By Frank V. Cespedes and H. Jeff Smith
Although a relatively recent development, database marketing (DBM) programs are already forcing important choices by companies, consumers, and legislators. These choices are changing society’s view of what constitutes good marketing practice in the United States and other countries where the conjunction of new technologies and selling requirements accelerate the use, and potential abuse, of information [...]
By Robert I. Benjamin and Eliot Levinson
At Vista Elementary School, classrooms look and operate differently from traditional classrooms. Each classroom has five computer terminals for students and a teacher workstation. Students spend fifteen minutes to an hour a day at the terminals, depending on need. They receive customized reading, math, and writing instruction, which is delivered over a computer network through [...]
By Tom Davis
In a time of shortening product life cycles, complex corporate joint ventures and stiffening requirements for customer service, Hewlett-Packard reconsidered its supply-chain management and developed a framework for addressing uncertainty. The author describes several cases in which entire product families were reevaluated in a supply-chain context to impressive effect.
By P. Robert Duimering, Frank Safayeni and Lyn Purdy
I response to international competitive pressures, Western manufacturing organizations have focused a great deal of attention on new techniques and technologies for improving manufacturing activities.1 Two dominant manufacturing strategies have emerged. One is the just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing system, originally developed by Toyota, which includes a range of techniques aimed at simplification and waste reduction within [...]
By Stephen J. Hoch and Shumeet Banerji
In 1989, private labels or store brands accounted for 65 percent of sales of frozen green and wax beans and for 25 percent of sales of liquid bleach but for only 1.1 percent of sales of personal deodorants. As shown in Table 1, private label market share (in terms of both dollar sales and units [...]
By Howard Barich and V. Srinivasan
Image assessment and enhancement are essential strategic management tools. Managers must be able to assess their company’s current image or reputation in the marketplace and improve it. Although it would be ideal to achieve top ratings on every attribute, such as product quality, after-sales service, and reliability, it is not realistic. Given limited resources, managers [...]
By Antonio Kovacevic and Nicolás Majluf
The management literature is full of valuable strategic planning methodologies for information technology (IT).1 Nonetheless, a survey of eighty organizations found that IT planners were not satisfied with their methodologies, that planning required too many resources, that top management commitment was not easily obtained, and that only 24 percent of the projects recommended in a [...]
By Eileen C. Shapiro, Robert G. Eccles and Trina L. Soske
Behold the growth of management consulting: industry revenues worldwide grew from $3 billion in 1980 to $22 billion in 1990.1 Expenditures on such services by U.S. companies grew from about $7 billion five years ago to almost $14 billion in 1991.2 It is the rare Fortune “500” company that does not use management consultants. In [...]
