MIT Sloan Management Review

More than ever, CEOs must develop their peripheral vision, scanning for faint -- but vital -- signals that will help them give their companies an edge.

Building an engine that produces a steady stream of innovative growth businesses is difficult, but companies that are able to do it differentiate themselves from competitors.

Under the right circumstances, companies of any size can grow to become platform leaders. And particular business and technology decisions can help platform-leader wannabes achieve their goals.

Despite the welter of data and analytics at their disposal, experienced managers often need to rely on gut instinct to make complex decisions under duress.

At many companies, intellectual property has become an area of focus. Research shows that top-management involvement in IP strategy is associated with better IP performance.

Companies have four ways of building businesses from within their organizations. Each approach provides certain benefits -- and raises specific challenges.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, there is a key set of fundamental metrics -- which can be actively managed -- linking the health of brand to revenue and consumer commitment.

Increased complexity of a company's systems -- products, processes, technologies, organizational structures, legal contracts and so on -- can create dangerous vulnerabilities. Three complementary strategies can help mitigate the risk.

Effective patent strategy is tailored to the market, mindful of competitive positioning and supported by organizational structure.

Expertise in strategic thinking is not the product of innate ability and pure serendipity. It arises from specific experiences (personal, interpersonal, organizational and external) which occur over 10 or more years.