How can managers improve the ethical quality of their decisions and ensure that their decisions will not backfire? The authors discuss three types of theories that will help executives understand how they make the judgments on which they base their decisions. By understanding those theories, they can learn how to make better, more ethical decisions.

Few companies around the world have not tried to reinvent themselves — some more than once —during the past decade. Yet, for every successful corporate transformation, there is at least one equally prominent failure. GE’s dramatic performance improvement starkly contrasts with the string of disappointments and crises that have plagued Westinghouse. ABB’s ascendance to global [...]

In the mid-1980s, I purchased my first car (a Honda Civic) and my first personal computer (an IBM PC AT) at about the same time and for about the same price ($6,000 to $7,000; the price of the computer included a monitor and a printer). Both products were what economists call “durable goods.” Both were [...]

Social activists have long attempted to redefine corporations’ objectives to include “social responsibility.” Yet most economists would argue that a corporate executive’s primary social responsibility is to make a profit for the corporation’s owners, not to appease social activists’ demands. In Milton Friedman’s words, any manager who would put the activists’ interests ahead of the [...]

“Be first to market” is one of the most enduring principles in business theory and practice. But the authors point out that many pioneer companies have failed, whereas most current market leaders were not pioneers. In analyzing why this is so, the authors found that market leaders embody five factors that are critical to success.

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. We can apply this Newtonian principle to the vertical supply chain: for every part outsourced by an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), there is an equal and opposite opportunity for a parts supplier to furnish that part. While many parts or products have been outsourced to non-U.S. suppliers [...]

Throughout the 1990s, interest in private label brands in the U.S. grocery industry has increased. Store brands currently account for slightly less than 15 percent of total dollar sales. In several European markets, private labels have been even more influential — for instance, in the United Kingdom, they accounted for 20 percent of sales in [...]

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. — French expression
They don’t make much money, but they sure make a lot of stuff. — Down East Maine expression
Rumors of my demise have been much exaggerated. —Mark Twain
After years of observing U.S. industry under siege from foreign competitors, U.S. managers, shareholders, and business journalists have changed [...]