Companies that dictate exact work practices from on high in an attempt to equalize performance throughout the organization risk choking off innovative problem solving by employees. The authors show how geoscientists at Shell, urban planners at the World Bank and financial advisors at Clarica successfully take integrated approaches that blend templates with more flexible tools.

The intensity and pace of a company’s work and innovation processes reflect its energy state: comfort, resignation, aggression or passion, as characterized by the authors. Examples from companies as diverse as Oracle, Old Mutual, Cartier, ABB, Philips Electronics and Sony illustrate that managing a company’s energy can help create capabilities tailored to key strategic goals. The authors also offer several scenarios for doing so.

Outsourcing is shaping the future of human resources. But outsourcing any business activity creates potential risks as well as benefits. The authors outline six key factors for companies to consider when assessing the pros and cons of HR business-process outsourcing and trying to determine when to outsource and when not to. A look at the landmark deal between BP and Exult illustrates those factors at work.

In contrast to conventional market-driven innovation, sustainable development innovation must incorporate the added constraints of social and environmental pressures as well as consider future generations. Through the experiences of Monsanto, Suncor Energy, TransAlta and Ballard Power Systems, the authors illustrate how organizations can develop the competencies needed to succeed in this arena.

Few organizations understand the benefits of having tactical planners, who use computer models to optimize the supply chain, in close communication with the senior managers who formulate strategy. The author outlines a planning approach that ensures that critical supply-chain details inform a company’s business strategy and that supply-chain management aligns with the strategic direction.

Organizational structure, the authors contend, is increasingly irrelevant to how work is actually done. Citing BP, Duke Power and W.L. Gore and Associates, they demonstrate that it is not formal structure but the adaptability of processes, people and technology that enables companies to build lasting value.

At a time when competitive factors have weakened the power of many storied brands, companies can regain an advantage by acquiring or developing a branded feature, service, program or ingredient. As examples, the author cites Westin Hotels, Krispy Kreme, UPS Supply Chain Solutions and many others.

Businesses are increasingly trying to enhance customers’ experiences, but that’s not easy when dealing with scenarios that are inherently routine. The authors relate how three companies — Jordan’s Furniture, Commerce Bank and Stew Leonard’s — have been successful at injecting fun into seemingly neutral environments.

Most people accept that innovating involves risk. If a gene therapy patient dies, regulators stiffen controls, but they don’t make gene therapy impossible. Similarly, the United States must apply balance in addressing business scandals. Corporate governance problems call for safeguards, but not to the point of hobbling risk taking and economic growth. As dangerous as [...]

Organizational responses to the increasingly varied composition of the workplace — including women; racial, ethnic or religious minorities; gays and lesbians — have engendered a complex mix of reactions. While the best of these initiatives address the entire human resources system —recruitment, promotion, compensation, training and support groups — tensions in the society at large [...]

In recent years, few business topics have commanded as much research and media attention as mergers and acquisitions, perhaps because of the sheer volume of M&A activity: the value of U.S. merger activity equaled around 16% of GDP in 1999 (Bengt Holmstrom and Steven Kaplan, 2001), and the value of M&A worldwide reached a peak [...]

As more and more firms realize that the brand names associated with their products or services are among their most valuable assets, creating, maintaining and enhancing the strength of those brands has become a management imperative. One of the key advantages of a strong brand is that it facilitates the acceptance of brand extensions — [...]

Europeans and Americans have traditionally viewed bankruptcy and financial recovery differently. There”s a commitment in the United States to explore options for a “second chance”

It takes more than superior abilities or expertise to become a high-performing knowledge worker. It takes connections. But high performers are much more than “social butterflies,” say the authors. Effective knowledge workers actively employ three tactics to build deep relationships that will be mutually beneficial over time.

Companies should spend less time trying to fool customers with hidden charges and devote more effort to competing on differences that really matter, say the authors. Imaginative managers may want to consider how a move toward honest pricing in their industry — such as unit pricing at supermarkets and the U.S. government”s Energy Star program — could help sell more and better products to a loyal customer base.

Although many corporate venturing units have crashed and burned, some produce results even in tough economic times. The authors examine a number of successful units — such as Intel Capital, Siemens‘ Mustang Ventures, Lucent‘s New Venture Group, GE Equity — and conclude that success is predicated upon adopting the appropriate venturing model and executing it with consistency and discipline.