If we are living in the New Economy of the new millennium, why are U.S. labor laws mired in the New Deal of the 1930s? Employers are well aware that the anomalies exist and are increasing daily. It’s the legislators who are shirking the mind-boggling chore of modernization.
Two recent government rulings are illustrative: The National [...]

Consider Compaq’s current dilemma. It sells through dealers but knows that Dell’s build-to-order Internet sales model is much better. Compaq executives know that their current dealer network will stop selling their products if the company begins orienting more of its sales toward the Web. Because it takes time to prepare for selling online, such a [...]

Web-based technology is creating opportunities to rethink business models, processes and relationships along the supply chain. How new are the strategic concepts? The author constructs a coherent map of the e-opportunity by identifying three domains that exist within operations, marketing and customer service.

To grow steadily and avoid stagnation, a company must learn how to scale up and extend its business, lengthen its expansion phase, and accumulate and apply new knowledge to products and markets faster than competitors. The authors emphasize the importance of combining strategies for growth with explicit strategies for learning.

Many firms know about their customers, but few know the customers themselves or how to get new ones. Leaders in customer-knowledge management go beyond transaction data, using a mix of techniques, and they aren‘t afraid to tackle difficult problems. Davenport, Harris, and Kohli report results from interviews with 24 leading firms and describe seven practices that the leaders share. The companies interviewed — including Harley-Davidson, Procter & Gamble, and Wachovia Bank — have undertaken specific and successful initiatives centered on the management of customer knowledge.

Research from Harvard Business School professor Alan MacCormack and colleagues proves a theory about software development that has been gaining adherents for some time: The best process is an evolutionary one. Focusing on the area of Internet-software development, the researchers uncovered four practices that lead to success: an early release of the evolving product design to customers, daily incorporation of new software code and rapid feedback on design changes, a team with broad-based experience of shipping multiple projects, and major investments in the design of the product architecture.

Recent research shows that managers” personal, and often unconscious, assumptions can undermine their decision-making. The authors offer concrete advice, supported by industry examples, on how to tackle the detrimental effects of “social projection,”

Warren Bennis and a panel of experts in leadership development discuss today‘s “legitimization of doubt,” which frees managers to admit they don‘t know everything and to begin the serious learning that improves competitiveness.

Since the very existence of competitive advantage sets in motion creative innovations that cause the advantage to dissipate, strategists must understand the processes of competition and progress and the factors that undergird each advantage. Only then will they be able to see when old advantages are poised to disappear and how new advantages can be built in their stead.