Organizations & People
Is Your Company Fit for Growth?
A more strategic approach to costs can help you prepare for the next round of expansion.
Issue 67, Summer 2012
In this issue
Rethinking the Product Launch, The Right Role for Top Teams, The Thought Leader Interview: Dov Seidman, and More
Cover story
- Marketing, Media & Sales
Rethinking the Product Launch
Your customer value proposition is the key to organic growth — for a fast-food chain like Wendy’s, or for any other consumer business. - Strategy & Leadership
CEO Succession 2011: The New CEO’s First Year
Big companies are once again appointing new chief executives in greater numbers, Booz & Company’s annual study finds. Here’s a close look at the incoming class, and some advice from veterans on how they can best navigate their crucial first year. - Strategy & Leadership
The Right Role for Top Teams
Analysis of informal networks offers a potent leadership model for the C-suite: Make top teams the hub of the enterprise, and watch performance improve. - Thought Leaders
The Thought Leader Interview: Dov Seidman
The influential business author and CEO explains why the practice of enlightened self-governance gives companies an edge.
Leading Ideas
Organizations & PeopleThe Steve Jobs way
Leaders can learn a lot from the late Apple CEO, but not all of it should be emulated.
EnergyA New Role for Natural Resources Companies
By promoting business partnerships, producers of primary materials can find a new source of competitive advantage.
Marketing, Media & SalesHow to Be a More Coherent Marketer
A recent survey highlights the challenges facing today’s marketing organizations, and reveals a path to differentiation.
Thought LeadersSolar Comes of Age
A leading solar energy policy advocate explains how this dynamic, rapidly maturing industry can reach its true potential.
Strategy & LeadershipStrategy: An Executive’s Definition
What is a business strategy? It is the result of choices made to maximize long-term value.
Essays
Connections with Integrity
The venture capitalist who cofounded LinkedIn reveals the surefire system that he has used since high school for evaluating potential business relationships.
Three Games of Strategic Thinking
Decision makers struggling with uncertainty can choose from a trio of probabilistic models to match the type of risks they face.
China’s Mid-Market Innovators
A new category of competitor — low-price, medium-quality Chinese B2B upstarts — is shaking up the global competitive landscape.
Books in Brief
An R&D Valhalla
A review of The Idea Factory, by Jon Gertner.
To Err Is Human
A review of Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman.
The Care and Feeding of Shareholders
A review of Winning Investors Over, by Baruch Lev.
A Credit Report
A review of Borrow: The American Way of Debt, by Louis Hyman.
Recent Research
How Friendship Pays Off at the Lending Desk
Personal connections between borrowers and bankers produce better results for both sides.
