The more companies outsource, the more they approach virtual organization, with knowledge centers interacting through mutual interest and electronic systems. To mitigate the risks associated with reduced authority, companies must develop “best in world” capabilities, leverage the capabilities of others and innovate constantly. The author shows how to slash innovation cycle times and costs by 60%-90% and develop the full potential of intellectual outsourcing.

With the emergence of the lean enterprise and global competition, companies face ever-increasing competition. To survive, companies must become experts at developing products that deliver the quality and functionality that customers demand, while generating the desired profits.1 One way to ensure that products are sufficiently profitable when launched is to subject them to target costing.2
Target [...]

During the past few years, the business press and academic literature have been exhorting managers to move away from arm’s-length relationships and move toward longer-term collaborative strategic partnerships with external business partners. This advice comes as a natural reaction to the numerous empirical studies conducted during the past decade that compare Japanese production and supply [...]

Leading management and organization theorists have popularized the concept of treating organizational knowledge as a valuable strategic asset.1 They advise that to remain competitive, an organization must efficiently and effectively create, locate, capture, and share knowledge and expertise in order to apply that knowledge to solve problems and exploit opportunities. As more firms begin to [...]

The past two or three years will likely be remembered as the time when the long-heralded, but often postponed, “information age” finally became a reality. For business, the information age has led to the emergence of “smart” markets, or markets defined by frequent turnover in the general stock of knowledge or information embodied in products [...]

By working closely together, companies and their suppliers can create highly competitive supply chains. Failing to collaborate results in the distortion of information as it moves through a supply chain, which, in turn, can lead to costly inefficiencies. Lee et al. described this “bullwhip effect,” which results in excess inventories, slow response, and lost profits.1 [...]

In this empirical study of spirituality in the workplace,1 we report on our results from interviews with senior executives and from questionnaires sent to HR executives and managers.2 In general, the participants differentiated strongly between religion and spirituality. They viewed religion as a highly inappropriate form of expression and topic in the workplace. They saw [...]