The Right to Win
Business strategy is at an evolutionary crossroads. It’s time to resolve the long-standing tension between the inherent identity of your organization and the fleeting nature of your competitive advantage.
Issue 61, Winter 2010
Cover story
In this issue
The Right to Win, The Global Innovation 1000: How the Top Innovators Keep Winning, A Better Choosing Experience, The Good, the Bad, and the Trustworthy, and More
The Global Innovation 1000: How the Top Innovators Keep Winning
Booz & Company’s annual study of the world’s biggest R&D spenders shows why highly innovative companies are able to consistently outperform. Their secret? They’re good at the right things, not at everything.A Better Choosing Experience
When consumers are overwhelmed with options, marketers should give them what they really want: ways of shopping that lower the cognitive stress.Best Business Books 2010
Our annual review: David Warsh on The Economy, Walter Kiechel III on Leadership, Krisztina “Z” Holly on Innovation, Sheridan Prasso on China, Sally Helgesen on Human Capital, Judith E. Glaser on The Human Mind, David K. Hurst on Management, and James O’Toole on Biography and History.
Comment
The Good, the Bad, and the Trustworthy
Even successful public relations is no longer enough to protect a company’s reputation.
Getting Big by Going Small
Francois Nader, CEO of NPS Pharmaceuticals, describes how a new model for biotech brought his company back from the brink.
Five Factors for Finding the Right Site
Placing a new research, design, or engineering center in emerging markets demands more than just “location, location, location.”
Road Map to Relevance
How a capabilities-driven information technology strategy can help differentiate your company.
How Aha! Really Happens
The theory of intelligent memory suggests that companies relying on conventional creativity tools are getting shortchanged.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle…or Rethink
For consumer durables, environmental sustainability starts with discarding conventional wisdom.
Conversation
The Thought Leader Interview: Vineet Nayar
The CEO of HCL Technologies describes how he focused his company on growth by engaging staff in unprecedented ways.Personality Type and Risk Appetite
Nervous CEOs take fewer risks.
The Benefits of Saying You’re Sorry
Apologies, especially those that admit responsibility, can lead to faster settlements and lower demands.
How E-mail Privacy Affects Morale
Companies should adopt a moderately restrictive e-mail monitoring system, and be sure that employees fully understand it.
Building Support for Change
A successful change management initiative requires commitment from all the organization’s leaders, not just the CEO.
Family matters
Marshall Goldsmith, author of Mojo, introduces a passage on the difficulties of balancing work and family, from You Can’t Predict a Hero, by Joseph J. Grano Jr.
Trending articles
- 1.How to prepare for anything
When the paint shop leadership team for carmaker Audi initiated a change process, they decided to trust the power of questions.
- 2.Using neuroscience to make feedback work and feel betterResearch shows that using feedback is how organisms — and organizations — stay alive. Here’s how leaders can make the most of the anxiety-producing process.
- 3.The surprising link between creativity and risk
The squeaky wheels in your organization may also be important sources of innovation.
- 4.Rethinking total reward strategiesPay, incentives, and benefits haven’t significantly changed for decades, but people’s preferences have. Employee compensation needs a rethink if companies are to attract and retain talent.
- 5.10 principles of organization designThese fundamental guidelines, drawn from experience, can help you reshape your organization to fit your business strategy. See also “A guide to organization design.”
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