On the basis of research into 100 enterprises, the authors developed a helpful strategic tool, the Delta Model. Companies using the framework define strategic positions that reflect new sources of profitability, align the strategic options with their activities, and establish processes that adapt well to change. The researchers outline practical mechanisms for obtaining feedback from the adaptive processes, and they offer critical metrics to track performance.

To understand the role of chief knowledge officer (CKO) and the evolving practice of knowledge management (KM), the authors studied twenty CKOs in North America and Europe using face-to-face interviews, and a personality assessment questionnaire. All CKOs were first incumbents, most having been on the job less than two years. Two critical success factors have emerged: the need for organizational slack time (for thinking, dreaming, talking, and selling) and high-level sponsorship beyond visible CEO support.

A powerful way to implement advanced software technologies is through incrementalism. Each self-contained implementation sequence achieves a specific business result. Using the strategy at a large manufacturer of office furniture systems, the authors implemented supply-chain-planning and-scheduling software at six sites — on time and within budget. The three critical success factors were technology divisibility, technology and methodology fit, and technology and organization fit.

The use of brands has been central to marketing for more than a century. The dominant logic has been “Build a brand, and the world will beat a path to its door.” Long-standing brands such as Marlboro, Coca-Cola, Xerox, IBM, and Intel are considered to be among the world’s most valuable assets. This precedent spurs [...]

Toyota Motor Corporation is an industry leader in product development lead time while using fewer engineers than its U.S. competitors. It has also shown remarkable consistency in market share growth and profit per vehicle, which led to cash reserves of $21 billion, exceeding those of the “Big Three” automakers combined.1 The Toyota Production System (TPS), [...]

Developing effective strategies for managing factory operations is an ongoing concern of managers and researchers.1 Effective manufacturing practices include employing technically oriented managers and multiskilled workers, organizing for cross-functional problem solving, and adopting cellular manufacturing, especially in the context of assembly processes, job-shop manufacturing, and computer-integrated manufacturing.2 Typical best practices for lean manufacturing encompass the [...]

During the 1980s, the United States’ market share of semiconductor sales began to decline. Several explanations were advanced to explain the trend. For example, the MIT study Made in America attributed this decline to outdated strategies, short-term horizons, technological weaknesses in development and production, neglect of human resources, and failure of cooperation between government and [...]