179 Posts found for Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little)

In today’s world, it is important to understand when an alliance is an appropriate investment vehicle and when it is not; it is equally important to understand how to form an alliance properly.The “why and when” of alliance formation depends on recognition of the differences among a corporation’s businesses and the appropriate investment strategies for them.

Core businesses come in two varieties: first, what we … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: James A. Finnegan, John L. Forbis | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Management, Strategy

Most major businesses spend more than two percent of sales on environmental, health, and safety (EHS) performance. Yet, remarkably, most of them measure that performance only to the extent required by regulation. Worse, at a time when increasing accountability means rising risk, the measures they do take don’t give their line managers the information they need to do their jobs. To carry out their responsibility … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Stephen Poltorzycki | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Management, Social Responsibility (ESG)

Improving innovation ability is today the most important lever for increasing profitability and growth. But success is mixed. In just about all industry sectors the 25 percent most innovative companies have 2.5 times as many new products and get 10 times better returns on their innovation investment than the least innovative ones. In 2004 Arthur D. Little conducted its third Global Innovation Excellence Survey on … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Anders Johansson, Frederik van Oene, Georg Beyer, Jasper Boessenkool, Per I. Nilsson | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subject: Innovation

Executives who understand their work in terms of a flow of information are still a very small minority. Most of us continue to use computers primarily to do things we have always done – that is, to crunch numbers. Information – which means the right knowledge to take effective action – is still something more talked about than used, partly because one cannot simply convert … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Peter F. Drucker | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subject: Management

When the shouting is over, one fact is clear: what differentiates perennially great companies from others is the products they sell. Some companies generate a never-ending stream of products that are appealing to customers and profitable to produce. Other companies achieve product innovation in fits and starts. Yet others launch many failed products, unprofitable products, or “me too” products. This article examines the opportunities to … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Jean-Philippe Deschamps, P. Ranganath Nayak | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Innovation, Strategy

Because resources are finite, companies must fix priorities and coordinate plans, using one of two fundamentally different approaches: centralized, top-down management; or market mechanisms in which individual agents are free to determine the best use of their own resources. While the former appears much more rational, orderly, and “managed,” and the latter appears potentially out of control and chaotic, it has been clearly established that … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

How can you build an innovative culture that harnesses the collective intelligence of your organization? Essentially it’s a matter of changing mindsets to help create alignment between people’s aspirations and the larger purposes of the organization. Such alignment cannot be imposed. It must be drawn out individually and collectively – a process that calls for more fundamental change in values and practices than is achieved … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Innovation, Organizational Behavior

To innovate, we have to be able to understand, trust, and work with people who see reality differently from the way we see it.

Content: Quotation | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subject: Innovation

The business system of the Japanese multinational comprises five interlocking parts. This article discusses these five characteristics and their respective contributions to the success of Japanese multinational companies.

Editor’s Note: this was written in 1991, before the Japanese bubble burst. Still, I find it a brief but interesting look at the Japanese business system.

Content: Article | Author: Nigel Campbell | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subject: International – Asia

Companies are ever striving for profitability. And in doing so try to reduce the complexity they have been building up during the last years. The crucial question though is how to go about it. Apostolatos, Olovsson, Kotlik and Keizers discuss the various types of complexity and offer three basic ways to address complexity: by eliminating complexity that customers will not pay for, by exploiting to … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Jan Olovsson, Joris Keizers, Konstantinos G. Apostolatos, Libor Kotlik | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subject: Management

Traditional thinking has it that corporate social responsibility doesn’t help a company’s bottom line. The truth is that not only can actively pursuing a policy of social responsibility cost a company nothing, but it can actually provide a boost for business.

Content: Article | Authors: Claudia Auf der Maur, Justin Keeble, Rick Eagar | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

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With the global economy on the mend, companies are once again looking for growth. But this time, instead of growth at all costs, they want smart growth – the only way to really improve the bottom line. We lay out the 10 questions a company must answer to find out if it’s heading in the right direction.

Content: Article | Authors: Andreas G. Weishaar, Herman Vantrappen, Hubertus M. Mühlhäuser, Nils Bohlin | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subject: Management

Quality function deployment (QFD) techniques have long been recognized as a potentially invaluable tool in successful product development. QFD techniques provide a systematic methodology for translating market opportunities and customer needs into clear product specifications that engineers and scientists can use for design, formulation, and development. But despite QFD’s long history of success stories, companies have not yet come close to realizing its full potential … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: Arthur D. Schwope, John M. Collins | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Innovation, Management

Innovation is driven primarily by tacit knowledge. It draws on highly subjective insights, intuitions and hunches that form an integral part of tacit knowledge. These factors are soft and qualitative and therefore defy traditional mechanistic management approaches. Therein lies the managerial challenge. It involves building the requisite social capital and putting in place appropriate integration mechanisms that enable people with ideas and experience to connect … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subject: Innovation

Over a number of years I have worked on the development of at least five catapulting ideas. They are the product of an approach to organizational problems that I first formulated in 1974 under the name “idealized redesign of the corporation.” Rather than merely solving problems, this approach dissolves them. To solve a problem is to change the effects of one or more undesirable causes; … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Russell L. Ackoff | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

When you examine alternative organizational architectures, it helps to keep in mind that the reality of an organization is not expressed in the charts, organograms, and job descriptions that attempt to describe it. The true bottom line of any structure is visible only through the kinds of actions and interactions, the attitudes and behaviors it promotes. So it can be a worthwhile exercise to take … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Robert M. Tomasko | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Management, Organizational Behavior

The source of wealth is knowledge. If we apply knowledge to tasks we already know how to do, we call it productivity. If we apply knowledge to tasks that are new and different, we call it innovation…the two beacons of productivity and innovation must be the guideposts of industrial management and leadership.

Content: Quotation | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Innovation, Productivity / Work Tips

The flip side of rewards is risk. A commitment to delegation and empowerment raises a host of thorny questions. For example: How do you strike a balance between trust and security? Senior managers want people to be bold enough to do “what’s right” for the company – but what if what’s right for the company means shutting down their project or cutting back research dollars … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Motivation, Risk Management

The best companies tend to rely on the professional judgment of their people. They hire good people and take their advice. Companies that are weaker apply metrics more mechanistically. R&D’s job is to create a buffet of wonderful ideas. My job is to have good taste.

Content: Quotation | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Judgement, Management