Business Horizons articles from September 1998

Business Horizons archives from September 1998

A manager's primer in electronic commerce.
September 1, 1998... The proliferation of the Internet and the World Wide Web as vehicles for and to consumers has made electronic commerce a hot topic in the business world and the popular press. Individuals and organizations can now purchase many goods and services...

The case for electronic business communities.
September 1, 1998... The World Wide Web has accomplished wonders for consumers around the globe by supplying them with quantities of information on every product or service imaginable. It has become a viable marketing channel for most companies selling goods, from...

Boom time for electronic commerce - rhetoric or reality?
September 1, 1998... Some pretty amazing statistics have been put forward on the growth of the Internet and the World Wide Web and their potential for trade. It is nonsense to believe the forecasts that a billion people will be using the Internet by the year 2000, or...

The king is dead. (view that the customer is king is counterproductive)
September 1, 1998... "When you strike at a king, you must kill him. " - Ralph Waldo Emerson By now those in the world of business must be up to here with having to view the customer as "king." The acceptance of such terms as "customer focused," "meeting or...

Hong Kong's emerging 'tertius' role in the global economy.
September 1, 1998... On a wet Tuesday in July 1997, the Chinese celebrated their resumption of sovereignty over what has become known as the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, or HKSAR. That anyone could be excited about reclaiming what British Foreign...

Seven keys to better forecasting. (sales forecasting)
September 1, 1998... Sales forecasting is a management function that companies often fail to recognize as a key contributor to corporate success. From a top-line perspective, accurate sales forecasts allow a company to provide high levels of customer service. When...

Overcome the fatal flaws of consulting: close the results gap.
September 1, 1998... Despite the astronomical rise in consulting expenditures in recent years, the batting average for consulting firms, academic consultants, and internal consulting groups is woefully low. If the reader accepts our view that success in consulting...

Succession planning: building the management corps.
September 1, 1998... Recently, Business Week highlighted a crisis in CEO succession occurring at such highly visible companies as AT&T. Their difficulty in filling key CEO positions has created renewed interest in succession planning and executive development...

When a strategic plan includes bankruptcy.
September 1, 1998... Business failures have begun to play a more important role in the American economy. In an average week, more than 300 companies fail - a rate higher than at any time since the 1930s. More than 75 percent of these financially desperate firms file...

Pulling customers closer through logistics services.
September 1, 1998... Marketers often describe their job as managing the proper mix of the "four Ps" - product, price, promotion, and place - to achieve strategic goals. In practice, however, they frequently emphasize the first three over the fourth. "Place," which...

Douglas A. Ready. (founder and president of the International Consortium for Executive Development)
September 1, 1998... "I love the process and products of imagination. I enjoy nothing more than working with people to create something out of nothing." - Douglas A. Ready, ICEDR In the opinion of many people, Doug Ready, founder and president of the...

The Profit Zone: How Strategic Business Design Will Lead You to Tomorrow's Profits.
September 1, 1998... The reviewer, Henry Beam, is a professor of management at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. Post-World War II strategic planning models stressing high market share as the sure path to high profits are no longer relevant. The old logic...

Ethics and Manipulation in Advertising: Answering a Flawed Indictment.
September 1, 1998... The reviewer, Timothy L. Fort, is an assistant professor of business law and business ethics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Mike Phillips is fun to read, even if you don't agree with him. His book reads somewhat like Milton...

Prosperity: The Coming 20-Year boom and What It Means to You.
September 1, 1998... The reviewer, Robert D. Gulbro, is a professor of management at Athens State University in Athens, Alabama. Several years ago, the Russian economist Kondratieff discovered that the world's financial ups and downs were predictable and seemed to...