Lean, But Not Yet Mean: Why Transformation Needs a Second Chapter
Many corporate-transformation efforts fail to deliver lasting competitive advantage. BCG has identified the factors that lead to successful transformations—and the common traps that characterize failures.
Content: Article | Authors: Gideon Walter, Kaelin Goulet, Martin Reeves, Michael Shanahan | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subject: Change Management
Managing the “Unmanageable”: Radical Innovation
In recent decades, one of management’s objectives has been to add discipline to innovation. Companies have greatly improved the efficiency of new-product development, and managers have been able to draw on a variety of processes, methods, and tools to maximize the return on their R&D investment.
Unfortunately, these advances have had the unintended consequence of discouraging radical innovation: technical breakthroughs that render existing products obsolete or … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Andreas Maurer, David Küpper, Kim Wagner, Markus Lorenz | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subject: Innovation
Designing the Corporate Center: How to Turn Strategy into Structure
Complex global corporations are under unrelenting pressure to create value. But no corporate center can add value without an effective parenting strategy, and no strategy can succeed without an organizational design that translates strategy into operational reality. Learn how to turn your corporate center into a value-creation engine.
Content: Article | Authors: Fabrice Roghé, Matthias Krühler, Sebastian Stange, Ulrich Pidun | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subjects: Corporate Governance, Management, Organizational Behavior
The Art of Risk Management
Risk management isn’t just a matter of complex financial models and formal risk-management systems. It is an essential value-creating activity that should inform the strategic debate at every level of the organization. Here are ten basic principles that should govern “the art of risk management.”
Content: Article | Authors: Fabian Günther, Frank Plaschke, Marc Rodt, Ulrich Pidun | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subject: Risk Management
Ambidexterity: The Art of Thriving in Complex Environments
Ambidexterity—the ability to excel simultaneously in efficiency and innovation—is a rare but increasingly critical capability in today’s complex business environment. There are four distinct approaches to achieving it, and the suitability of each one depends on the diversity and dynamism of the specific company’s environment.
Content: Article | Authors: Filippo Scognamiglio Pasini, James Hollingsworth, Knut Haanæs, Martin Reeves | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior, Strategy
No Shortcuts: The Road Map to Smarter Marketing
Companies invest staggering sums of money on marketing with surprisingly little rigor. Because measuring and optimizing spending on marketing is notoriously difficult, companies often rely on rules of thumb, such as spending as a percentage of revenues. A recent benchmarking study conducted by BCG and Marketing Analytics indicates that these shortcuts can be imprecise and unreliable. This report describes a better approach—one that encompasses all … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Jens Harsaae, Kevin Richardson, Neal Rich, Rohan Sajdeh, Ross Link | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subjects: Best Practices, Marketing / Sales
Debunking the Myths of the First 100 Days: The Right Way and the Wrong Way for New CEOs to Approach Their Role
Question the conventional rules about taking command of a business. Some of them are seriously misguided and need replacing by up-to-date guidelines. New CEOs like to make an early impact, often by very bold actions, but for a long-lasting impact, what’s needed is a more flexible and considered approach.
Content: Article | Authors: Peter Tollman, Roselinde Torres | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subjects: Leadership, Management
Changing Change Management: A Blueprint That Takes Hold
Despite the dismal history of corporate-change efforts, there are ways for organizations to successfully manage change—and make sure the changes stick. BCG’s latest report shows how the Change Delta—a disciplined, systematic approach—focuses energy and resources on the change elements that matter most.
Content: Article | Authors: Huib Kurstjens, Kimberly Powell, Massimo Busetti, Michael Shanahan, Mike Lewis, Perry Keenan | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subject: Change Management
Value-Focused Corporate Governance: How to Engage Boards and Enhance Decision Making
Good corporate governance isn’t just about compliance: it spurs value creation. BCG has identified several often-overlooked factors that can help boards become more engaged, make better decisions, and govern more effectively. Boards can thus act as true partners to CEOs in steering companies toward sustained success.
Content: Article | Authors: Christian Orglmeister, Daniel Azevedo, Marcos Aguiar | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subject: Corporate Governance
Strategies for Superior Value Creation: Improving the Odds
Creating value in today’s economic environment isn’t easy. Every company has to chart its own course. The companies that succeed are those that understand the opportunities and priorities embedded in their starting position, as defined by the economics of the business and its current valuation in the equity markets.
Content: Article | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subjects: Best Practices, Strategy
The Human Factor: What Sets Quality Leaders in Manufacturing Apart
A wide-ranging study of best practices in quality management highlights the importance of human and cultural factors and shows how manufacturers can improve their performance—and gain the competitive edge enjoyed by quality leaders in an age of increasingly complex products and rising customer expectations.
Content: Article | Authors: Alexander Linder, Daniel Spindelndreier, Frank Lesmeister, Helmut Lieb, Robert Schmitt | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subject: Operations
Enabling PMI: Building Capabilities for Effective Integration
Acquisitions too often fall short of their promised payoffs, and a frequent culprit is inadequate integration. Execution falters as people struggle under time pressures and lose sight of priorities. By investing in the underlying integration capabilities, companies can bring discipline and focus to their efforts to capture value from deals.
Content: Article | Authors: Chris Barrett, Daniel Friedman, Neeraj Aggarwal, Niamh Dawson, Nicholas Glenning, Peter Goldsbrough | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subject: Mergers & Acquisitions
Flipping the Odds for Successful Reorganization: Organization of the Future: Designed to Win
Rapid change requires companies to reorganize more frequently, more fundamentally, and faster than ever before. But the odds for failure are high. New BCG research has uncovered six critical success factors that can dramatically flip a company’s odds of reorganization success—and help it achieve reorganization’s ultimate purpose: driving competitive advantage.
Content: Article | Authors: Andrew Toma, Brad Noakes, Fabrice Roghé, Julie Kilmann, Ralf Dicke | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subjects: Change Management, Management, Organizational Behavior
Organizational Capabilities Matter: Organization of the Future: Designed to Win
Organizational capabilities have a major impact on long-term corporate performance, and none matter more than behavioral aspects. But behavioral attributes can have a high impact only when they’re backed by strong structural capabilities. A new BCG Focus explains what organizations can do to develop the appropriate sets of capabilities.
Editor’s Note: I see many weaknesses in the approach and methodology employed for this study and thus … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Andrew Toma, Fabrice Roghé, Julie Kilmann, Rainer Strack, Ralf Dicke | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior
Creating People Advantage 2010
This report details which HR practices and methodologies are helping companies to create competitive advantage and which need a different approach to suit the times. This analysis of a broad range of HR topics is based on the second survey conducted by The Boston Consulting Group and the World Federation of People Management Associations, which generated responses from more than 5,500 executives in 109 countries … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Ernesto Espinosa, Florent Francoeur, J. Puckett, Jean-Michel Caye, Pieter Haen, Rainer Strack, Svend Lassen, Vikram Bhalla | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subject: Human Resources
Innovation Value Institute (IVI) IT Capability Maturity Framework (IT-CMF)
Your Strategy Needs a Strategy
Companies operating in dissimilar environments should be developing their strategies in markedly different ways. But all too often, they are not. Research featured in Harvard Business Review shows how companies can gain an edge by matching their strategic style to the conditions of their industry, business function, or geographic market.
Content: Article | Authors: Claire Love, Martin Reeves, Philipp Tillmanns | Sources: Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Harvard Business Review | Subject: Strategy
Managing IT for Business Value
After 60,000 hours of R&D and more than $10 million in investment, the Innovation Value Institute’s IT Capability Maturity Framework (IT-CMF), a state-of-the-art assessment framework designed to help IT organizations maximize their contribution to business value, is fully developed and operational.
What does the launch mean for CIOs and other IT leaders? It means that for the first time, they have an integrated, standardized framework for … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Andrew Agerbak, Stefan Deutscher | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subject: IT / Technology / E-Business
A Framework for Building Talent
Rethinking the Marketing Organization
Many consumer-products companies have complex marketing organizations that hinder strategic focus, decision making, and responsiveness—undermining their ability to compete effectively in a changing marketplace. Here’s how to rethink the traditional model and rebuild a leaner, more agile structure that better meets today’s strategic challenges and cost pressures.
Content: Article | Authors: Alexander Purdy, Gabrielle Novacek, Lucy Brady, Stephen Moeller | Source: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) | Subjects: Marketing / Sales, Organizational Behavior
