s+b Blogs
December 22, 2014
Five Rules for Strategic Partnerships in a Digital World
Leading companies know that the future depends on the capabilities, functions, channels, and insights they can tap by working with others.
More Tech & innovation
Archives by year:
s+b BlogsDecember 17, 2014Automation’s Adverse Effects
In The Glass Cage, Nicholas Carr reminds us that almost every business decision involves tradeoffs.
s+b BlogsDecember 15, 2014The Truth About Breakthrough Strategies
You won’t find them through typical strategic planning, executive retreats, or brainstorming sessions.
s+b BlogsDecember 4, 2014Go Big or Go Home: Factors for a Successful Rebranding
Companies that winningly reposition their brands tend to do so by anticipating market trends and overcoming or minimizing common challenges.
s+b BlogsDecember 2, 2014How to Avoid Bad Investments in Good Ideas
Michael Schrage proposes a fast, cheap, experiment-driven approach to boosting the bottom line in The Innovator’s Hypothesis.
s+b BlogsNovember 24, 2014The Talents of the Neurodiverse
Arguments over the value of autism could affect our view of the purpose of business.
November 24, 2014Capability Bending
Jason Jennings, author of The Reinventors, introduces a lesson in leveraging existing capabilities from How to Kill a Unicorn, by Mark Payne.
November 17, 2014Kings of the Cloud
The leading companies in the tech industry are reworking their business models to deliver everything-as-a-service.
November 10, 2014A Strategist’s Guide to the Internet of Things
The digital interconnection of billions of devices is today’s most dynamic business opportunity.
November 10, 2014What Mom-and-Pop Stores Can Teach Grocery Chains
To stave off online competitors, supermarkets should work with their suppliers and get back to personalized service.
November 10, 2014Can Media Firms Become Digital Video Mavens?
Traditional entertainment companies are buying up new multichannel networks in pursuit of online audiences.
s+b BlogsNovember 3, 2014The Security Risk in the Cubicle Next Door
Your own employees may pose a bigger IT hazard than outside threats.
October 28, 2014The Global Innovation 1000: Proven Paths to Innovation Success
Ten years of research reveal the best R&D strategies for the decade ahead.
October 20, 2014When Not to Multitask
Nicholas Carr, author of The Glass Cage: Automation and Us, introduces a lesson in generating deeper insights from The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload, by Daniel J. Levitin.
s+b BlogsOctober 13, 2014A Call to Action on Big Data
It’s time for companies and governments to take the steps that will lead to an evolution in analytics.
s+b BlogsOctober 6, 2014How to Set Productive Collaboration into Action
Here are 11 tips to encourage employees to build better ideas.
s+b BlogsOctober 3, 2014A Lesson for Marketers on Mobile Advertising
Advertisers are eager to take advantage of mobile channels, but they must carefully position their products to get consumers’ attention.
s+b BlogsSeptember 29, 2014Are You Ready to Get Creative?
A new Strategy& online survey helps you check your innovation proficiency.
s+b Blogs
s+b BlogsSeptember 9, 2014Pushing CEOs to Be Bold after the IPO
By structuring CEOs’ contracts to focus on the long-term health of their company, newly public firms can encourage an emphasis on innovation.
s+b BlogsSeptember 4, 2014Best of Multimedia: Marketing Myopia in 120 Seconds
An animated look at Theodore Levitt’s theory of why concentrating on customers matters more than a focus on driving sales.
s+b BlogsSeptember 3, 2014Seeking Social Failures
IMD professor Mikolaj Jan Piskorski describes three concepts that can help companies craft more effective social strategies.
s+b BlogsSeptember 2, 2014Young CEOs’ Risks Can Pay Off
Executives who take more chances may prove to be a better long-term bet than those who play it safe.
s+b BlogsAugust 18, 2014How to Use a Cell Phone at Work
If you want to keep your co-workers happy, you should resist the temptation to look at your mobile during meetings.
s+b BlogsAugust 12, 2014Competitive Narcissism: A Marketing Lesson
Getting and keeping the attention of the social media generation means making your brand all about them.
August 8, 2014Lenovo Goes Global
China’s most recognizable brand has plans to overtake Apple and Samsung.
August 8, 2014Warfare, Software, and Industrial Design
The benefits of an organic, more iterative approach to product development. See also “Lessons in Product Design from Modern Warfare — In Pictures.”
s+b BlogsAugust 6, 2014The Digitization of Financial Services
If it expects to keep growing, the industry must adopt a digital mind-set.- August 4, 2014
Apple Makes a Smart Bet on Beats
Apple is buying the electronic company’s expertise in human-centered design, not its market share. 
August 1, 2014For Honda, Waigaya Is the Way
At the Japanese auto giant, unplanned, agenda-free meetings are ubiquitous and indispensable.
July 28, 2014Using Social Media for Your Company’s Good
Employees who feel their managers listen to their complaints are more likely to use social media to benefit their company than to air their grievances.
July 25, 2014How Old Industries Become Young Again
Five indicators reveal when your sector is about to be transformed by dematurity.- July 10, 2014
Navigating Innovation’s Perilous First Mile
Innovation expert Scott D. Anthony has a toolkit for surviving the wreck-strewn entrepreneurial journey, from initial concept to reality. 
July 8, 2014Lessons from the East Asian Development Model
What are the paths to economic growth for today’s emerging markets?
July 2, 2014Best of Multimedia: Should a Robot Have a Conscience?
This podcast explores how human we want robots to be—and how that affects everything from autonomous cars to warfare.
June 2, 2014The Amazon Model: If You Can’t Beat ’Em, Work with ’Em
A company that collaborates with its rivals can create more business for itself.- May 29, 2014
Best of Multimedia: Could a Robot Take Over Your Job?
Check out this new interactive graphic to see if your profession will soon become automated. 
May 27, 2014The Business Case against Business Cases
Companies that rely on traditional project management methods could be getting an incomplete picture of their own vulnerabilities and opportunities.
May 26, 2014A Diagnosis for Personalized Medicine
The emergence of new technologies could convince physicians and insurers that patient-specific healthcare is here to stay.
May 19, 2014The Waves and Streams of Crisis Communication
Navigating the media in a crisis is complex, but it starts with knowing when to surf and when to swim.
May 19, 2014How Strikebreaking Hurt Innovation
Les Leopold, author of How to Make a Million Dollars an Hour: Why Hedge Funds Get Away with Siphoning Off America’s Wealth, introduces a passage on the debilitating effects of mass firings from Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t, by Simon Sinek.
May 19, 2014When Big Data Isn’t an Option
Companies that only have access to “little data” can still use that information to improve their business.- May 15, 2014
The Collective’s Crystal Ball
Crowdsourcing offers companies the opportunity to analyze large amounts of data in innovative ways. - May 13, 2014
Best of Multimedia: A Glimpse into the Workplace of the Future
Traditional offices are evolving in ways that affect where, when, and how we get our best ideas. 
May 12, 2014Management in the Second Machine Age
Future leaders will succeed by being entrepreneurial and by rethinking the balance between financial and social goals.
May 12, 2014Is Tech Eroding Consumer Loyalty?
In many categories, the value of brands may be in decline.
May 8, 2014Getting Value Propositions Right, with Data and Analytics
In order to fend off competitors and foster growth, large CPG companies must bring the prices they set for products in line with their value to consumers.- May 7, 2014
A Toast to Industry Disruption
In The Craft Beer Revolution, Steve Hindy traces an industry disruption that gives beer drinkers reason to cheer. 
May 5, 2014How Subsidiaries Can Gain Power in Multinational Corporations
Business units abroad that focus on technology and R&D exert more influence with the home office than those that focus on sales or marketing.- May 5, 2014
Are You Connecting to the Internet of Customers?
Behind all the technology we’ve started taking for granted is the most important element of all: the consumer. 
May 5, 2014Stephen Wolfram’s World-Changing Plans
The physicist, author, and software entrepreneur has high expectations of pretty much everything and everyone.- April 30, 2014
Note to Content Creators: The Mobile Web Is Not Saving You from iTunes
The app markets are winning—it’s time to focus on working (and winning) within them. 
April 28, 2014Growing When Your Industry Doesn’t
Success and profits flow to companies with uniquely valuable market propositions — regardless of their sector.
April 28, 2014Moore’s Law is still changing everything
In The Second Machine Age, two MIT professors show how the exponential growth of new technologies is remaking the world.
April 25, 2014I Scream, You Scream (But Only When the Price Goes Up)
The ice cream market reveals that consumers don’t mind smaller packaging as much as they do bigger price tags.- April 16, 2014
Best of Multimedia: Benjamin Zander on Choosing Possibility Thinking
It takes discipline to empower others to awaken their creativity, energy, and spontaneity. 
April 14, 2014Reimagine Your Enterprise
Make human-centered design the heart of your digital agenda.- April 8, 2014
Innovation Begins with Three Questions
In A More Beautiful Question, Warren Berger says that asking “why, what if, and how” can help companies become more efficient and creative. 
March 31, 2014Looking Outward with Big Data: A Q&A with Tom Davenport
The management scholar provides an incisive look at the true potential of big data and the many challenges to unleashing it.- March 27, 2014
Is Apple’s Meteoric Rise Leading to a Devastating Drop?
The very business model that made the company so wildly successful could eventually cause its downfall. - March 25, 2014
Fourteen Interview Questions to Help You Hire Your Next Innovator
Find out before it’s too late if you’re recruiting a trailblazer or an imposter. - March 20, 2014
Unleashing Creativity
To take advantage of employees’ innovative efforts, managers must first learn how to encourage and nurture them. - March 11, 2014
How IKEA, Disney, and Berkshire Hathaway Succeed with Adjacencies
Many adjacency moves fail because they’re driven by the wrong motives. But a lot can be learned from those that succeed. - March 4, 2014
The Reverse Innovation Paradox
Business experts say a wealth of new products and ideas will flow from emerging economies to developed markets—but real-world examples are hard to find. 
February 28, 2014Best of Multimedia: The History of Facebook
A new infographic tells the story of Facebook over the past decade, from college intranet to global sensation.- February 27, 2014
Four Tips for Walking Your Innovation Talk
To produce a climate of innovation that trickles down from the top, start by following this effective formula for leadership role modeling. - February 14, 2014
Best of Multimedia: The Billion-Dollar Startup Club (and Why You Should Pay Attention)
An interactive look at how the world’s most valuable emerging companies stack up. 
February 11, 2014The Rise and Fall of Western Innovation
A review of Mass Flourishing: How Grassroots Innovation Created Jobs, Challenge, and Change, by Edmund Phelps.
February 11, 2014The Big Promise of Open Data
Nancy Scola reviews Joel Gurin’s Open Data Now, the first book to detail the rich business opportunities in open data and the challenges in capturing them.
February 11, 2014Four Profit-Boosting Strategies for Wealth Managers
How to help close the gap between assets under management and revenues.
February 11, 2014Scale Your Innovation Initiatives
Five ways to boost the impact of new endeavors without adding bureaucracy or cost.- February 6, 2014
The Power of Positive Advertising
Consumers respond better to commercials with emotional appeal than to neutral ads or those that are too informative. 
February 3, 2014A Guide to the Next Million Innovators
Tech entrepreneur Christopher Schroeder explains why you need to pay attention to the mobile-powered masses.
February 3, 2014How to Break the Cycle of CIO Turnover
Companies benefit from strong IT leaders. The trick is developing and retaining them.
January 30, 2014Taking Advantage of the Kinder, Gentler Takeover
Hostile acquisitions may be largely a thing of the past, as they’ve been replaced with gentler—and more effective—M&A strategies.- January 29, 2014
Improvisational Selling
Steve Yastrow says improvisation is a far more effective sales tool than the hackneyed pitch—but there are limitations. 
January 27, 2014In Conversation: Eric Ries on How to Gain Competitive Advantage
Eric Ries talks about how the “build, measure, learn” principle can help companies innovate and get ahead. For more related insights, read "Why Eric Ries Likes Management."
January 27, 2014How to Choose the Right Digital Marketing Model
Four clear paths for winning and retaining customers today.- January 24, 2014
Best of Multimedia: The “Big Data” Landscape
What’s really happening with the 2.5 exabytes of data created every day. - January 23, 2014
Make Room for a Successful IPO
New high-tech companies are more attractive to investors when they show room for growth. 
January 20, 2014America’s Real Manufacturing Advantage
A new wave of software innovation is about to transform industry — and give the United States the chance for a lasting edge. See also America’s Manufacturing Advantage — In Pictures.
January 15, 2014Future Disruptions in Transportation—2014 and Beyond
How same-day delivery, 3D printing, and autonomous vehicles will affect the sector.
January 15, 2014In Conversation: Eric Ries on the Finance of Innovation
In the fourth video interview of this five-part series, Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup, describes his system of innovation accounting—and how it can convert learning into dollars. For more related insights, read “Why Eric Ries Likes Management."- January 14, 2014
Five Essential Elements of the Digital Workplace
A new set of tools and challenges is refining how we do our jobs. 
January 8, 2014Big Data Strategy: s+b’s Strategy of the Year
From the headlines to the C-suite, big data embodied the height of strategy-as-fashion in 2013.- January 6, 2014
Free Your Innovation Culture
To foster an environment of smart risk-taking, leaders should use guardrails, not handcuffs.
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