The growing array of immersive entertainment experiences carries unforeseen implications for content owners and creators.

What really happens to human systems — machines, processes, and businesses — when smart machines enter the picture? For related insights, read “Five Overlooked Principles Shaping the Destiny of Your Business.”

To boost a hotel’s bottom line, ask the bellhop.

The e-commerce pioneer is reengineering some operations to make them more appealing to employees while designing others that can operate without any human labor.

As digital becomes the new normal, a few generic strategies that can help you determine where and how to create value. Which one is best for your enterprise?

Stretch yourself creatively as a leader by collecting “nuggets”: Short, accessible reminders of what you probably already know, but may have forgotten to put into practice.

Companies with employee-friendly policies produce more patents, which shareholders highly value and result in long-term financial benefits.

Until you grasp Turing’s theory of computability, Coase theorem of transaction costs, Bell’s law of computer classes, Baldwin and Clarke’s concept of modularity, and Nakamoto’s law of the distributed ledger, you’re not prepared to lead a digital company.

Technologies often spawn metaphors, which change over time and shape how we think about work.

Technology and advanced analytics are breathing new life into an industry that had grown tired.

As distinctions dissolve among the hardware, software, services, and telecom sectors, companies are changing how they compete.

The use of humor in job listings posted on the Internet can grab people’s attention, but it may turn them off to the actual job and company being advertised.

The failure of prognosticators to call the U.K. election, and before that, the U.S. presidential election, should make us take another look at our own preconceived notions about big data and analytics. It takes human contact to predict an election.

As they adapt to the shifting geography of sales and technological disruption, the companies that provide auto parts, components, and systems must reevaluate their product portfolios.

The world is shifting its dominant technological model away from serial programming, and for many incumbents the transition will be challenging.

History shows that new technologies evolve faster than society adopts them.

Neuroscientists are learning how executive decision makers can use their minds to transform organizations. For further insights, read “The Neuroscience of Strategic Leadership.”

Shifting from physical to virtual data platforms can reduce companies’ costs and improve sustainability.

When it comes to the autonomous ride-hailing battle, no single player has all the capabilities necessary to succeed.

Turning Dreams into Reality

Our picks for the best business books of 2016 in seven categories.

The Human Function

For the 16th edition of our Best Business Books of the year section, we've assembled a team of learned, expert, and stylish guides. See also Best Business Books 2016 — in Pictures.

Discovering how to learn fast, including taking time out for creative thinking and implementation, is necessary for effective self-disruption.

The electric vehicle and green energy industries show how rolling out innovations can be delayed in the face of time-consuming obstacles.

Digital technologies are changing the game even in places where you might not expect it, including how pizzas get delivered and how household appliances function. For further insights, read “Software-as-a-Catalyst.”

The world’s largest innovators are shifting the focus of their R&D investments from products to programming. See also “How Non-Tech Companies Are Joining the Software Revolution — in Pictures."

Trends spotted by Strategy& suggest that companies in any industry can gain prominence by choosing the right approach.

To stay relevant, all participants in the vast marketing ecosystem must develop new capabilities.

The robots are nowhere near ready to take over crucial logistics and customer-service functions.

Target is the latest retailer to double down on mini versions of its stores — and hopes to avoid others’ pitfalls.

Customers who don’t hit the target to qualify for a reward are apt to hold it against the company and make fewer subsequent purchases.

The “Jane Bond of Innovation” recommends a reading list for value creation.

We must discard several misconceptions and reimagine how our society confronts this deadly, and expensive, disease.

Instead of relying on points programs and clever marketing, companies have to listen carefully to customers and adapt products and services to their changing expectations.

Starbucks undergoes a media makeover.

With manufacturing put into the hands of small firms and even consumers, traditional value chains may no longer be as advantageous.

Innovation and superior performance aren’t just for Silicon Valley disruptors and global giants.

Brilliant digital marketing will not compensate for a digitally disadvantaged business model.

At MIT’s Media Lab, an engineer and biophysicist — and double amputee — is designing prosthetics that connect body and brain.

Economist Kenneth Rogoff argues that getting rid of paper money will lead to a more secure economy and effective monetary policy.

A handy pocket guide for engaging with your users. For more insight, read “10 Principles of Customer Strategy.”

Employees who push innovative products have a tough job, but can be encouraged by managers who grasp their motivations to succeed.

As machines grow smarter and capture more of the value associated with work, how will people continue to keep busy and thrive?

While automakers pour millions into winning the autonomous vehicle race, they run the risk of ignoring the more imminent threats that could sink them before the technology becomes pervasive.

Tweets and other posts reveal that employees experience varying levels of stress throughout the workweek, and weekends aren’t necessarily a reprieve.

Understanding your personal strength can help guide your career choices.

The circular economy starts with the first meal of the day.

How members of the Gulf Cooperation Council can diversify their economies.

If you hire this book, Clayton Christensen says you’ll be a better innovator.

Keeping up with technology is every executive’s job, but it doesn’t need to be daunting. Here are three strategies for staying relevant in the digital age.

A French ride-sharing company discovered six key elements needed to nurture user confidence, and its business.

As one McDonald’s location proves, investing in expensive equipment that substitutes for some labor is a proactive, productivity-enhancing measure.

For international companies, the last Communist country in the Americas is a compelling market — if they have the right approach. See also “Frontiers of Prosperity: Cuba in Pictures."

A look at what the last Communist country in the Americas can offer international companies. For further insights, read “Reconnecting Cuba.”

The rise of Web 2.0 platforms and social media programs has the potential to enhance the way colleagues collaborate, but old work habits die hard.

Living off the grid, even for a few days, shines a stark light on just how many resources go to waste when moving through a day in the developed world.

The time it takes for Chinese consumers to incorporate a new technology into their lives is ever-shrinking as smartphones and broadband make adaptation easier.

Like manufacturing, American agriculture has near-record output, but employs far fewer people than it did decades ago.

The managing director of BCCL, India’s foremost media conglomerate, continually reinvents the enterprise in the face of disruption.

Before the Internet, the telephone, and the telegraph, the U.S. Postal Service revolutionized communications.

The Internet is disrupting one of the world’s oldest professions: selling art.

Although fewer people are working at factories in America, output has been rising.

Startup nuTonomy thinks that the island nation is the place to make autonomous vehicles — in the form of driverless taxis — a reality.

Can a controversial dating site regain trust by rebranding itself?

Not every new entrant in your market is a disruption. Learn how to diagnose and respond to threats. For further insights, read “Diagnosing Dislocation.”

SVB CEO Greg Becker on where and how the next big tech innovations will emerge.

Don’t assume the new entrant in your market is a disruption. Learn to recognize different types of threats and design the best strategic response.

Last year, startups died at a rate of one per week. When it comes to scaling, the chances of survival are even lower. For further insights, read “The Chrysalis Effect.”

Number crunching can be valuable for firms exploiting their existing resources, but can backfire for companies seeking to branch out with new products or services.

Budgets for online video programming are growing, at the expense of television advertising.

Today's SUV is as fuel-efficient as yesterday's small sedan, but you'd never know it by reading conventional business narratives.

A new book examines star chef Ferran Adrià’s systematic pursuit of technological and culinary reinvention.

Can companies discover crucial competitive insight by working to solve social problems?

Former NBC Universal CEO Bob Wright looks back on his two decades at GE — and forward to a post-broadcast, post-cable media world.

Breakthroughs happen when organizations are set up to support them.

People don’t crave the latest fitness wearable. Their overwhelming preference is for simple applications that provide and organize information.

Andrew Ng, chief scientist of Baidu Research, sees artificial intelligence as part of a larger socially valuable endeavor.

Leaders who understand and pay attention to technology can make the difference between success and failure.

Relentless waves of disruption can make it difficult for people to envision a bright future in their own field.

Self-made billionaires offer powerful examples for established companies eager to reclaim industry leadership.

Neustar CEO Lisa Hook oversees part of the invisible infrastructure that safeguards identity and reliability online.

A new survey examines trends in R&D spending.

Remember the old adage that who you know matters as much as what you know?

Entertainment and media companies can tap into many pockets of growth and opportunity. Our intensive analysis of five shifts roiling the industry can help you identify them.

What do feature phones, regional newspapers, and smartphones have in common? They’re all vehicles for the country’s remarkable move to digital broadband.

Four strategies that work in this dynamic new world.

In order to build engagement and loyalty in a climate of intense competition and distraction, media companies have to understand their customers, viewers, and readers as fans.

Why are we so interested in media about media?

Delving into comprehensive data on the world’s entertainment and media industries yields sharp insights into a future of eroding borders, changing behavior, and opportunities for growth.

Despite obstacles and setbacks, companies are still globalizing at a furious pace.

Successful startups reach a point when they must shed their early habits and take on just the right amount of managerial maturity. See also “How Startups Can Avoid the Chrysalis Effect."

Three obstacles to extending the reach of the Web — and thereby reducing poverty in developing countries — can be fixed.

A veteran executive calls out the books that most influenced him in a career driven by innovation.

Now is the time for advertising to start experimenting with technology that can create immersive brand experiences.

Global businesses are about to integrate their operations into a seamless digital whole, and thereby change the world.

In his new book, Arun Sundararajan paints a rosy picture of the revolutionary companies and platforms that are altering the nature of work.

The security of barriers is based not just on keeping people out, but on watching people who come in. For further insights, read “Safety in the Cloud.”

A new segmentation strategy can help sales teams identify their growth hot spots.

Large U.S. firms react to competition from high-quality foreign importers by investing more in their own R&D efforts and producing more patents.

Today’s rapidly changing technology environment often has boards scrambling to keep up. The best way to do so lies in recruiting more digital expertise while improving the quality of conversations.

How incumbent banks can respond to the startups and other firms disrupting their industry.

There’s a reason there are so few examples of large companies fundamentally altering their strategies on the fly — it’s extremely hard.

Why companies need directors with technological expertise.

Many companies have not adapted to the deep connection their customers and employees have with their mobile devices.

The key to selling products to an ethnically diverse audience may not be as obvious as you think.

A comprehensive model shows how far-reaching trends in the massive industry will influence the growth of profit pools — and how payors and providers should respond. 

Some examples, past and present, of how good design overcomes complexity. See also “Your Employees’ User Experience Should Be a Strategic Priority.” 

Companies can turn consumers into active online volunteers who offer consistently valuable input on existing and yet-to-be-designed products.

If machines and robots are poised to displace humans in the office, why do so many people have jobs?

In his new book, Douglas Rushkoff reacts to rising inequality and the threat of automation by proposing a new social operating system that distributes wealth more equitably.

Selectionnist.com has created a Web-based bridge between print magazines and online shopping.

More companies — in a variety of industries — are acquiring digital agencies, reflecting the marriage of technology and marketing.

Employee self-control and subtle prompts from employers can turn the hours spent getting to and from the office into productive time.

Intel’s Andy Grove pioneered high-stakes, high-speed, high-tech manufacturing — and breathed life into Moore’s Law.

The next generation of cybersecurity prevents attacks by monitoring online behavior — of intruders, customers, and everyone else. See also “How to Use Cybersecurity to Gain a Competitive Advantage.”

A study describes how companies can adopt a flexible innovation strategy that is responsive to changes in rapidly shifting markets.

As they look to enhance digital capabilities through mergers and acquisitions, traditional companies have to heed a new set of dating rules.

Companies everywhere pay too little attention to the implicit messages — about productivity, commitment, and capabilities — that are sent by their own software interfaces. See also "What Good User Experience Looks Like.”

Companies rolling out social media marketing campaigns should keep their messages casual and general.

With few businesses prepared for Industry 4.0, it’s time to hone your strategy for emerging technology.

Today’s Russian trendsetters are Silicon Valley–style entrepreneurs determined to make their ventures work — and to pull their country’s economy forward, no matter what.

What travel can teach you about making organizations more productive.

A global survey of business leaders shows how the smartest companies develop and wield their technology strategy.

In his new book, Adam Grant turns the conventional wisdom on non-conformity on its head.

The quiet heroes of innovation do the little things that bring big ideas to life.

The manufacturing chief describes how an industrial powerhouse founded in the 19th century is using software, sensors, and savvy to create a digital manufacturer that can thrive in the 21st century.

An s+b Roundtable: Highly focused and diversified, this industrial company grows through acquisition, customer-facing innovation, and continuous improvement.

A new study finds that the design of new products can help move a company’s stock — especially if those products appear to be very useful.

The most farsighted enterprises have mastered five unconventional practices for building and using distinctive capabilities.

A new approach to digital strategy reinvents legacy IT by aligning it to a company’s capabilities.

Advertising during events like the Super Bowl has become more important — and expensive.

When it comes to organizational change, allowing sufficient time to gain attention and approval will increase your odds of success.

A look at spending on media in cities worldwide today, and in the near future.

Flexible, adaptive supply chain management is an overlooked but vital component of a company’s overall innovation strategy.

Companies can maximize their investments in Web analytics if they focus tightly on priorities, layer human intelligence on top of smart technology, and enlist senior management to lead the charge.

Why aren’t employers more effective at filling open positions?

The distributed ledger technology that started with bitcoin is rapidly becoming a crowdsourced system for all types of verification. Could it replace notary publics, manual vote recounts, and the way banks manage transactions?

A leading business–university partnership is setting standards for graduates fluent in data science and analytics.

Forward thinking is more than a generic phrase. Here are specific tactics to help companies capitalize on future trends.