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

Vision statements come in a variety of shapes and sizes. A corporate vision may include statements about the future business environment, technology, and expected performance. Many express some overall theme, discuss core businesses and resources, and comment on how the company will interact with its key stakeholders. Regardless of length, the best visions establish a clear statement of “what we want to be.” Several in-depth … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: David C. Shanks, W. Tom Sommerlatte | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subject: Strategy

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Pose the question to any audience, “How many here favor free trade and how many support protectionism or managed trade?” Inevitably, an overwhelming majority of hands are raised for free trade.

In the leading academic centers and think tanks, as well as in most of the press and major business organizations, the need for freer trade is constantly enjoined. And yet….

Editor’s Note: this article was … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Clyde V. Prestowitz Jr. | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Economics, Trade

It is important to distinguish between employee satisfaction and employee empowerment. Many surveys reveal that employees value other aspects of their work – such as having a clear career path, professional training, and a company they can be proud of – ahead of employee involvement or empowerment.

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

When discrete techniques (such as JIT, simultaneous engineering, supplier quality audits) are applied to enterprises with neither the philosophy nor the organization to accept them, they fail to produce results. The same is true of process automation or automated information systems. Philosophy and organization must precede technique.

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

Environmental, health, and safety management is one of the most pressing challenges facing corporations today. However, except for a handful of progressive companies, most organizations are not yet devoting to this critical area the full attention and resources it needs. The “wait-and-see” management posture prevalent among some corporations is not only ineffective but dangerous. It can quickly threaten a company’s competitive position – and even … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: J. Ladd Greeno | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subject: Social Responsibility (ESG)

As long as nations care what they make, as long as they believe that potato chips and computer chips are not the same thing, and as long as differences in national policies and industrial structures exist such that one nation’s efforts in these areas are facilitated at the expense of another, trade will be managed.

Content: Quotation | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Economics, International

This article, although written in 1990, is quite interesting. Ostensibly, it takes a close look at the often unforeseen costs of downsizing and suggests a radically different approach (reshaping). While it does this in some sense, I found it most interesting for its analysis of middle management and the trends surrounding this layer of the organization.

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

Many Western managers are becoming wary of joint ventures. They have learned through costly experience that such alliances – particularly with Asian partners – can become a low-cost route through which new competitors acquire technology and market access. However, with the costs of product and market development escalating, avoiding strategic alliances altogether is not an option many firms can afford. The question for Western firms … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: C.K. Prahalad, Gary Hamel | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Management, Strategy

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The R&D imperative for industry has never been more compelling. Virtually all of industry has felt the impact of increased competition, much of it technically based, as well as the accelerated pace of technological challenge and change. The cumulative R&D expenditures and output of competition grows apace. No single company can grow its R&D investment at a rate commensurate with the sum of the international … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Author: Philip A. Roussel | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Management, Strategy

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While American firms often talk as if they are investing vast amounts in their work forces, they in fact invest less in the skills of their workers than either Japanese or German firms. The investment they do make tends to be highly focused on professional and managerial employees. And the limited investments that are made in average workers are narrowly focused on the specific skills … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Economics, International

This article examines team dynamics in light of the Kantor Four-Player system, an empirically based model of the structure of behavior (aside from the content of the behavior) in human systems. This system provides a simple but powerful framework for seeing and shifting team behavior. Specifically, careful observation indicates that, when we strip complex interactions to their bare essence, team members display four types of … [ Read more ]

Content: Article | Authors: David Kantor, Steven P. Ober | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subject: Organizational Behavior

Let me suggest that the military metaphors should be replaced with the language of sports. Despite the desire to win, all sports have a cooperative element as well as a competitive element. One has to agree on the rules of the game, the referees, and what trophies go to the winners. One can want to win, yet remain friends both during and after the game. … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Competition, Economics

Put bluntly, those with the best work forces will win the competitive game of the 21st century. The quality of the work force is the key strategic competitive weapon for the individual, the firm, and the nation. In a global economy, those without skills have to face what economists know as “factor price equalization.” The unskilled who live in a rich society can make no … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Economics, International

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If the winners are the inventors of products, the education of the top 2 5 percent of the labor force is critical, because someone in that group will invent the new products. If the winners are the cheapest and best producers of products, the education of the bottom 50 percent of the population moves center stage, because this part of the work force must master … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Economics, Education

Over time, the pay and promotion curves for managers and engineers handling production-process problems have fallen behind those in design and new product development. In the United States, production has ceased to be the route to the top. Among today’s CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, 34 percent come from marketing, 25 percent from finance, 24 percent from general management, and only 4 percent from production. … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Career, Miscellaneous

[In the past,] a new product gave the inventor a monopoly power to set higher prices and earn higher profits. The inventor had a new product that others did not have. In contrast, a new process still left the inventor in a competitive business making a competitive product. The inventor’s competitors knew how to make the product, and they could always lower their prices to … [ Read more ]

Content: Quotation | Source: Prism (Arthur D. Little) | Subjects: Competition, Economics