The Art of Best Practice Transfer

Change programs designed to improve overall performance by promoting the highest standards in every unit of the organization can seem simple on paper but often fall apart once they hit the plant or office. Companies often have difficulty identifying good ideas and making them stick. These challenges can be overcome. The challenge is to extract the maximum value from the minimum number of change initiatives … [ Read more ]

Harold Evans

The recognition of the tension between values and numbers is the first requirement of the strategic manager, and it is the effective reconciliation of that tension that marks a great manager.

Karen Stephenson’s Quantum Theory of Trust

Companies can analyze, engineer, and elevate their own human networks, says the pioneering social scientist.

Editor’s Note: This article discusses the concept of network analysis, a useful but as-yet underutilized management tool (one that doesn’t even appear on Bain’s management tools survey).

Yves Doz

dean of executive education at INSEAD and author of “Alliance Advantage: The Art of From Global to Metanational: How Companies Win in the Knowledge Economy” and “Creating Value through Partnering” (written with Gary Hamel)

The Customer Profitability Conundrum: When to Love ‘Em or Leave ‘Em

he customer may always be right, according to the old adage. But here is a not-so-old adage that is just as true: The customer may not always be profitable. That’s why more companies are starting to take a harder look to determine which customers are worth serving and which should take their business elsewhere. The notion of eliminating customers may seem counterintuitive but in many … [ Read more ]

Henry Mintzberg

Everything that effective managers do is sandwiched between reflection and action. In other words, managers work where reflective thinking meets practical action. This interaction is clearly visible on three levels. A first level concerns people and their interpersonal relationships, where the orientation often has to be collaborative. A second is that of the organization, where we find the greatest attention to analysis. The third is … [ Read more ]

Why Know-Who Trumps Know-How

A six-step guide to the promotion of corporate entrepreneurship and the exploitation of innovation.

Marketing and Operations: Can This Marriage Be Saved?

Marketers worry about top-line revenue, while operations people fret about cost. Differentiated Service Policies allow them to coexist.

What Are the Measures That Matter?

This article examines the feud between two management gurus – Bob Kaplan and Tom Johnson. Together, the two developed and introduced the world to Activity Based Accounting and later the Balanced Scorecard (Kaplan). While Kaplan still is preaching these concepts, Johnson has gone on to argue that the troubles that mainstream companies get into are due to the misuse of measurement. Thus, their … [ Read more ]

The Best Business Books of the Millennium

strategy+business asked twelve opinionated, acclaimed strategists, scholars, and writers to identify and assess the most important business books in strategy, management, and various other categories.

Editor’s Note: A few of these pieces offer more than just listings of recommended books. In particular, I recommend you read:

Strategy (by David K. Hurst)
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Seize the Occasion! The Seven-Segment System for Online Marketing

Internet marketing has been a shot in the demographic darkness. Effective e-tailing must target not just users, but usage – a methodology called “occasionalization.”

The Cult of Three Cultures

The sum of operational, executive, and engineering cultures is greater than the corporate whole.

Editor’s Note: offers an interesting summary look at the theories of MIT OD professor Edgar Schein (three cultures) and sociologist Neil Fligstein (evolving historical corporate cultures that match the external environment)

Reality Programming for MBAs

Practically speaking, it’s time to rethink core concepts of management education.

Europe Ventures Forth

European companies lag behind U.S. corporations in starting new businesses. A few best-practice companies show how the continent can compete.

Editor’s Note: though a bit topical and ostensibly focused on Europe, the article lays out a general guide for any company considering setting up a corporate venturing initiative.

Strike Up the Brand

Tom Peters galvanized a free-agent nation with his manifesto, “The Brand Called You.” But there is something missing from his vision: us.

The Model 2 Organization: Making Your Company Safe for Zealots

Centralized management still confounds corporations that need to be fast and flexible. There’s a way to move from Taylorism to Welchism – but it means rejecting command-and-control.

Editor’s Note: offers an analysis of four basic managment models and the environments appropriate for each.

The Priceline Problem

Though a bit topical, this short piece offers some useful general pricing observations.

The Tyranny of “Community”

By imposing togetherness and teamwork across divisional boundaries, companies risk losing the people whose tacit knowledge actually drives growth.