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"The New Economy is based on the production of knowledge. The Old Economy is based on natural resources and the production of physical goods. Now the line between them is beginning to blur. A New Old Economy is making productivity surge and ushering in an Age of Plenty."

Excellent article looks specifically at the Oil industry and how it has moved into the modern technology era. If you're like me and didn't know much about this industry it's a good peak inside. Also see the industry stats culled from the article at: http://www.mbadepot.com/market/mktdata.php?ID=349

Ever since the Internet entered the popular culture, futurists and technophiles have been telling the world that the new medium would transform homes into information-rich hubs of activity.

"Even the best strategies do not implement themselves" is the pithy opening sentence of this article. The authors suggest that many management systems come up short because they focus too narrowly on measurements and results. Measurement is not management, as they put it. Instead, they argue in favor of the Booz-Allen system, Performance Management, that continuously analyzes decision-making and draws on intra-company relationships rather than delivering a bald account of good or bad results.

A model-based management system, Performance Management incorporates a number of effective tools and processes that focus on linking operating decisions to financial performance. The model is upgraded as the business evolves - and its information communicated to all levels of management. Among its attributes are the capturing of knowledge across a company's business units which enables managers to emulate the successes of the best performers. In essence, therefore, Performance Management goes directly to the heart of a company's behavior.

The fundamental promise of e-commerce is to empower the customer. In transportation, logistics and other "behind the scenes" aspects of e-commerce, new services and capabilities are beginning to fulfill this promise, not just for Fortune 500 companies but for small and medium firms and for those with specialized requirements as well. This article outlines some of the latest developments in this fast-moving field, and provides some background and context to help companies better understand the alternatives available to them today.

Fast Company offers a 5-part look at the "Life Themes" approach to candidate selection and hiring decisions.
1. How to Hire by wire - http://www.fastcompany.com/online/00/hirewire.html
2. The Theory Behind Life Themes - http://www.fastcompany.com/online/00/lifethemes.html
3. The Art and Science of Evaluation- http://www.fastcompany.com/online/00/evaluation.html
4. Stryker Makes It Work - http://www.fastcompany.com/online/00/stryker.html
5. Hiring with a Power Tool - http://www.fastcompany.com/online/00/powertool.html

Note that FC doesn't offer links to all 5 parts in its TOC but they do all exist on their site. Thus I have included the URLs.

Marketing practitioners and academics alike regard brand equity as a platform upon which to build a competitive advantage, future earnings streams, and shareholder wealth. Nevertheless, the conceptualization and measurement of brand equity, including its sources and outcomes, remain a challenge.

African nations are in desperate need of investment capital to jump-start economies that lack such basic infrastructure as roads, railways and electric power. This was the message from three African leaders in Philadelphia last month to attend the biennial summit of the Corporate Council on Africa. In a discussion moderated by James Harmon, former chairman of the Export-Import Bank, African officials offered a blueprint to help Africa compete in the global economy.

For a complete set of career resources check out our Career Center

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How do managers hone the skills they need to survive and thrive in different geographical and cultural environments? In this excerpt from a new book, experts Morgan W. McCall, Jr. and George P. Hollenbeck offer some answers. PLUS: Q&A.

Note: Older EBF articles are not currently online. I'm not sure if this is temporary or permanent. If you click you will be taken to the Archive.org site to find an archived copy.

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The following essay was the winning entry in the PricewaterhouseCoopers Second Annual European Shareholder Value Award held in partnership with EBF and Financial News. Written by Paul Lee, a corporate governance analyst with Hermes Investment Management, the trenchant analysis of the limitations of the current system for remunerating senior managers was unanimously declared the winner.

"Executive managers are not, in general, badly paid, but many of them are paid badly. Executives deserve to be well paid, because the good ones are capable of creating enormous value for the companies and underlying shareholders that employ them. Most are in fact well paid, but there is an increasing disconnection between that pay and the shareholder value that the executives create."

In short...
- There is an increasing disconnection between the value executives create for shareholders - often enormous - and the size of their pay.
- US accounting and tax structures, which are not advantageous to those footing the bill, are dictating best practice in executive remuneration in Europe and Asia. These rules, if necessary, need to be changed.
- A move away from options, which have shown themselves to be inefficient, should be considered. Money made by managers in the technology sector often did not reflect their efforts, while the trend towards repricing has allowed them to benefit from the upside and be protected from the downside.
- Shareholding requirements - where not only board members but managers down the organisation hold substantial quantities of stock - should be introduced by companies.

Note: TWM articles ARE still available BUT: (1) you must be a member (free for existing members, not free for new members)   (2) you must be logged-in for the link to work. If you get an error page, visit the homepage, login and then try the link again.

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Here is an interesting series of articles by Professor Rick Roskin, of Memorial University in Canada. They are based upon his research on the subject of management style, which he calls Mach One. It is powerful but simple to remember, being based on an analogy with traffic lights - red, amber, green.

Editor's Note: An interesting extension of this model would be its usefulness in the HR process, specifically in hiring...

"Although managers were supposed to be graded on teamwork, Enron was actually far more reflective of a survival-of-the-fittest mind-set. The culture was heavily built around star players with little value attached to team-building. The upshot: The organization rewarded highly competitive people who were less likely to share power, authority, or information. Indeed, some believe the extreme focus on individual ambition undermined any teamwork or institutional commitment. At other companies, by contrast, an emphasis on individual achievement is balanced by a strong focus on process and metrics or a set of guiding values. 'In the Enron culture, there was no significant counterbalance,' says Jon R. Katzenbach, a consultant and former McKinsey colleague of Skilling who has studied the company. 'The lesson is you cannot rely solely on individual achievement to drive your performance over time. Companies with only that one path overemphasize it and run into trouble, switching over to vanity and greed.'"

Find a wide selection of interviews with business luminaries in our Interviews Section

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BusinessWeek takes a look at the top (and fallen) managers and entrepreneurs for 2001 (and those to watch in 2002). Some include:
Louis V. Gerstner Jr.
Howard Schultz
Fujio Mitarai
Oprah Winfrey
Robert A. Eckert
Richard S. Fuld Jr.
Daniel Vasella
John Browne
Kent Kresa
Carole Black
Barry Lam
L. Dennis Kozlowski
Jeffrey L. Bewkes
Charles Lee and Ivan Seidenberg
Jeffrey C. Barbakow
Maurice R. Greenberg
Steven A. Ballmer
Reuben Mark
Steven S Reinemund
Margaret C. Whitman
Craig A. Conway
Hiroyuki Yoshino
H. Lee Scott Jr.
John D. Wren
Richard B. Priory

The Top 25 Managers:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_02/b3765001.htm

Managers to Watch 2002:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_02/b3765053.htm

The Top Entrepreneurs:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_02/b3765054.htm

The Fallen:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_02/b3765055.htm

Since the 1980s, wage inequality has increased in many OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries, with a shift in demand towards skilled labor. Most economists do not attribute this change to international trade, but Professor Vanessa Strauss-Kahn argues that it's important to examine the problem from a different angle. Here, she analyzes the effect of globalization on inequality and develops a general equilibrium model of production and wage premia. This paper addresses the following questions: - When does vertical specialization (outsourcing) occur? - In which country and under which conditions does agglomeration take place? - How does globalization affect the wage premium in different locations? - By considering trade