Mastering Unforeseeable Uncertainty in Startup Companies: an Empirical Study
Even the unforeseeable can be prepared for if you have the right tools. Start-ups are often faced with the unknown, when traditional methods cannot help them. But there are two options for managers of young companies such situations. So how to choose which method is most appropriate? Authors Sommer, Loch and Dong look at a sample of 62 start-up companies in Shanghai to shed light … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Christoph Loch, Jing Dong, Svenja Sommer | Source: INSEAD Knowledge | Subjects: Entrepreneurship, Strategy
Adjusting Project Management Techniques to Uncertainty
This article argues that critical path thinking (CPM, PERT, Gantt chart) is not appropriate where project goals are poorly defined. Contingency thinking is better.
Content: Article | Authors: Arnoud De Meyer, Christoph Loch, Michael Pich | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subject: Project Management
Borrowing from Nature: Manufacturing Lessons from the Biological Cell
Where should we look for new innovations in manufacturing? Perhaps nature has some answers, say Professors Demeester, Loch and Van Wassenhove, who see in the biological cell a lean, adaptive system that allows the kind of performance today’s manufacturing facilities could only dream of achieving.
Content: Article | Authors: Christoph Loch, Lieven L. Demeester, Luk N. Van Wassenhove | Source: INSEAD Knowledge | Subjects: Innovation, Operations
Beneath a Canopy of Options: Strategy in the Shade of Decision Trees
Growth is essential for a business’ success, and many previous studies have shown that research and development is the key source of internal growth in the long run. But the question is which projects to fund and which ones to stop – which ones are promising and which ones too risky?
Content: Article | Authors: Christoph Loch, Kerstin Bode-Greuel | Source: INSEAD Knowledge | Subjects: Finance, Management
Not Quite As Per The Plan: Impact of Uncertainty on Project Management
It is common for projects to miss budgets, schedules and opportunities, in spite of the heroic efforts of the project manager to keep things on track. There is a need for the project management tool-kit to expand beyond task management. Professors Arnoud De Meyer, Christoph Loch and Michael Pich classify the associated and often-neglected uncertainty, and they suggest alternative techniques for project management, depending on … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Arnoud De Meyer, Christoph Loch, Michael Pich | Source: INSEAD Knowledge | Subject: Project Management