bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Niche shock: And how to survive it
Authors: Olsen Richard J.
Published: February 2008

Unless we recognize what is unique about today's business environment, our best laid plans are almost sure to end in frustration, and perhaps failure. We're living in an unusual era, one in which the drama of rampant economic change is being performed under the subtle constraints of slow economic growth. Consider three fundamentals—people, jobs, and income. As you can see in Exhibit 1, all have been growing slowly in the 1980s as compared with prior decades. Yet, as I write this, the nightly news is announcing another economic milestone—U.S. consumers now have over 500 makes and models of VCRs to choose from. Exhibit 2 provides a picture of year‐to‐year changes as well as a five‐year moving average to demonstrate that the trend in U.S. growth rates is definitely downward, and that the variability above and below this trend has been increasing in the last decade.
Critical success factors
Authors: Freund York P.
Published: February 2008

Critical success factors (CSFs) are the hottest management buzz words. But most managers are vague about exactly what they are, how they work, and the problems inherent in using them. This article defines critical success factors (also known as “key success factors”) and describes how one insurance company has used them successfully to fine tune its business planning.
Environmental scanning at Monsanto
Authors: Stroup Margaret A.
Published: February 2008

Environmental scanning is “the study and interpretation of what is happening in society at large today in order to forecast developments in the business operating environment of tomorrow,” according to the excellent definition used by the Daniel Yankelovich Group.
Barriers to successful strategic information systems
Authors: Kemerer Chris F. , Sosa Glenn L.
Published: February 2008

A number of articles proposing the strategic use of information technology (IT)—often referred to as “strategic information systems” (SIS)—have appeared over the past few years. The good news is that many firms have become more aware of IT's strategic potential. No longer is it being relegated to automating back office functions. It has now taken on a strategic role.
The sugar daddy gambit: Funding strategic alliances with Venture Capital
Authors: Lee Mathews H. , Harvey Thomas W.
Published: February 2008

Why is Tandem Computers, a $1 billion a year computer firm, buying a minority equity interest in a company with less than 50 employees? Why is Eastman Kodak, with more than $12 billion in sales and spending over $1 billion on R&D, buying an 18 percent stake in a company with 35 employees? Why is DuPont, a $29 billion a year firm, also spending more than $1 billion a year on R&D, collaborating with a company with just 14 employees? Why is Pfizer investing $2.9 million in a company with less than 75 employees? None of these investments is expected to significantly boost these blue chip corporations' earnings per share in the near future, and the firms' managements are fully aware of the risks of getting involved with businesses they don't have time to run. When a mega‐giant firm invests in a tiny start‐up company, it's obviously prospecting for hot intellectual property and not just earnings growth.
Competitive confrontation in consumer services
Authors: Allen Michael G.
Published: February 2008

Here's an airline service performance you might take for granted: Coach passengers are enjoying their overnight Swissair flight to Geneva. The plane left promptly from JFK, dinner was first rate and was served swiftly and elegantly. What's missing from the sounds in the cabin? The crying of babies. They are sound asleep, cradled in specially designed hammocks called baby baskets. Never resting on its reputation for excellence in service management, Swissair keeps ahead with such innovations. The corporate payoff for such attention to detail is that Swissair continues to be the international airline most travelers prefer. Its flights are filled—at premium prices—because of its carefully designed and rehearsed services.
The globalization of the motor vehicle manufacturing industry
Authors: Coates Norman
Published: February 2008

By the year 2000, will there be one major global multinational automobile company supplying the entire planet? Extrapolating from trends in the 1980s, it is entirely possible to speculate that one major company—having swallowed up the entire global competition, with all the attendant benefits of economies of size and scale, high R&D expenditures, with adaptations of its products and prices to local market needs on a continent‐wide basis—will produce cars that consumers everywhere will buy. Should this occur, the next question we need to ask is: Will this company have its headquarters in Japan, the United States, or Europe? Again, if you were to follow the trends in the media, you would forecast a high probability that the “One Big Auto” company will be Japanese. However, my research suggests a somewhat different scenario for the future. While there will be a concentration in the industry worldwide, and fewer, larger companies will dominate the industry, there have been many unanticipated developments. Principal among these is the persistence of many companies in the industry, which are increasingly interlocked through joint ventures, so that it is no longer relevant to think of an American, European, or Japanese car. Rather, the final product is sourced from dozens of different countries.
The largest survey of “leading‐edge” competitor intelligence managers
Authors: Prescott John E. , Smith Daniel C.
Published: February 2008

If you need to improve the quality of your competitive analysis effort, this benchmark survey of the most “professional” practitioners of the art of intelligence will guide your program development.
Inventive packaging corporation
Authors: Busby William T.
Published: February 2008

Emerson said, “Build dream castles in the air, but put rock solid foundations under them.” This company's management was so deluded by the mirage of limitless potential that they forgot their competitors could put them out of business in short order.
The search for intelligence on divisions and subsidiaries
Authors: Kight Leila K.
Published: February 2008

In her commentary on the preceding case (IPC), this author shows how to collect competitive intelligence on hard‐to‐track business units hidden within large corporations.
Alacrity: Software that asks shrewd questions
Authors: Cook Donald A. , Sterling John W.
Published: February 2008

We invited two Ernst & Young consultants familiar with decision‐support software to test Alacrity's “expert system” for strategy development. Their review provides a detailed assessment of Alacrity's strengths and weaknesses to help you clarify your purchasing decision process.
Taking creative leaps
Authors: Bandrowski James F.
Published: February 2008

“The creative leap is achieved by imagining idealistic solutions first, then thinking logically backward to solve the problem in the reverse direction.”
The driving force
Authors: Tregoe Benjamin B. , Zimmerman John W. , Smith Ronald A. , Tobia Peter M.
Published: February 2008

Question: From the strategic perspective, what keeps your decision making for all future product, market, or business development on target? Answer: the driving force. This is a description of the classic analytical model in use.
How to value a multinational business
Authors: Copeland Tom , Roller Tim , Murrin Jack
Published: February 2008

When the time comes to make a European acquisition or divestiture, you will be relieved to have this step‐by‐step guide to valuing a multinational business on hand. This article, written from the point of view of a finance executive, is adapted from Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of Companies.
The renewal factor: Constructive contention
Authors: Tanner Pascale Richard
Published: February 2008

Large corporations that don't tolerate contention age prematurely, the author finds. Management's conflict between strategic planning and opportunism, for example, is a healthy process.
A new rationale for organizational structure
Authors: Kaestle Paul
Published: February 2008

Corporate organizational architecture needs to be redesigned to cope with metamorphic markets and blistering competitive intensity, and to benefit from evolving information technology. Three case studies show businesses adapting their structures in inventive ways. Marriott, for one, broke with fifty years of tradition to take the reservations function out of the hands of the resident manager.
Inland Steel's joint venture: From competitive gap to competitive advantage
Authors: Darnall Robert J.
Published: February 2008

Inland Steel's CEO committed the firm to on investment in a high‐tech joint venture with the Japanese in order to be competitive in the 1990s.
The coyote and the bear form a strategic alliance
Authors: Randall Robert M.
Published: February 2008

A very long time ago, a naive young coyote and a sardonic old bear shared the same river valley. The bear proposed that they farm the land together instead of battling over whose territory it should be. The coyote was eager to avoid a fight with the bear, and he quickly agreed. So, for many days they sat beside the stream discussing the terms of their deal.
Time: The next strategic frontier
Authors: Stonich Paul J.
Published: February 2008

In order to build a time‐based organization a firm should: outline a time‐based strategy, assess the feasibility of the strategy, and plan the changes. The implementation stage requires drastic changes in company culture, structure, systems, and the way work is accomplished.
Problems implementing time‐based management
Authors: Isenhour Robert M.
Published: February 2008

By studying the pitfalls other films encountered in the critical path of designing, developing, and introducing new products, you can learn to streamline your own process.
Planning Speeds Technological Development
Authors: Ranganath Nayak P.
Published: February 2008

An analysis of how speed creates financial incentives and competititve advantage. For example, an Arthur D. Little study found that one automobile firm could potentially reduce its product development costs by $350 million just by cutting development time 20 percent.
ithink: Animated strategic models on your desktop computer
Authors: Erik Samzelius Jan , Miller Sara E.
Published: February 2008

With this software, strategic managers can quickly build sophisticated simulations on their Macintoshes. Case in point: A forecast for a regional Bell operating company.
A catalog of commercially available software for strategic planning
Authors: Mockler Robert J.
Published: February 2008

These fourteen software programs can help managers do strategic planning and teach them the consequences of strategic decisions.
Charting the dilemmas of Hanover Insurance
Authors: Hampden‐Turner Charles
Published: February 2008

The management philosophy of this highly successful firm is based on enlighted concepts of leanness, localism, openness, and rewarding merit.
Mental models
Authors: Senge Peter M.
Published: February 2008

The discipline of managing mental models—surfacing, testing, and improving our internal pictures of how the world works—promises to be a major breakthrough for building learning organizations.
Composing a plot for your scenario
Authors: Schwartz Peter
Published: February 2008

The scenario writer must identify the most powerful forces inside and outside the company, and analyze which plots they fit.
Teaching decision makers to learn from scenarios: A blueprint for implementation
Authors: Wilson Ian
Published: February 2008

The insights gained from scenarios will be wasted unless companies effectively integrate them into the decision‐making process.
Los Angeles 2007: Implications of a scenario analysis for energy forecasting
Authors: Millett Stephen M.
Published: February 2008

Using alternative scenarios of possible future conditions, this utility has now developed contingency plans to meet long‐term demand in the most efficient and economical manner.
Quality comes first when hatching power brands
Authors: Gale Bradley T.
Published: February 2008

Power brands like Perdue Farm's Oven Staffer chickens and Gillette's Sensor razor achieve superior profitability by convincing customers that they offer superior quality says a noted analyst of the data linking strategy and performance. His conclusions are based on a review of 25 years of confidential data from major U.S. corporations. His insights have important implications for corporate strategy and should provoke a review of business operations in many firms.
Screening potential new products
Authors: Kuczmarski Thomas D.
Published: February 2008

A sophisticated screening system can focus the energies of the company on creating and developing products and services that will have greater likelihood of success.
How to focus marketing intelligence to serve strategy
Authors: Jenster Per V. , Hover David
Published: February 2008

This flavor industry case takes a clinical look at a global firm's complex marketing research practices. The reader's job: Find the set of opportunities that constitute a strategic resource.
Process improvement and management: A tool for strategy implementation
Authors: Brache Alan P.
Published: February 2008

It is more important for an organization to be cross‐functionally excellent than functionally excellent. If an organization wants to implement strategy, it must examine the cross‐functional processes by which work gets done. Many key transactions are actually between departments, where batons are being passed from one runner to the next.
2020 Vision
Authors: Meyer Christopher
Published: February 2008

Why have the competitive rules changed — why have time and capabilities become the basis of competition? What are companies doing, specifically, to win in the new information economy?
The dangers of death‐wish marketing
Authors: Clancy Kevin J.
Published: February 2008

Marketing practices are generally unhealthy. Reports of marketing success are wildly and widely exaggerated. Indeed, marketing efforts and practices rarely succeed if one defines success as demonstrating a reasonable return on investment. For example, 16,000 new package goods were introduced into American supermarkets and pharmacies last year, and 80 percent failed. Research suggests similar failure rates for new movies; financial products and services; and consumer durables, including automobiles, appliances and consumer electronics. One CEO of a major company admitted last year: “We would have made more money if we had taken everything we spent creating and introducing new products in the last ten years and put it into certificates of deposit.”
Six pathways to marketing innovation
Authors: Magrath Allan J.
Published: February 2008

A company must decide not only which pathway of innovation to pursue but apply talented, focused management to the problem of maximizing the yield from its innovation.
Logitech commentary
Authors: Magrath Allan J.
Published: February 2008

Logitech has a management capability that a great many large companies would envy—intense linked communications, the ability to make decisions rapidly, lots of teams, a minimum of controls, maximum employee empowerment, low turnover, and high knowledge transfer. It has both excellent sources of information and a network of good people to execute innovation as well. The company even has centers of excellence by site. For example, its R&D is decentralized, and it has kept those sites small and close to its customers, with lots of local value added.
Logitech case commentary
Authors: Davidson Alistair
Published: February 2008

Logitech has succeeded in the expensive and difficult process of establishing a global brand. In high‐tech markets, product lines change and evolve rapidly, but the brand name, capabilities, distribution and marketing channels represent an ongoing asset of the business. Logitech now faces another series of challenges as it attempts to exploit its brand by developing and marketing a stream of new products.
How benchmarking goes wrong (and how to do it right)
Authors: Pryor Lawrence S. , Katz Steven J.
Published: February 2008

This producer of specialized industrial products with high margins was suffering from slow growth. So it benchmarked its sales effectiveness against four direct competitors, a non‐competitor in its industry, and one of the best sales forces in the nation. This case study also looks at implementation after three years.
The rules for managing cross‐functional reengineering teams
Authors: Katzenbach Jon R. , Smith Douglas K.
Published: February 2008

The survival of many organizations depends on teams capable of engendering superior innovation in business processes. Successful teams always have two things in common. They are strongly committed to a shared purpose and specific performance goals.
A six‐step guide to process reengineering
Authors: Furey Timothy R.
Published: February 2008

This model integrates proven management tools such as Total Quality Management, benchmarking, customer‐satisfaction measurement, and cross‐functional team building into an innovative process reengineering program.
The secret history of process reengineering
Authors: Rigby Darrell
Published: February 2008

Some consultants are selling process reengineering as if it were a spanking new discovery. It isn't. And managers who assume that it is, and innocently go where they presume no one has gone before, are likely to repeat the big and little mistakes of the past.
Reengineering information systems at Cincinnati Milacron
Authors: Cole Christopher C. , Clark Michael L. , Nemec Carl
Published: February 2008

Cole, Milacron's vice president of machine tool products, and his co‐authors tell how Enterprisewide Information Planning was used to align information systems with reengineered processes at this $800 million global competitor.
Business process reengineering at Pacific Bell
Authors: Housel Thomas J. , Morris Chris J. , Westland Christopher
Published: February 2008

The Strategic Information Systems Division of Pacific Bell supports the company's business process reengineeiing (BPR) efforts. The division developed an innovative process‐based cost/value analysis to quantify the costs incurred as well as the value added from the firm's activities. The analysis became an important tool for determining the value of information systems to BPR efforts.
Brave new world?
Authors: Coplin William D. , O'Leary Michael K.
Published: February 2008

Intractable national and ethnic conflicts and destabilizing economic trends of the past five years are fomenting political whirlwinds that will make 1993 a risky year for international business.
Mass customization at Personal lines Insurance Center
Authors: Martin Hugh F.
Published: February 2008

Personal Lines Insurance Center, a subsidiary of ITT Hartford that markets automobile and homeowners personal insurance directly to members of AARP, is now in the process of formulating and implementing a mass customization strategy that will become the conceptual basis of its long‐term business plan.
A directory of strategic management software tools
Authors: Davidson Alistair , Tenaglia Mason
Published: February 2008

This annual directory of software for planning and strategic management projects lists some noteworthy tools, samples of the many available choices. Some of these software applications can be customized.
Reengineering in action
Authors: Davis Tim R.V.
Published: February 2008

The first conference featuring presentations by line managers implementing reengineering was held in Orlando, Florida, in January by The Manufacturing Institute, a division of the Institute for International Research.
Making the right choices for the new consumer
Authors: Dell Michael S.
Published: February 2008

In the early 1980s, when the PC business first got started, I realized that the distribution system for computers was very inefficient. Computer stores charged a 25–30 percent mark‐up for a computer, yet most salespeople did not know much about computers.
The strategic human resource management process in practice
Authors: Wessel James R.
Published: February 2008

Becton Dickinson (BD) is a $2.5 billion medical technology company. Our primary product lines are disposable medical devices such as syringes, needles and scalpels. The other half of the business is diagnostic instruments and systems, ranging from one‐step pregnancy tests to large instrument systems. Fifty‐five percent of our sales are in the U.S., although our international segment is growing much faster than our domestic operations.
Applying information technology to reengineering
Authors: Furey Tim R. , Garlitz Jennifer L. , Kelleher Michael L.
Published: February 2008

Information technology (IT) makes business process reengineering possible—and makes it worthwhile. For example, PC and network technologies facilitate simplified processes, promote decentralized decision making, and empower front line employees. So IT and reengineering should be seen as Siamese twins—don't expect to get far with one without paying close attention to the other.
Learning from imagining the years ahead
Authors: Thomas Charles W.
Published: February 2008

Scenario planning has taught a few organizations to be “learning planners.” That is, to identify the crucial uncertainties of the future and learn to formulate robust goals and strategies that will be advantageous in a variety of futures. It is a planning method that systematically analyses the uncertainties of the future and, in the process, complements and reinforces a company's efforts to become a learning organization.
Intentional breakdowns and conflict by design
Authors: Pascale Richard T.
Published: February 2008

Many firms have adopted one or more “radical” management remedies in a quest for breakthroughs in performance. But their goal of “discontinuous” improvements usually has an unspoken stipulation: change that causes breakdowns is not acceptable. A few innovative companies have found, however, that process and offering breakthroughs can't occur without carefully orchestrated management system conflict and breakdowns.
Making reengineering strategic
Authors: Furey Tim R. , Diorio Stephen G.
Published: February 2008

Many managers wrongly think of business process reengineering only in terms of automating paperwork to cut costs and headcount. But the methodology can also be used to create sets of superior business processes that together produce unique goods and services their customers value highly. In the following cases the companies have achieved important competitive advantage because their customer‐serving processes—and all the business processes sub‐routines—are seen as the means
Scenarios designed to improve decision making
Authors: Duncan Norman E. , Wack Pierre
Published: February 2008

Scenarios that offer peeks at the future are intriguing, but critics complain that often they aren't much help in sorting out current decisions. The authors offer an alternative process that starts with a rough sketch of the main elements of several likely macroeconomic futures and then involves managers in the development of scenarios that focus on decision making. The intent is to clarify the options for operating decisions. In this case, a Latin American oil producer decides whether to buy a small and somewhat inefficient U. S. refinery.
Devising a balanced scorecard matched to business strategy
Authors: Kaplan Robert S.
Published: February 2008

Why do companies need a new scorecard to measure performance? Why aren't time‐honored financial measures sufficient? The answer is that in today's ultra‐competitive fast‐changing business environment, managers need a scorecard that provides a measures of how well they are creating future value. However, traditional financial measures, and even the new variations on the financial model, such as economic value‐added, reflect transactions that have already occurred.
Inspiring and implementing the innovation mind‐set
Authors: Kuezmarski Thomas
Published: February 2008

Companies attempting to regenerate themselves through the introduction of successful new products must first instill an innovation mind‐set in their management. This is a leadership challenge, and it's a formidable one. Just being a “me‐too, better‐than” product or service developer isn't going to work anymore. In 1991, as one of the many research initiatives that we regularly conduct at our firm, we did a study on new product and service practices at companies in the Midwest. When the study's most successful respondents — those that had generated at least 20 to 25 percent of their revenues from new products — defined their total portfolio of products that had been launched over a five‐year time period, 39 percent of these new products were either new to the world or new to the company. In contrast, the rest of the respondents' new‐to‐the‐world and new to‐the‐company products represented only 23 percent of their total portfolio.
That's not “turbulence,” Chicken Little, it's really opportunity
Authors: Mintzberg Henry
Published: February 2008

To pronounce any environment permanently turbulent is as silly as calling it permanently stable. Environments are always changing in some dimensions while remaining stable in others.
How to identify and enhance core competencies
Authors: Simpson Dan
Published: February 2008

The following exchange of opinions at The Planning Forum's International Strategic Management Conference was condensed from the “Dilemmas of Planning” session, chaired by Dan Simpson, Director of Strategy and Planning, The Clorox Company. The panelists were: Paula Cholmondeley, Vice President, Business Development and Global Sourcing, Owens Corning Fiberglas; Jean‐Yves Gueguen, Vice President, Corporate Planning and Development, American Express; Brian Marsh, Head of Planning Consultancy, Shell International Petroleum (London); Pete Schavoir, IBM Director of Strategy (retired), The IBM Corporation; and Gordon Shaw, Executive Director, Planning and International, 3M. The opinions expressed are the personal ones of panelists. Part 1 appeared in the September/October issue.
How to reshape your business to fit the future
Authors: Hamel Gary , Randall Robert M.
Published: February 2008

This leading business thinker urges managers to seek breakthrough strategies for creating the markets of tomorrow. Reinvent your company and your industry, urges Gary Hamel, co‐author of Competing for the Future. If you're wise, you'll start while your company is still healthy and wealthy.
Software tools for the strategic manager
Authors: Davidson Alistair , Weller‐Cody Sharon
Published: February 2008

Making selections for an annual listing of software that will be particularly useful to strategic managers is always a challenging task. The software chosen represents a broad variety of products. Our list includes:
A new methodology for business process auditing
Authors: Housel Tom , Kanevsky Valery
Published: February 2008

These phone company managers believe they have designed a practical methodology that will allow any company to estimate which reengineering projects have the most potential to add value. Their innovation could provide businesses with the first reliable means of predicting or auditing the return on investment in individual component processes of reengineering projects.
Quality Profiling: The first step in reenginering and benchmarking
Authors: Gale Bradley T.
Published: February 2008

To be most useful, your reengineering and benchmarking projects first need to examine the key processes that affect the way your customers perceive quality and value.
Executive Leadership Teams: Exorcising demons, exercising minds
Authors: Hart Ellen
Published: February 2008

Group process is critical to the optimal functioning of executive leadership teams, yet many meetings of these teams never get beyond two‐way dialogue. What gets in the way? Some say politics and culture. Perhaps there's more to the story.
Beyond relationship marketing… Anticipating what customers want
Authors: Freid Connie , Freid Stan
Published: February 2008

These specialists in marketing and customer intelligence challenge Don Peppers' and Martha Rogers' reliance on past customer behavior, as suggested in their recent article “A Marketing Paradigm: Share of Customer, Not Market Share” in the March/April 1995 issue of Planning Review.
Leading Strategic Change: Something old, something new
Authors: Howell William R.
Published: February 2008

Change seldom happens the way we expect, and plans are rarely executed exactly as we intend. That's the thing about change: it always retains that element of the unexpected. So how does a large company deal with change? First of all, I believe we have to embrace change—anticipate it and look for the opportunities it brings. We must listen to our customers and be flexible and innovative. These elements have never been more important than they are today.
Leading strategic change in America's Army: The way forward
Authors: Gordon R. Sullivan General
Published: February 2008

Professor, consultant, and best‐selling author Richard T. Pascale has closely observed General Sullivan's efforts to do the impossible: to transform the largest and most tradition‐bound employer in the United States. (Including support personnel, the U.S. Army is nearly two million strong.) In his opening remarks to a joint session with General Gordon R. Sullivan, Pascale lauded the General's progress toward making the vital transition from the era of “beat the Russians” and “being the best army” to “be all you can be.”
Issue Management: Closing the expectation gap
Authors: Yancey Crane Teresa
Published: February 2008

How can business leaders deal with the gap between corporate performance and stakeholder expectations? One solution may be to institutionalize issue management.
Visualization of knowledge: Braiding and using intangible assets digitally
Authors: Clippinger John H.
Published: February 2008

How can organizations accelerate their learning processes and build intangible knowledge assets? Some companies are using digital technology simulations such as TeleSim and web‐based learning platforms.
Innovation: The core competence
Authors: Higgins James M.
Published: February 2008

Innovation is the secret to competitive advantage in today's rapidly changing environment, but how does a company ensure an innovative environment? Is innovation all in the process, or does organizational culture play a role?
Communication: A key factor in strategy implementation
Authors: Miniace Joseph N. , Falter Elizabeth
Published: February 2008

How does a major academic medical center interpret for its employees the organization's evolving position on managed care? How can top‐down and bottom‐up communication be combined to encourage open discussion of key issues? How does the communication process affect strategy implementation ?
An analysis of competitive forces
Authors: Fulmer Robert M. , Vicere Albert A.
Published: February 2008

If this is the “Age of the Learning Organization,” surely creating leaders who can build learning‐oriented competitive advantage should be a big business. Nohria and Berkley of the Harvard Business School have estimated that corporate expenditures for training have grown from $10 billion to $45 billion during the past decade. Business Week estimates that approximately $12 billion of this amount was devoted to executive education. The growth in expenditures for executive programs is a result of the increasing recognition that education and leadership development are powerful levers in communicating and implementing key strategic initiatives.
Tips for aspiring reengineers
Authors: Klein Mark M.
Published: February 2008

This article is the first to appear in our new Tips on Tools column that will become a regular feature in future issues. The author draws on his extensive experience in enabling business transformation through reengineering.
Delivering I/T value in three easy steps
Authors: Pumo Janet M.
Published: February 2008

This article is the first to appear in our new Technology Update column that will become a regular feature in future issues. The information is based on an ongoing benchmarking study involving several Fortune 200 companies to identify best practices world‐wide and across industries for managing information technology priorities and measurements. Anyone interested in this study may contact Ms. Pumo at janetp@vnet.ibm.com.
Build leadership talent from within
Authors: Kaye Kenneth
Published: February 2008

Leadership development is often the least systematic aspect of an organization's strategy development, although it is arguably the most important. Leadership succession isn't about only the top job. It is also about all the senior management positions, including new ones that may be created. We are currently working with a chief executive and his vice president of Human Resources to design a “Leading Manager Development Plan” to ensure that their company (with 3000 employees worldwide) will consistently have a pool of strong internal candidates to consider for new assignments.
Benchmarking: Knowledge management
Authors: Hiebeler Robert J.
Published: February 2008

This article is based on the results of a benchmarking study of knowledge management that was initiated at the Knowledge Imperative Symposium in Houston, Tex., in September 1995. The symposium was co‐sponsored by Arthur Andersen and the Houston‐based American Productivity & Quality Center.
Reinventing Strategic Planning
Authors: Camillus John C.
Published: February 2008

If there is any consensus on the nature of the management challenge today, it is that business environments are more dynamic, competitive, and unpredictable than ever before and that businesses have to be more flexible, organic, and innovative in how they structure themselves. Different environmental characteristics and different organizational forms require new and different ways of defining business strategy.
Flexible commitment: A key to strategic success
Authors: Chakravarthy Balaji S.
Published: February 2008

There is a recurring theme in the spectacular successes of a Wal‐Mart in the U.S., a Canon in Japan, or an ISS in Europe: the ability to stake out future opportunities and make preemptive commitments to a competence platform. Commitment begets success. Being a first mover is becoming a necessary condition for success.
The 5 compasses of strategic leadership
Authors: Wilson Ian H.
Published: February 2008

Times change and, with them, our approaches to strategy and its execution. In the 1970s, strategic planning was the corporate mantra in most companies. But as we moved into a new decade, strategic planning was tarred with the brush of “failure to implement.” In the 1980s, the corporate and consulting world was a‐buzz with strategic management—the new and improved version of setting direction and creating shareholder wealth. Now, in the 1990s, the focus is strategic leadership.
Capturing value in five moves or less: The new game of business
Authors: Slywotzky Adrian , Linthicum Fred
Published: February 2008

In 1984, IBM was viewed as the most powerful corporation in the world. Ten years later, it was struggling to survive, while what had been an entrepreneurial curiosity—Microsoft—had become so powerful that many were concerned. Today, Microsoft finds itself fighting a rear‐guard action to hold its position in the face of Netscape and other emerging competitors.
Leading change: A conversation with John P. Kotter
Authors: Kotter John P.
Published: February 2008

For years we have talked about managing change, now it's leading change. Why the shift?
When it comes to real change, too much objectivity may be fatal to the process
Authors: Hurst David K.
Published: February 2008

“I'm glad you're angry,” said the Vice President of Marketing to the packed meeting. “It shows that you are starting to change. Anger is one of the early stages.” He then proceeded to tick off the well‐known human reactions to disruptive change—shock, anger, and denial.
People Value Added: The new performance measure
Authors: Schneier Robert
Published: February 2008

People Value Added (PVA) is an economic measure of productivity and organization effectiveness. It is a ratio that measures value created relative to the capital investment in human resources. While simple in concept, its application can yield some valuable insights into the effectiveness of a company's strategy and performance.
Strategy is back: An open letter to S&L readers
Authors: Hess William E.
Published: February 2008

In case you haven't heard, strategy is back. According to a recent Business Week article, “Business strategy is now the single most important management issue and will remain so for the next five years.” Strategy has gone in and out of fashion more often than “top‐down leadership.” But these days, corporations are searching for new avenues of growth to recover from the questionable restructuring caused by downsizing, reengineering, and other cost‐cutting measures. The common thread for businesses and political and consulting experts is that they all believe long‐term, sustained economic growth demands innovative, aggressive, actionable strategies. Strategic planning has become the crucial tool that can help steer companies in the right direction.
Strategies, systems, and organizations: An interview with Russell L. Ackoff
Authors: Ackoff Russell L.
Published: February 2008

You were one of the founders of operations research and management science in the U.S. In the early 1970s, however, when the “predict and prepare” school of planning was at the peak of its influence in corporate America, you left management science. What made you move away from such a successful paradigm?
Shift thin in RX for Texaco and other global enterprises
Authors: O'Shea Lynne
Published: February 2008

There are three obvious lessons to be learned from the Texaco saga now unfolding on the American stage. First, there is a wide gulf between the official policies of an organization and how its people behave in the trenches and executive offices. Second, diversity in its U.S. context is the unfortunate prisoner of EEO definitions at a time when such language no longer fits the reality of global economics. Third, best‐practice management is gaining ground and damage‐control exercises are fast becoming a high art form. Not so obvious is a prescription for what the private sector can do in the next five years to leverage human equity.
Building value: Customer and shareholder
Authors: Cleland Alan S. , Bruno Albert V.
Published: February 2008

We all constantly witness breathtaking turns in the fortunes of business enterprises, both large and small. Virtually every issue of the Wall growth suddenly halts or whose stock price abruptly collapses. Readers of these stories usually look for complex reasons to explain the dramatic differences between the victor and the vanquished. But the cause of success or failure is seldom complicated.
Perpetual strategy a 21st century essential
Authors: Tyson Kirk W.M.
Published: February 2008

It's a fairly accepted fact that competition will become even more intense in the 21st century than it is today. As we move forward from the Information Age to the Intelligence Age, success will come to those companies that build a knowledge base about their competitive environment and a perpetual strategy process to keep it continuously updated.
Strategic processes in fast‐cycle environments
Authors: Camillus John C. , Sessions Richard T. , Webb Ron
Published: February 2008

In today's highly dynamic, unpredictably changing business environment, traditional strategic‐planning approaches are of doubtful value. In 1995, the American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC) began a series of consortium benchmarking studies on strategic planning. The first study, completed in 1996, identified several innovative practices and surfaced challenges faced by companies in highly dynamic business environments. Consequently, strategic planning in fast‐cycle environments became the focus of the second study, “Reinventing Strategic Planning for a Dynamic Environment,” which was completed in February 1997.
The challenges of strategy: Seven lessons
Authors: Kipp Michael F.
Published: February 2008

Each year, thousands of companies go through a ritualized process they hope will prompt new vision, renewed energy, and sufficient focus to enable them to prevail into the next century. Nearly 70 percent are disappointed.
Knowledge transfer: Discover your value proposition
Authors: O'Dell Carla , Jackson Grayson C.
Published: February 2008

Does managing and transferring knowledge really work? Absolutely. Dramatic results for a growing number of companies—large and small, private and public—have encouraged other organizations to follow suit.
Discontinuous innovation and the growth paradox
Authors: Kaplan Soren M.
Published: February 2008

“To understand that a technology — and the company whose future success depends on it — will eventually face the end of its lifecycle inspires urgency for, and commitment to, discontinuous innovation.”
Chief Evolutionary Officers: The amazing business of famous human evolution
Authors: Jaccaci August , Gault Susan
Published: February 2008

In the world of business, visionary leaders are creating a conscious renaissance. With growing success and surprising earnings, they are teaching humanity the meaning of the word “transformation.” The authors assert that this renaissance, this dawning and awakening of humanity, is the emerging era of evolution. In this era, a new human role is being called for, and the noun “evolutionary” will name those who seek to work with and for the natural order of evolution itself. The Theory of Transformative Growth states that everything that grows and evolves, including a business, does so in a multi‐stage process‐pattern consisting of Gathering, forming a sustainable physical being or idea; Repeating, making multiple likenesses of a new being, product, or idea; Sharing, the process of expanding by integrating differences and increasing relationships; and Transforming, creating a higher order union of increased potential.
A forum of futurists: A look back and a look ahead
Authors: Wilson Ian
Published: February 2008

This article begins with a reprint of interviews from the November/December 1995 issue of Planning Review (the previous identity of Strategy & Leadership.). In those interviews, four leading futurists — Ian Wilson, Oliver Markley, Joseph Coates, and Clement Bezold — discussed the critical issues they believed were facing business leaders in the first decade of the twenty‐first century, the strategic implications of these issues, and how business leaders should respond. Their original remarks are followed by their current thoughts about what progress has been made in five years and how the critical issues may have changed in that time.
The New HP way: Covering strategy with diversity leadership development and decentralization
Authors: Fulmer Robert M. , Gibbs Philip A. , Goldsmith Marshall
Published: February 2008

The authors present a case study of how Hewlett‐Packard is changing its culture under the direction of its new chief executive Carly Fiorina. Fiorina says her challenge is “to make sure HP represents the next century rather than the last one.” To prepare for the future, company leaders saw the need to create a “New HP Way.” Under the new way, all HP employees — but especially managers — must be leaders who generate enthusiasm and respond with extra effort to meet customer needs. They must personally accept responsibility and are encouraged to upgrade their skills and capabilities through ongoing training and development.
The Measurement of Library Services: an Appraisal of Current Problems and Possibilities
Authors: Allred John
Published: February 2008

The thesis of this book is that library measurement needs to move on and away from the idea that it is a process of counting and comparing the resources deployed by our libraries. The current emphasis on output measurement is an improvement but not the answer, refreshing as it is to judge a library by the quantity of what comes out instead of by the quantity of what is put in. The author believes that the nature of the library service is that of a “broad aim” social programme, best judged (evaluated) by gathering “politically significant information on the consequences of political acts”. “Political” here implies that the aims and intentions of those funding, organising and using libraries arise from more than one set of social values and from more than one definition of what the library is, and that they differ in priorities even when they do not directly conflict. Information about the library service will be in the form of a spectrum of measures reflecting the inputs, the processes, the outputs and the impact of the library, relating the various values in various ways. The difficulty in measuring library services, it is argued here, arises from the conflicts and lack of clarity about the aims of the service, and from uncertainty about how the process affects the outcomes. The technical problems of measurement are secondary. Chapter One aims to survey the range of measures available, whilst the rest of the book discusses how they might be used.
Marketing Strategies for Libraries
Authors: Smith Barry B.
Published: February 2008

Library services face many problems at the present time: problems to do with funding and priorities which lead to questions about how we can change and where our future lies. These questions concern the library's relationship with its external environment — its strategy. Such a strategic focus is one which all library managers would do well to develop.
A State‐of‐the‐Art Report on Electronic Publishing
Authors: Hayden Virginia
Published: February 2008

One of the tasks of the special librarian is to facilitate current awareness: services are set up to encourage user groups to keep up‐to‐date with developments in their own and related subject areas. The librarian advocates current awareness as an essential prerequisite for members of that user group to remain effective practitioners, researchers or teachers within their subject area. The librarian encourages and advocates because unfortunately some of those practitioners, researchers and teachers are either unconvinced of the need for current awareness or haven't the time/are not interested/cannot be bothered.
Information Technology and Libraries
Authors: Lumek Roberta
Published: February 2008

This work was originally commissioned during 1982, the year that was designated Information Technology Year; the year that the personal computer replaced the space invader machine as a focus for teenage obsession; the year of the library symbol, the Hunt Report on cable TV; the year the US Post Office issued two stamps celebrating American libraries, and the British Post Office issued a stamp for IT year suggesting that libraries were a thing of the past. The work was intended to look at “the background to the IT revolution, the benefits of applying technology to library services and the reasons for its relatively slow progress”. It was envisaged at the time that what would have been effectively a state‐of‐the‐art report on the technology available to libraries, and who was doing what with it, would be a useful tool for library managers introducing or extending library technical services. It might usefully have complemented the LA publication, The impact of new technology on libraries and information centres (LA, 1982). However, for a variety of reasons it was not possible to produce the publication in 1983 as intended; the person commissioned to write it was unable to do so; and eventually, in 1984, it was realised that the speed of development and availability of technology was such that any such work would be useless as a practical guide within months of publication. The growth, during the period, of journals on the subject of library applications of IT of all kinds; the appearance of regular updates in the generalist professional press; the formation of, for example, the Library Association IT Group: all these developments clearly offered better opportunities of current awareness to the library manager than could be achieved by a single monograph.