All articles by Lawrence M. Fisher

Larry Smarr has become a vital conductor of innovation by insisting that scientists and researchers at the incubators he runs collaborate across the lines that separate disciplines.

For 40 years, the Stanford professor has steered the increasingly complex and meaningful interactions between humans and computers.

The case for real case studies.

Having applied the logic of physics to predict the life expectancy of biological creatures and cities, Geoffrey West is now searching for the scientific principles that dictate the life spans of companies.

How a small firm named AeroVironment is changing the course of airplanes, automobiles, and warfare. See also The Drone Maker’s Story — In Pictures. 

His inventions from 50 years ago enabled cell phones, laptops, and flat-screen TVs. Now, at age 88, he’s aiming to make solar power cheaper than coal.

Having moved from political prisoner to cognitive scientist to Chilean senator, this uncompromising philosopher of communication is now educating business leaders for the world of social media.

The author of Emotional Intelligence says business leaders will need greater interpersonal awareness in an era of corporate transparency.

The originator of multiple intelligence theory prescribes a code of ethics for business.

Thirty-six years after his book Future Shock, the world’s most influential futurist sees the informal economy as a basis of revolutionary wealth.

“Venture activist” Joichi Ito has turned his life into a prototype of the organization of the future.

The Brazilian CEO and best-selling author transformed his pump plant into a model of participative management, and launched his company on 14 straight years of double-digit growth.

Jay Forrester’s computer models show the nonlinear roots of calamity and reveal the leverage that can help us avoid it.

When growth slowed in Y2K, the computer maker’s leaders realized they needed to redesign their win-at-all-costs culture.

How fresh leadership, serial acquisitions, and a new market made CEO John Thompson’s billion-dollar promise come true.

Multinational companies, says the INSEAD professor, must learn to discover, access, mobilize, and leverage knowledge from across the globe.

From a two-country merger to a 27-nation powerhouse, the semiconductor company is a paradigm of the borderless entrepreneurial giant.

The Stanford University law professor and cyberadvocate redefines the parameters of the Internet.

The innovator’s educator looks at why great companies fail and why theory trumps data.

Genentech Inc., Executive Vice President, Development and Product Operations, and Chief Medical Officer

Rethinking the ABCs at the Strategic Management Society's annual meeting.

To grow a new fiber-optics business at Internet speed, the Canadian giant gave up manufacturing and turned its vendors into strategic partners.

Akamai Technology and the Inktomi Corporation both speed Web pages from servers to desktops. But to chase earnings, they've taken different routes. Can both lead to riches?

With his newest book, "Living on the Faultline," the best-selling management seer divines a Fortune 500 prey to the same Technology Adoption Life Cycle that convulses Silicon Valley.

How a half-billion-dollar Seattle outdoor-equipment retailer became a virtual merchandiser.

In an industry of mega-mergers, one company has grown by taking smaller bites - and it has thrived.

Joint ventures can hold the key to expanding globally, introducing new product lines and leveraging brand capital. But it takes good relationships - and patience.

Once the deal is done, the hard work begins of integrating people, processes and systems, on a global basis.

The secret to excellence lies in doing many things well. It also requires staying focused on the goal even when tempted to do otherwise.

How does a fledgling company become an industry powerhouse? By managing itself professionally and betting on the right products. The case of Biogen shows how it can be done.

Few technologies have been so rapidly accepted as intranets. Effective at lowering costs and improving communications internally, they are playing key roles in customer support too. But they are also presenting fresh challenges, including how to apply the right amount of control to what is inherently a decentralized operation.

Databases have long helped managers operate their businesses. Now, more companies are using a special kind for analytical tasks. The payoff can be enormous: everything from transformed business models and stronger customer relationships to new sources of revenue.

How does a company turn its reseller channel into a source of competitive advantage? It requires balancing the objectives of its resellers with its own.

New software programs are now available that act as "smart filters" on the information superhighway. They can sort through mountains of data and find answers to specific questions. And they can learn. Their promise is to make the "horizontal" organization even flatter.

As the economics of R&D evolve, the Salk and other private research institutes become increasingly crucial to health care’s changing value chain.

Vicar and visionary, modern management’s most eminent philosopher says it takes a village to build a company.