CSO Magazine and CERT Security Capability Assessment Tool
Welcome to the Security Capability Assessment Tool, created by CSO Magazine and the Software Engineering Institute’s CERT Coordination Center. This is an exercise for security professionals to assess their current security practices and to determine which practices are repeatable, documented, and regularly reviewed and updated — characteristics that enhance security strategy and policies. The tool is organized into four topic areas — Risk Assessment/Management, Management … [ Read more ]
Content: Online Resource | Sources: CSO Magazine, Software Engineering Institute CERT Coordination Center | Subjects: Best Practices, IT / Technology / E-Business
A Matter of Control
Why do so many executives feel their stomachs knot at the thought of turning over a vital business function to an outsider? Because they fear losing control. But a solid, collaborative business process outsourcing relationship can actually give you more control-and boost performance in the bargain.
Content: Article | Author: Jane C. Linder | Source: Outlook Journal (Accenture) | Subjects: Best Practices, Outsourcing / BPO
Demand Management: Changing the Way Organizations Acquire Goods and Services
In today’s organizations, managers are required to do more with less. Everyone is looking for new ways to cut costs and increase value. A.T. Kearney is helping a growing number of companies take a new approach to cost reduction. Instead of focusing primarily on suppliers and prices, we are helping launch firmwide initiatives in “demand management” – a proven mechanism to take costs out of … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Source: Kearney | Subjects: Best Practices, Management
Institutionalizing Alliance Skills: Secrets of Repeatable Success
To compete, companies are forming alliances as never before. But quantity does not equal quality. Succeeding in an alliance requires creating the right structures for the right situations.
Content: Article | Authors: John R. Harbison, Peter Pekar, Jr., Ph.D. | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Best Practices, Strategy
A Blueprint for Top-Notch Training
The usual narrow approach to training hurts an organisation’s chances of reaching its full potential because training is unlikely to mesh well with the business strategy. On average, about 2% of payroll goes to training The right kind of framework will help training directors determine where and when to place the training dollars that are so vulnerable to the accountants’ red pens Performance management serves … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Steven Tallman | Sources: Bain & Company, The Economist | Subjects: Best Practices, Human Resources
Best Practice Doesn’t Equal Best Strategy
Best practice doesn’t always equal best strategy. Best-practice benchmarking, rightly viewed as one of the most important tools for improving operational efficiency, can be a double-edged sword. Managers must guard against transforming what is a purely process-related technique into the overriding goal of strategic decision making. When industry competitors begin to herd around a single strategy, declining margins are bound to follow.
Content: Article | Sources: CFO Publishing, McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Best Practices, Strategy
Best Practices Bring Down Payroll Costs
Good Management Matters
Starring Roles
Good Leaders don’t grow on trees. All the more reason to nurture them carefully, say partners at Bain & Co.
Content: Article | Authors: Alan Bird, Dean Donovan, Marcia Blenko, Paul Rogers, Robin Buchanan, Steve Ellis | Source: World Link | Subjects: Best Practices, Leadership
Establishing a Continuing Business Model Innovation Process
This paper describes how to establish a process for continuing business model innovation. The findings are based on current best practices among companies that have gained large competitive advantages through continually improving and replacing their business models.
Editor’s Note: some useful findings, but unnecessarily long…
Content: Article | Authors: Carol Coles, Donald Mitchell | Source: CEO Refresher | Subjects: Best Practices, Strategy
Best Practices and Case Studies: Be Very Afraid
Often, it’s not clear what it means for some practice to be “best.” Best at what? And by what standard?
What works well for one of your competitors or another company doesn’t necessarily mean it will work well for your organization. Following in the footsteps of other companies is called mimicry, and while it might be flattering, it is often very dangerous.
Content: Article | Author: Allen Weiss | Source: MarketingProfs | Subjects: Best Practices, MBA Related | Industry: Education / Training
Benchmarking’s Top 10
Managing for Today & Tomorrow: Strategy & the High Performance Business
Less than a fifth of public companies have been able to consistently grow shareholder value in one of the most volatile business climates in memory, according to Accenture research. These companies know how to deliver results against current expectations, and know how to create future growth. In short, they appear able to balance today and tomorrow, when measured against multiple time horizons.
Accenture evaluated high … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Gary A. Curtis, Michael J. May, Patricia Anslinger | Source: Accenture | Subjects: Best Practices, Management
Making Mergers E-Merge: Using the Internet to Jump-Start Integration
With a “clean team” and a digital platform, BP and Amoco shaved months from their merger closing – and added immeasurably to shareholder value.
Editor’s Note: though the article focuses on client work on the BP-Amoco merger, a lot of interesting material that has broad applicability is discussed.
Content: Article | Authors: Amy Asin, Art Fritzson, Robert Lukefahr, Sanjay Bhatia, Viren Doshi | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Best Practices
Aligning the Stars
Combining perspectives of “a doer and a teacher” with experiences of two dozen professional service firms representing the ups and downs of the Old and New economies, Aligning the Stars offers detailed analysis of such firms today–and specific suggestions for their future success. Jay W. Lorsch, professor of human relations at Harvard Business School, and Thomas J. Tierney, former chief executive of Bain & Company … [ Read more ]
Content: Book | Authors: Jay W. Lorsch, Thomas J. Tierney | Subjects: Best Practices, Organizational Behavior
Jim Collins
It was interesting to note that these good to great companies spent no time ‘motivating’ people as such – it just wasn’t something they wasted time and energy on. The very idea of motivating people doesn’t make any sense if you have self-motivated people.
Content: Quotation | Source: Emerald Now | Subjects: Best Practices, Organizational Behavior
Environmental Benchmarking: Paybacks and Pitfalls
Benchmarking is a frequently used buzzword that merely glamorises a simple idea. It means comparing the performance of products, activities, processes or organisations (‘systems’) against a selected standard: the benchmark. Experience suggests that benchmaking is often misused, not through a deliberate attempt to mislead but as a result of not understanding the data involved.
Content: Article | Authors: Antonio Mazzariello, Charles-Peter Nai, Jürg Huber, Rudolf Schwob | Source: European Business Forum (EBF) | Subjects: Best Practices, Social Responsibility (ESG)
You Can Bet on Idea Markets
Once an academic toy, idea markets are increasingly becoming a practicable business tool. Today software for idea markets is available from several vendors, and some firms and researchers have substantial experience in designing and running these markets. Corporations in Europe and the U.S. are beginning to apply these markets, from forecasting industry trends to picking merchandise categories that will be most popular with consumers. … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Ajit Kambil | Source: Harvard Business School (HBS) Working Knowledge | Subjects: Best Practices, Knowledge Management
How Do They Know Their Customers So Well? Lessons from the Leaders in Customer Knowledge Management
The management of customer knowledge is critical to many contemporary business initiatives involving customers and customer-relationships. Firms are investing billions of dollars in technologies to manage customer information and turn it into knowledge. Yet few organizations have developed outstanding levels of customer insight, and most concentrate only on the customer data that are easiest to address. In the research for this article, we investigated the … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Ajay K. Kohli, Jeanne G. Harris, Thomas H. Davenport | Source: Accenture | Subjects: Best Practices, Customer Related
Metrics and Incentives In Outsourcing: Driving Peak Performance
Metrics and Incentives are an important component of outsourcing relationships, but as executives use outsourcing more strategically, these become more critical than ever.
In this research study, we found that each type of outsourcing relationship calls for different metrics and incentives to some extent. More importantly, executives also use the same metrics and incentives in different ways to shape the outsourcing relationship they need. Tapping new … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Alice Hartley, Jane C. Linder, Joseph Sawyer | Source: Accenture | Subjects: Best Practices, Outsourcing / BPO