10 Insights: A First Look at The New Intelligent Enterprise Survey

How do you win with data? SMR surveyed global executives about turning the data deluge and analytics into competitive advantage. Here’s an early snapshot of how managers are answering the most important question organizations face. Free to subscribers
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By Michael S. Hopkins, Steve LaValle and Fred Balboni

10 Data Points:
Information and Analytics at Work

Early returns are in from the first annual New Intelligent Enterprise Survey. Here are major highlights of what executives and managers said about how they are — or are not — capitalizing on information. Free to subscribers
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By Nina Kruschwitz and Rebecca Shockley

Designing the Soft Side of Customer Service

In service environments, customers have complex needs. Even in the most mundane encounters, emotions are lurking under the surface. Your job is to make those feelings positive. Free to subscribers
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By Sriram Dasu and Richard B. Chase

Can You Measure the ROI of Your Social Media Marketing?

You can. But it requires a new set of measurements that begins with tracking the customers’ investments — not yours. Free to subscribers
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By Donna L. Hoffman and Marek Fodor

How to Manage Risk (After Risk Management Has Failed)

The corporate world has traditionally taken a flawed approach to risk management, but a better alternative is readily available.

By Adam Borison and Gregory Hamm

When Should You Nickel-and-Dime Your Customers?

Every manager who’s ever set a price has had to wrestle with whether to “partition” the elements — charge separately for such things as shipping, installation or warranties — or to bundle everything into one price. Here’s how to decide. Free to subscribers
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By Rebecca W. Hamilton, Joydeep Srivastava and Ajay Thomas Abraham

How SAP Made the Business Case for Sustainability

As SAP’s first-ever chief sustainability officer, Peter Graf was prepared to lay out the business case for sustainability to stakeholders and customers of every kind. But he had to make the case to SAP’s own board of directors first. Free to subscribers
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Peter Graf, interviewed by Michael S. Hopkins

How Sustainability Fuels Design Innovation

The link between sustainability and innovation is commonly mentioned, but not commonly made. Here, new-product design guru Steven Eppinger describes the practice that breeds discovery. Free to subscribers
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Steven D. Eppinger, interviewed by Michael S. Hopkins

The Collaborative Organization: How to Make Employee Networks Really Work

The traditional methods for driving operational excellence in global organizations are not enough. The most effective organizations make smart use of employee networks to reduce costs, improve efficiency and spur innovation.

By Rob Cross, Peter Gray, Shirley Cunningham, Mark Showers and Robert J. Thomas

How Fast Can Innovations Get Big?

Energy sector innovation faces an important hurdle, according to MIT’s Ernest Moniz. How do we reconcile the cultural mismatch between innovators and the establishment?

By Martha E. Mangelsdorf

Selling to Many Cultures — Within the U.S. Too many companies do not effectively target growing ethnic and immigrant markets within the U.S. Frank V. Cespedes and Michael Wong Free to subscribers
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Crib Notes Notes on the likelihood of supply chain failure, the amount of sheer time it takes for employees to collaborate, and the part of any offering’s price that consumers focus on most — plus other observations and ideas in this issue.

How to Do Well and Do Good The key to achieving both of those goals together? Integrate societal benefits with company strategy. Rosabeth Moss Kanter Free to subscribers
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Overheard at MIT: Why Economics Isn’t Like Physics MIT finance professor Andrew Lo addresses “physics envy” among economists — and the importance of understanding the levels of uncertainty you face. Martha E. Mangelsdorf Free to subscribers
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Opportunism Knocks Today’s complex supply chains are vulnerable to opportunistic behavior. Mark Vandenbosch and Stephen Sapp Free to subscribers
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The Power of Customers’ Mindset Are your customers in a concrete or abstract mindset as they think about purchasing your product? The answer can affect how much they buy. Kelly Goldsmith, Jing Xu and Ravi Dhar Free to subscribers
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Why Size Matters

The director of the MIT Energy Initiative explains why blending big-company culture with entrepreneurial innovation is the challenge that leaders must learn to meet. Free to subscribers
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Ernest J. Moniz, interviewed by Michael S. Hopkins