Journal of Business Strategy articles from January 2002

Journal of Business Strategy archives from January 2002

Houston, we have a problem. (Publisher's Note).(Enron Corp.)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... For the last couple of years, Houston-based Enron has been the poster company of innovative business strategy The business press and management gurus have adoringly charted the energy company's soaring flight into the financial stratosphere....

By the numbers. (Short Takes).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... Most of the CEOs of fast-growing companies tracked by PricewaterhouseCoopers "Trendsetter Barometer" have a real affinity for numbers. More than seven in 10 "Trendsetter" CEOs say they focus on three types of financial and operating...

Persistence pays. (Just the Facts).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Dartnell Corporation reported that while 80% of sales are made after the fifth call, 48% of sales people makes one call and quit; 24% make two calls and quit; but only 20% of sales people keep calling.

Taking out a contract. (Just the Facts).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Employment contracts are becoming more prevalent for senior executive. In its analysis of recent proxy statement of 350 large U.S. firm, William M. Mercer, Inc. found that 49.1% of the companies now have employment contracts with one or more of...

Succession success. (Just the Facts).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... Only 1% of companies polled by Development Dimensions International rate their succession management plans as "excellent," and about two-thirds describe them as "fair" or worse. But at exemplary companies, DDI found that there was a high...

Technology spending. (Just the Facts).(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... Worldwide IT service revenue is projected to reach $554 billion in 2001, a 7.1% increase over 2000 revenue of $517 billion, according to Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner, Inc. The industry is forecast to continue growing through 2005, when...

What you see is what you get. (Just the Facts).(senior management )(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 1, 2002... A recent survey by HR Solutions found a direct correlation between the perceived visibility of senior management and senior management's perceived concern about employees. Employees were asked whether they agreed with the following statements:...

An equation for geniuses. (Management).(From Managing Einsteins: Leading High-Tech Workers in the Digital Age)
January 1, 2002... From Managing Einsteins: Leading High-Tech Workers in the Digital Age, by Dr. John M. Ivancevich and Dr. Thomas N. Duening, McGraw-Hill, New York, 2001. As a general rule, you should keep the following equation in mind when motivating...

Perls of great price. (Marketing).(From What Makes Winning Brands Different: The Hidden Method Behind the World's Most Successful Brands)
January 1, 2002... From What Makes Winning Brands Different: The Hidden Method Behind the World's Most Successful Brands, by Andras Buchholz and Wolfram Wordemann, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 2001. The market for laundry detergents is one of the most...

Basketball at the speed of business. (Strategy).(From The Fundamentals: 8 Plays for Winning the Games of Business and Life)
January 1, 2002... From The Fundamentals: 8 Plays for Winning the Games of Business and Life, by Isiah Thomas, HarperBusiness, New York, 2001. My vision for the [Indiana] Pacers is to put them on the cutting edge of the game. I want a team of big, strong...

The Law of unintended consequences. (Data Management).(incorrect data)(Excerpt)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... From Making it Personal: How to Profit from Personalization Without Invading Privacy, by Bruce Kasanoff, Perseus Publishing, Cambridge, MA, 2001. The more data firms collect, the greater the likelihood there will be mistakes in that data....

Cold strategy, hot strategy. (Real-Time Strategy).(planning for disaster)(Column)
January 1, 2002... Last year I wrote a column about the potential for new rivals from outside companies' traditional competitive sets to mount surprise attacks. My key premise was that one of the old "givens" of strategy, that "you know your industry boundaries,"...

Place your bets. (Theory in Practice).(gambling on strategy)(related article: Strategy Assessment)
January 1, 2002... If you're having a crisis of confidence about your business strategy right now, that's probably a good thing. The "new" economy has had a profound effect on the nature of business strategy because it has changed the sources of sustainable...

Should we E-? (E-Commerce).
January 1, 2002... Conducting commerce over the Internet has quickly become an integral part of modern business, and, arguably, the most important business topic of the last few years. However, while there is considerable pressure for companies to jump on the...

Growth strategies for tough times. (Special Focus).(Brief Article)
January 1, 2002... It's not impossible to grow during economic slowdowns, it just takes a little more creativity. THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT MOST economists believe the recession won't last much longer. But that doesn't make it easier to deal with shaky consumer...

Sowing growth in your own backyard: Growing a business in tough times isn't easy, hut it can he done. (Special Focus).(new business from core market)
January 1, 2002... Growing a business seems next to impossible in tough economic times. Your customers aren't buying as much or as frequently as they used to, and the usual programs don't seem to work as well anymore. And that's frustrating, because the benefits...

Lessons from the tech wreck: Here are live ways you can improve your company's strategic planning process. (Special Focus).
January 1, 2002... Thanks to the proliferation of strategic planning models in business schools and consulting firms, most companies have by now standardized their strategic planning and implementation programs. Unfortunately, however, even in well-managed and...

Productivity lessons from crises: You don't have to he in a life-or-death situation to realize productivity gains. (Special Focus).
January 1, 2002... The terror crisis confronting this country cuts two ways. First, it imposes a new set of costs on the economy and depressants to organizational productivity. Military and defense costs are only part of the story. Travel and shipping delays, and...

Keys to successful strategy execution: The most brilliant strategy ever devised won't get you anywhere if you can't execute it. (Strategy Execution).
January 1, 2002... SUCCESSFUL CEOs UNDERSTAND THE NEED FOR A sound business strategy and invest significant time, effort, and money in strategy development. But the real value of strategy can only be recognized through execution. As a recent survey of portfolio...

Mapping value growth in complex portfolios: If you have lots of businesses, how do you unlock the latent value of each of them? (Strategic Management).
January 1, 2002... RUNNING A LARGE, MULTI-BUSINESS COMPANY HAS never been harder than it is today. For one thing, investors tend to accord higher multiples to "pure play" firms, in part because they understand what they're buying. In a 1998 study, for example,...

Are you leaving money on the table? When the price is right, profits follow. (Pricing).(dynamic pricing online)
January 1, 2002... IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME. YOU WALK INTO YOUR favorite clothing store to discover that the jacket you bought for $155 two weeks ago is now on sale for $79.99. Or, more painful, you decide to buy a new printer online and happen to see your...

In search of a brand strategy. (Stack Attack).(Big Brands, Big Trouble)(Gonzo Marketing)(The Infinite Asset)(Jack)
January 1, 2002... For those who manage products with "brand" names, either consumer or B2B, it's a struggle to dilute management theory and strategy lessons down to typical tasks faced day-to-day. This Stack neatly focuses on the brands themselves and...

Growth. (The Last Word).
January 1, 2002... A recession, which everybody seems to agree is the economy's current state, means growth prospects for business are less than rosy. (Officially, "recession" is defined as: "A temporary downturn in economic activity, usually indicated by two...