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Taking the Right Path: Look Inside Your Firm to Leverage Knowledge
By Bart Victor, Andrew C. Boynton. 1998
To maximize internal growth and profitability, organizations must transform people's work in order to leverage the value of previous learning…
and take full advantage of future learning. This chapter examines how organizations can leverage knowledge to achieve competitive advantage.Building and Sustaining the Right Team: Rethinking Board Design
By Jay W. Lorsch, Colin B. Carter. 2003
This chapter considers the critical question of selecting board members and enhancing their abilities-who should be on the board, how…
should they get there, and how can they be developed or removed?Board Design--Time for Action
By Jay W. Lorsch, Colin B. Carter. 2003
The root cause of the problems that most boards have is inadequate attention to the way each board is designed…
to handle its responsibilities. There is ample room, however, for each board, within established regulations, and with due consideration to current best practices, to design itself to be most effective in governing its company.Clusters and the New Economics of Competition
By Michael E. Porter. 1998
In this article, Michael Porter, the C. Christensen Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, explains how clusters…
foster high levels of productivity and innovation and lays out the implications for competitive strategy and economic policy. Economic geography in an era of global competition poses a paradox. In theory, location should no longer be a source of competitive advantage. Open global markets, rapid transportation, and high-speed communications should allow any company to source any thing from any place at any time. But in practice, location remains central to competition. Today's economic map of the world is characterized by what Porter calls clusters: critical masses in one place of linked industries and institutions--from suppliers to universities to government agencies--that enjoy unusual competitive success in a particular field. The most famous examples are found in Silicon Valley and Hollywood, but clusters dot the world's landscape. Porter explains how clusters affect competition in three broad ways: first, by increasing the productivity of companies based in the area; second, by driving the direction and pace of innovation; and third, by stimulating the formation of new businesses within the cluster. Geographic, cultural, and institutional proximity provides companies with special access, closer relationships, better information, powerful incentives, and other advantages that are difficult to tap from a distance. The more complex, knowledge-based, and dynamic the world economy becomes, the more this is true. Competitive advantage lies increasingly in local things--knowledge, relationships, and motivation--that distant rivals cannot replicate.Meet the Players: Chinese Entrepreneurs Thriving in an Unpredictable Market
By Donald N. Sull. 2005
Most Westerners know very little about the entrepreneurs who are reshaping the second-largest and arguably most dynamic economy in the…
world: China. This chapter provides a brief overview of recent Chinese history and an introduction to several successful Chinese companies and the lessons they offer on managing in an unpredictable context.Changing the Way We Change
By Mark Millemann, Linda Gioja, Richard Tanner Pascale. 1997
Companies achieve real agility only when every function and process--when every person--is able and eager to rise to every challenge.…
This type and degree of fundamental change, commonly called revitalization or transformation, is what many companies seek but rarely achieve because they have never before identified the factors that produce sustained transformational change. The authors identify three interventions that will restore companies to vital agility and then keep them in good health: incorporating employees fully into the principal business challenges facing the company; leading the organization in a different way in order to sharpen and maintain incorporation and constructive stress; and instilling mental disciplines that will make people behave differently and then help them sustain their new behavior. The authors discovered these basic sources of revitalization by tracking the change efforts of Sears, Roebuck and Co., Royal Dutch Shell, and the United States Army. This article is one of the first practical revitalization guides to appear anywhere, and it is based not on theory but on actual experience.When Consultants and Clients Clash (HBR Case Study and Commentary)
By David H. Maister, Robert H. Schaffer, Idalene F. Kesner, John Rau, Charles. J. Fombrun, Sally Fowler. 1997
This fictitious case study by Idalene F. Kesner, the Frank P. Popoff Professor at Indiana University, and Sally Fowler, assistant…
professor at Victoria University, explores the issues that arise when the wires get crossed between a team of consultants and their key client. The client is the CEO of a newly-merged company; the consultants have been hired to help knit together the two former companies' policies and cultures. Unfortunately, the client's impression of the current status of the new company and the consultants' assessment of the situation facing them are vastly different. In 97605 and 97605Z, John Rau, Charles Fombrum, Robert H. Schaffer, and David H. Maister advise the consultants and the client about their options, offer their perspectives on what makes a good client/consultant relationship, and discuss the difficulties that face newly merged companies.Should You Take Your Brand to Where the Action Is?
By David A. Aaker. 1997
When markets turn hostile, it's no surprise that managers are tempted to extend their brands vertically--that is, to take their…
brands into a seemingly attractive market above or below their current positions. And for companies chasing growth, the urge to move into booming premium or value segments also can be hard to resist. The draw is indeed strong; and in some instances, a vertical move is not merely justified but actually essential to survival--even for top brands, which have the advantages of economies of scale, brand equity, and retail clout. But beware: leveraging a brand to access upscale or downscale markets is more dangerous than it first appears. Before making a move, then, managers should ascertain whether the rewards will be worth the risks. In general, David Aaker recommends that managers avoid vertical extensions whenever possible. There is an inherent contradiction in the very concept because brand equity is built in large part on image and perceived worth, and a vertical move can easily distort those qualities. Still, certain situations demand vertical extensions, and Aaker examines both the winners and the losers in the game.Reinventing Retail: ShopRunner's Network Bet
By Benjamin Edelman, Karen L. Webster. 2014
ShopRunner considers adjustments to improve its online shopping service which offers no-charge two-day shipping as well as easy returns and…
other conveniences. Competitors' diverse pricing models and ancillary benefits raise questions about how to structure and price ShopRunner's offering. Meanwhile, an investment from Alibaba presents new opportunities in China but risks distraction from the core business.B. Zaitz & Sons Co. Farmland Investing
By Andre F. Perold. 2013
When the CEO Can't Let Go (HBR Case Study and Commentary)
By John Pound, Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld, Alonzo Mcdonald, Philip A. Lichtenfels. 1995
Every morning, Paul Marsh, the chairman, president, and CEO of Kansas-based Coltrane Farm Equipment & Manufacturing, climbs the six flights…
of stairs to his office as part of his stress management plan. But recently the stress has intensified. In just five months, Marsh is retiring, and critics charge that there is no one suitably prepared to step into his job. Coltrane has prospered mightily under Marsh's leadership, and in recent years he has pushed the company to grow overseas. At the same time, Marsh also has a history of conflict with his closest subordinates. Coltrane's former president and COO left eight months ago and has not been replaced, and the head of international operations was fired in 1992 after just 21 months on the job. With the clock ticking, can Coltrane develop a plan to find a replacement for Marsh who can successfully lead the company into the next century? In 95509 and 95509Z, John Pound, Philip A. Lichtenfels, Alonzo McDonald, and Jeffrey Sonnenfeld offer advice on this fictional case study.IdentiGEN
By Matthew Preble, Ray A. Goldberg. 2013
Ciaran Meghen and Ronan Loftus, co-founders of IdentiGEN (an Irish company that had created a unique service called DNA TraceBack…
to help customers identify and trace meat products), were discussing the company's future. The recent crisis over beef products being contaminated with horsemeat in Europe had generated strong demand for IdentiGEN's services. But more than this, DNA TraceBack gave customers strong insight into their operations to ensure product was genuine, and helped facilitate a continuous feedback loop between all players of the supply chain to deliver a high quality product to consumers. In light of strong demand, how should IdentiGEN proceed in terms of which customers to work with, and which products should it support?Lincoln Electric's Harsh Lessons from International Expansion
By Donald F. Hastings. 1999
Less than half an hour after Donald Hastings became chairman and CEO of the Lincoln Electric Company in July 1992,…
he got the shocking news: losses from the company's European operations were so steep that Lincoln was at risk of defaulting on its loans and being unable to pay its employees their year-end bonus. Since the bonus was the foundation of the company's unusually successful manufacturing operations, Hastings knew that failure to pay it could lead to the company's unraveling. How had Lincoln gotten into this predicament? By a program of rapid foreign expansion. Lincoln was primarily a U.S. company until the mid-1980s, but recession at home and competition from abroad led executives to dream that the company could become a global power. Between 1986 and 1991, Lincoln took on unprecedented debt in order to finance foreign acquisitions, mostly in Europe. A number of factors doomed the venture: recession in Europe, unfamiliarity with Europe's labor culture, lack of international expertise at the top. But the root cause, Hastings admits, was overconfidence on the part of Lincoln's leaders in the company's manufacturing abilities and systems. Hastings, now chairman emeritus, recounts how the company suffered through the early 1990s and then returned to prosperity. It wrote off most of its European operations, ramped up domestic production and sales, and hired top managers and board members with international experience. As a result of strenuous efforts at all levels of the company, it managed to keep paying the bonus and to largely regain the trust of its people.Getting Down to Work: Building a More Effective Board
By Jay W. Lorsch, Colin B. Carter. 2003
Competing on Capabilities: The New Rules of Corporate Strategy
By George Stalk, Lawrence E. Shulman, Philip Evans. 1992
In today's dynamic business environment, strategy too must become dynamic. The essence of strategy is not the structure of a…
company's products but the dynamics of its behavior. To succeed, a company must weave its key business processes into hard-to-imitate strategic capabilities that distinguish it from its competitors. A capability is a set of business processes understood strategically. While such capabilities are collective and cross-functional, they must be built and managed by the CEO. Uses examples from Wal-Mart.Managers can improve their odds of succeeding in unpredictable markets by conducting reconnaissance into the future rather than relying on…
a preconceived plan. This chapter outlines the steps that successful Chinese entrepreneurs have taken to anticipate possible threats and opportunities.From Little Things Big Things Grow: The Clontarf Foundation Program for Aboriginal Boys (B)
By F. Warren Mcfarlan, Michael R. Vitale. 2013
Manage Relationships Dynamically: How Chinese Entrepreneurs Thrive in an Unpredictable Market
By Donald N. Sull. 2005
Partnerships are necessary in order to share risk and obtain resources for succeeding in an unpredictable environment. This chapter identifies…
concrete actions companies can take to manage the dynamics of important relationships over time.Case of the Unpopular Pay Plan
By Tom Ehrenfeld. 1992
After launching a new quality program, the CEO of Top Chemical Co. was searching for a team-based compensation program that…
would reflect his company's new philosophy. A committee was formed to discuss the options. The compensation vice president explained his idea for paying teams based on their performance, making pay an incentive for continued improvement and overall excellence of the team. The plan met with resistance from employees at all levels of the company. What seemed like a simple idea for a pay plan turned into a very complicated matter. Four experts on compensation reveal where Top Chemical went wrong in its plan and how the CEO might bring about change successfully.Tim Blanchard at Jones Mendel & Co. (Abridged)
By Jay W. Lorsch, John J. Gabarro. 2013