Strategy

The organizational structures of many multinational corporations are inadequate to the task of capitalizing on opportunities in emerging markets. Locating...

Too many executives use data to confirm what they already think.

The CEO wants to increase collaboration and cut costs with an open-plan work space, but the knowledge workers say they need their walls, their doors, and their privacy.

Speed is not the only - or even the most important - factor.

As a recent article in the Wall Street Journal noted, a spate of companies in the high technology/high-end services space has rediscovered the joys of vertical integration — you all remember (or at least those of you of a certain age remember) the excited discovery of “M” form organizations and the power of giving product […]

What do the Burroughs Corporation, Crown Cork & Seal Co., Inc., and the Union Camp Corporation have in common? Although none of them enjoys a dominant market share, all three earn quite respectable returns on their equity, have healthy profit margins, and continue to maintain strong sales growth year after year. In this article, the […]

It's not the only startup to make that mistake.

Baldwin Farms, a California-based organic lettuce grower, has opened a distribution center in Pennsylvania to meet the rising demand for its product on...

Strategies for leveraging hidden value.

Companies may want to shift a brand's position--to exploit less crowded territory, for example, or grow sales. Companies have long used perceptual mapping...

The key is knowing what your top price is—and having the discipline to stick to it.

With the first African World Cup now going full blast, South Africans are more excited than I’ve ever seen them. And the corporate gamesmanship here is almost as interesting as the matches being played out in magnificent stadiums around the country. The brand competition began the moment I arrived in Johannesburg from the UK. As […]

The best insights often come from seeing the world through someone else's eyes.

Disruption is no longer just coming from the low end.

Why a dry-cleaning app will never make money.

Congress and regulators must curb combinations that adversely affect the cost and quality of care.

What assumptions can you prove wrong today?

As technology becomes more powerful and affordable, your company is only limited by its imagination.

A few years ago, I was at a conference listening to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings talk about how he runs his company on the theory that consumers will trade the quality of an experience for the convenience of getting it. The comment instantly triggered a whole puzzle to auto-assemble in my head. In two decades […]

For almost two centuries, Spain has hosted an enormously popular Christmas lottery. Based on the payout, it is the biggest lottery in the world and nearly all Spaniards play. In the mid-1970s, a man sought a ticket that ended in 48. He found a ticket, bought it, and won the lottery. When asked why he […]