Becoming Irresistible: A New Model for Employee Engagement

The employee-work contract has changed, compelling business leaders to build organizations that engage employees as sensitive, passionate, creative contributors. Two years of research and discussions with hundreds of clients suggest five major elements and underlying strategies that work together to make organizations “irresistible.”

The Journey to Exceptional Performance

When it comes to corporate financial performance, we typically think in absolute terms, measuring ROA in percentage points. We are less accustomed to thinking of corporate performance in relative terms, but knowing a company’s relative performance is essential to setting and achieving performance improvement targets and, eventually, exceptional performance.

Editor’s Note: another excellent entry in Deloitte’s Three Rules research series; this one offers fairly intuitive … [ Read more ]

Different Temptations, Same Rules

Do the Three Rules of exceptional performance apply to smaller companies? Differences in size and ownership structure, as well as resources and the demands of explosive growth, can make for a very different set of pressures and opportunities.

The Datafication of HR

HR departments capture enormous amounts of data, but these typically stagnate in various systems and are rarely used for strategic purposes. It’s not that companies haven’t tried, with HR data warehouses and “HR analytics” teams that run reports. But the returns have been frustrating—until recently.

The Personalized and the Personal: Socially Responsible Innovation Through Big Data

The possibility of creating data products and services fueled by fine-grained behavioral information, and informed by behavioral science and choice architecture, offers a framework for innovations that enhance rather than diminish public trust. Organizations that take such ideas on board can distinguish themselves through superior, consumer-oriented product design.

The Answer Is 9,142: Understanding the Influence of Disruption Risk on Inventory Decision Making

The question was how many units of inventory a manager should order when faced with a possible disruption in supply. The correct answer is not guesswork, but based on 150 years of theory and practice. We examine individual choices made in this critical situation—and the results are not encouraging.

Social by the Numbers: An Interview with Sandy Pentland

Data and privacy, social network analysis, sensors, wearable computing, and location intelligence: Name a technological trend that’s revolutionizing commerce and society, and Sandy Pentland and MIT’s Media Lab were likely doing it before anyone else was even writing about it.

Beyond Yahoo: Breaking Down the “Virtual” versus “Campus” Debate

Marissa Mayer’s decision to revoke Yahoo’s telecommuting policy stirred the debate about flexible workplace strategies. Is the move to virtual work inevitable? Both virtual work and campus-based approaches have benefited employers who use them. Hybrid models, which couple elements of campus and virtual models, can offer the best of both.

Found in Translation: The Lingua Franca of Exceptional Performance

The three rules that provided the title for Raynor and Ahmed’s recent book on exceptional performance are based on the large-scale and detailed study of American corporations. But do these findings mean anything outside of the American context? Do they need to be adapted? Are they even relevant?

From Risk to Resilience: Using Analytics and Visualization to Reduce Supply Chain Vulnerability

Complex supply chains require sophisticated, connected tools to monitor risks, predict disruptions, and support rapid recovery as part of an overall resilience strategy. For leading companies, this line of thinking has led to an increase in adoption of advanced tools grounded in analytics and visualization.

Location, Learning, and Logistics: A framework for Managing Trade-Offs in Capacity Location Decisions

Business leaders who misjudge the location of production relative to the location of product and process development resources may adversely impact the company’s long-term competitive position. We explore the link between production location decisions, the nature of the capabilities required to create a product, and the ability of a company to develop the next-generation technologies it may seek.

Three Rules: How Exceptional Companies Think

In their recently published The Three Rules: How Exceptional Companies Think, the authors suggest that such companies all follow the same recipe but use different ingredients, and that they deliver superior levels of performance for longer than anyone has a right to expect. Is persistent, exceptional performance a function of deep moats and thick ramparts, or agility and flexibility in response to competition?

The Ito Factor

Joi Ito is a sage voice on the Internet, web innovation and technology policy, with a keen interest in communities and the role of technology in community innovation. An early investor in start-ups such as Twitter and Flickr, he established a powerful network that saw his impact in the Valley soar. More recently, Ito made headlines when he was named director of the world renowned … [ Read more ]

Innovation: A Chimera No More

Innovation is celebrated far and wide, but the lack of a shared, accurate definition has undermined our collective ability to manage it effectively. The implications are anything but academic. Companies that treat an attack based on differentiation as if it were breaking important trade-offs may overreact, but mistake a true innovator for the merely different and the pain can last for decades.

The Profit Parfait: Exploring the Deeper Layers of Corporate Profitability

In previous articles, the authors established the importance of retaining a differentiated, nonprice position in the market. Exceptional companies face a trade-off between increasing ROA through return on sales (ROS) or through total asset turnover (TAT), and the best performers systematically choose higher ROS. We now focus on the primary driver of superior profitability, ROS, and on its determinants: revenue and cost.

Too Big to Ignore: When Does Big Data Provide Big Value?

Much of the language surrounding big data conveys a muddled conception of what data, “big” or otherwise, means to the majority of organizations pursuing analytics strategies. Big data is shrouded in hyperbole and confusion, which can be a breeding ground for strategic errors. Big data is a big deal, but it is time to separate the signal from the noise.

As One: Better Collaboration Where It Counts the Most

As any frustrated executive can vouch, the best plans count for naught if they are not implemented. Yet what exists, other than gut instinct, to inform leaders’ decisions around organizational engagement? In focusing on strategy execution and changes that depend on large numbers of people working together, we identify three factors that are present when organizations achieve their goals.

Growth Through M&A: Promise and Reality

Mergers and acquisitions can be a potent path to growth. Yet implementation complexities and the lure of immediate cost synergies often take precedence over formulating, isolating and tracking revenue metrics and growth efforts. Cost reduction goals can even conflict with revenue growth opportunities. An analysis of 100 deals with growth as the stated goal suggests a set of priorities that can produce better outcomes.

Decision Quality: Improving Value from Capital Allocation

Without well-developed decision systems and processes to address the complexities of capital allocation, organizations often resort to long, drawn-out debates; politicking and gaming the system; the gut instincts of a brave executive and staff; or deferring to quantitative analysis alone. With large amounts at stake, the opportunities for improved decision quality can be considerable.