170 Posts found for Source: Bain & Company

Migrating costs to low-cost countries (LCCs) has moved from being an “interesting idea” to an imperative for most industrial companies, but it’s a “must do” that too often is managed with ambivalence. On the one hand, companies see it as a critical piece of their cost strategy; on the other, too many firms seem to attempt it only half-heartedly. They aren’t sure which costs to … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Suvir Varma, Ted Rouse, Till Vestring, Uwe Reinert | Source: Bain & Company | Subjects: Management, Outsourcing / BPO

Imagine for a moment that you, as the chief executive officer of a publicly traded corporation, are about to make the biggest business decision of your life. Stacked before you on a conference table are the papers required to complete a merger between your company and one of almost equal size in a related industry. Across the table, the CEO of the company you’re … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Catherine Lemire, David Harding, Sam Rovit | Source: Bain & Company

Boardrooms have replaced barricades as the new front line in the debate over globalisation. Companies, governments and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) are engaged in ongoing discussions nowadays about the risks and opportunities of global business expansion. It seems a long way from the clashes marked by protestors shouting in the streets. Yet the new civility hasn’t yet cracked some vital questions: How will these groups now … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: James Allen, Jean-Pierre Felenbok, Martha Stack | Sources: Bain & Company, INSEAD Quarterly | Subjects: Management, Social Responsibility (ESG)

An overview of the case interview from one of its practitioners, Bain & Co.

Content: Career Information | Source: Bain & Company | Subject: Interviewing

The true test of any company’s leadership development is the caliber and depth of its senior management ranks.Yet so often we hear CEOs complain that they just don’t have enough talent on the bench. The problem is that traditional management development remains too far removed from the day-to-day realities of business. A few companies have pioneered effective approaches. Consider the tack taken by Kraft Foods. … [ Read more ]

Content: Case Study | Authors: Marcia Blenko, Vijay Vishwanath | Sources: Bain & Company, Leader to Leader | Subjects: Human Resources, Management | Industry: Food Products/Service | Company: Kraft Foods Inc.

The expansion of services may be the most important business trend of the past two decades. But trying to grow new services can create a series of unexpected obstacles.

Content: Article | Authors: Dianne Ledingham, Jim Gilbert, Sarabjit Singh Baveja | Sources: Bain & Company, Harvard Business School (HBS) | Subjects: Management, Strategy

Deal making is glamorous; due diligence is not. But if your company is beginning to look again at the growth opportunities offered by acquisitions, take heed: Your due diligence team can make or break your business.

Content: Article | Authors: Geoffrey Cullinan, Jean-Marc Le Roux, Rolf-Magnus Weddigen | Source: Bain & Company | Subject: Best Practices

This summary of Fred Reichheld’s work, which appeared in the Harvard Business Review last December, reveals how the percentage of customers enthusiastic enough to refer a friend or colleague – perhaps the strongest sign of customer loyalty – correlates with differences in growth rates among competitors in many industries. By substituting a single question for the complex black box of the typical customer satisfaction … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Frederick F. Reichheld, James Allen | Source: Bain & Company | Subjects: Customer Related, Management

How accountable should branded-goods companies be for activities in their value chains, even those that they do not directly control? As more NGOs target big branded companies with “brand mail” to raise awareness of key social issues, and as activism rises amongst key consumer groups, boards and senior managers spend more of their time on issues of “value chain accountability” or “sustainable supply chains.” The … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Jimmy Allen | Source: Bain & Company | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

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As consolidation pressures rise in technology and telecommunications, companies in these sectors are returning to the M&A market. But several studies have shown that the majority of mergers fail to create significant shareholder value. Bain & Company’s survey of 250 global executives involved in mergers and acquisitions indicates that two of the top four reasons for failed corporate marriages relate to poor integration. Through our … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Source: Bain & Company

All top leaders need to be generically capable leaders (or developed into becoming so), but each will have a “spike of excellence.” It’s important to play to that strength while continuing to develop the generic leadership skills or a secondary area of excellence required to be an outstanding leader.

Content: Quotation | Source: Bain & Company | Subject: Leadership

With global expansion as challenging as it’s ever been, Bain has analyzed what it takes to prosper internationally. Starting with 7,500 public companies over a five-year period, we focused on the relative few that manage to sustain profitable international growth. Our findings are summarized here from an article first published in the European Business Forum.

Content: Article | Authors: James Root, John Smith | Source: Bain & Company | Subject: International

About half of the 223 executives who responded to a recent Bain & Company survey on organizational issues said their companies fell short on the essential capabilities necessary for a turnaround. But some companies do beat the average and bring about sustained improvement. When we studied 21 of the most impressive transformations of recent years, we found four principles underlying success.

Content: Article | Authors: Chris Harrop, Paul Rogers, Stan Pace | Sources: Bain & Company, INSEAD Quarterly | Subject: Change Management

Quick, pick the best indicator a brand will grow faster than its category: Brand size? Newness? Leadership within a category? Such is conventional wisdom, but a recent Bain study of 524 brands across 100 categories found none of the above. The study “winners”-defined as any brand that beat its category’s growth each year from 1997-2001-invested differentially in just two components of the marketing mix: product … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: John Blasberg, Vijay Vishwanath | Source: Bain & Company | Subjects: Best Practices, Marketing / Sales

Bain research has found that the companies most successful at creating long-term shareholder value tend to be constant acquirers through boom and bust.

Content: Article | Authors: Catherine Lemire, Sam Rovit | Source: Bain & Company | Subject: Best Practices

The best professional services companies understand that their people are their only products, and that strong performance requires getting top talent to act instinctively in ways that always promote the company’s strategy, according to a new study by Bain & Company.

Content: Article | Authors: Paul Rogers, Sarabjit Singh Baveja, Tom Tierney | Sources: Bain & Company, European Business Journal | Subject: Strategy

Bain has been an early adopter of knowledge management (KM) and demonstrated strong KM leadership. It is clear that the deployment of Bain’s corporate portals (CP) significantly improved the speed and accuracy of knowledge flow in the firm. Most importantly, three of Bain’s core explicit values are clearly revealed in the design and practices related to the deployment of BVU and GXC: a continuous learning … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Mark Horwitch, Robert Armacost, Steve Tallman | Sources: Bain & Company, Butterworth Heinemann | Subjects: Case Related, Knowledge Management

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What is the right way of aligning executive pay and shareholder value? First, be clear about what really drives a company’s value. Second, link pay to successful strategy execution, as well as to outperforming peers in the stock market.

Content: Article | Authors: Marcia Blenko, Orit Gadiesh, Robin Buchanan | Sources: Bain & Company, Global Agenda | Subject: Corporate Governance