By Michael Schrage
Executives, entrepreneurs and investors are too ready to believe that commodity is destiny. The result is a dulling of strategic focus and a narrowing of the business mind.
By Kathleen Seiders and Leonard L. Berry
Obesity in the United States has reached crisis proportions. Is this yet another societal problem to be loaded onto the shoulders of business leaders? For several reasons, the answer is yes -- and some companies are already showing what can be done to turn the tide.
By Steven G. Rogelberg, Cliff Scott and John Kello
Employees spend increasing amounts of time in meetings and love to complain about them. But privately they see meetings as a productivity tool -- one that companies can learn to use better.
By Henry W. Chesbrough
Using outside technologies to develop products and licensing intellectual property to external parties will carry a company only so far. The next frontier is to open the business model itself.
By Robert D. Austin and Richard L. Nolan
Clashes between bottom line-oriented managers (stewards) and creative technical employees (creators) may be inevitable. But when those conflicts aren't managed well, a company's ability to innovate may be at risk.
By Pierre Berthon, Morris B. Holbrook, James M. Hulbert and Leyland Pitt
Brands have a life and meaning independent of what their initiators intended. Managers must shepherd a brand‘s evolution so that the brand does not lose its roots in the past.
By Peter M. Senge, Benyamin B. Lichtenstein, Katrin Kaeufer, Hilary Bradbury and John S. Carroll
Meeting the sustainability challenge will require the kind of cross-sector collaboration for which there is still no real precedent. It must be co-created by various stakeholders by interweaving work in three realms: the conceptual, the relational and the action-driven.
By Richard M. Locke and Monica Romis
A comparison of two Mexican factories suggests that global companies should go beyond monitoring codes of conduct and attack the problem of poor working conditions at its source by collaborating with their suppliers to implement new management systems.
By Paul F. Nunes and Jeffrey Merrihue
As people increasingly tune out the most common forms of advertising, savvy marketers are turning to four surprisingly affordable strategies.
By Chris Thomas, David Kidd and Claudio Ferñ¡ndez-Aríoz
Many companies are not getting full value from their boards, often because of weak or underutilized directors. A set of best practices can help companies avoid such waste at the top.
By Phillip G. Clampitt and M. Lee Williams
When a behind-the-scenes decision must be “downloaded” to employees, the way it is communicated has a lot to do with its acceptance and eventual success or failure.
By Sandra Rothenberg
In an increasingly environmentally conscious and cost-conscious world, suppliers can make their business both more sustainable and more profitable by focusing on services that extend the efficiency and value of their products.
