggests that consumers’ state of mind affects their openness to new products affiliated with existing brands.

Young consumers have been notoriously difficult for advertisers to reach. Mobile marketing might provide the answer, but only if companies understand some basic principles.

People are connecting with one another in increasing numbers, thanks to blogs, social networking sites like MySpace and countless communities across the Web. Some companies are learning to turn this growing groundswell to their advantage.

For franchise operations like McDonald’s, Supercuts and Ace Hardware, should the goal be to copy exactly or to adapt locally?

Competing in China is the only option for multinationals that want to build or preserve their global position.

Though competitive barriers in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe are many, a look at the companies that are thriving there reveals some secrets that make success more likely.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, there is a key set of fundamental metrics — which can be actively managed — linking the health of brand to revenue and consumer commitment.

How can executives prioritize their time to ensure that they are focusing on the countries and subsidiaries that need the most attention?

More and more companies are now able to change their prices in real time to capture the full possible value of goods and services. Here’s how to do dynamic pricing right.

Under the right circumstances, industry initiatives involving “coopetition” among competitors can reduce customers’ reluctance to adopt an innovation.