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  • MPI Ethno. Forsch.  (24)
  • 2020-2022
  • 2010-2014  (24)
  • 1995-1999  (1)
  • 2014  (24)
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology  (24)
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Material
Language
Years
Year
Author, Corporation
Publisher
Keywords
Subjects(RVK)
  • 1
    Journal/Serial
    Journal/Serial
    The MIT paperback series (from 1962-)
    Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press ; 4.1967=3.print. -
    Details
    Language: English
    Dates of Publication: 4.1967=3.print. -
    Former Title: The MIT Press paperback
    Former Title: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press paperback
    Former Title: The MIT Press paperback series
    DDC: 400
    Keywords: Monografische Reihe
    Note: Springende Ersch.-Jahre; unregelmäßig
    Library Location Call Number Volume/Issue/Year Availability
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    Journal/Serial
    MPI Ethno. Forsch.
  • 2
    Journal/Serial
    Journal/Serial
    Technology review : das Magazin für Innovation (from 2003-2021)
    Hannover : Heise Medien GmbH & Co. KG | Hannover : Heise ; 2003-2021, 3 (März 2021)
    Show associated volumes/articles
    Details
    ISSN: 1613-0138
    Language: German
    Dates of Publication: 2003-2021, 3 (März 2021)
    Additional Information: Supplement Technology review. Special
    Additional Information: Supplement MIT technology review. Extra
    Additional Information: Supplement Technology review. Analyse
    Additional Information: Supplement IT & Karriere
    Additional Information: In Beziehung stehende Manifestation Technology review Cambridge, Mass. : [Verlag nicht ermittelbar], 1899 Dt. Lizenzausg. bis 2012,5 zu 1099-274X
    Parallel Title: Erscheint auch als Technology review
    Parallel Title: Erscheint auch als Technology review. Jahres-DVD
    Parallel Title: Erscheint auch als Technology review. Archiv-DVD
    Subsequent Title: Fortgesetzt durch MIT technology review
    DDC: 600
    RVK:
    TA 1000
    RVK:
    QP 210
    Keywords: Zeitschrift ; Technische Innovation ; Spitzentechnologie ; Neue Technologie
    Note: 2012, 6-2021, 3 deutsche Lizenzausgabe zu: MIT technology review , Ungezählte Beilage: IT & Karriere , Einzelne Ausg. auch als Special bez , Erscheint achtmal jährlich, bis 2020 monatlich , Periodizität: monatl.
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    MPI Ethno. Forsch.
  • 3
    Online Resource
    Online Resource
    What to expect from corporate lean programs (2014)
    Cambridge, MA : MIT
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: 1 online resource (1 volume) , illustrations
    Keywords: Lean manufacturing ; Electronic books ; Electronic books ; local
    Abstract: Corporate "lean" programs, often modeled after the Toyota Production System, can be powerful instruments for improving the performance of manufacturing plants. They help to emphasize parts of the production process that add the most value and eliminate those that don't. However, misplaced expectations can make implementation difficult and reduce the benefits. The authors argue that if managers better understood the rates at which lean programs produce improvements, then implementations would go more smoothly. Typically, the goal of a production system is to provide a clear and stable structure and a road map for instilling a culture of continuous improvement throughout a company's production network. But, as the authors point out, every plant is different, and different plants are likely to face different sets of competitive and market conditions. For the growing number of multinational manufacturers that have introduced or are considering lean production systems, the issue is not whether the programs are useful but how to manage their implementation. The authors studied the implementation of the Volvo Group's production system. (The company, a leading maker of trucks and other heavy vehicles, sold its car-manufacturing unit in 1999.) Volvo Group introduced the Volvo Production System in 2007, and since then, it has been implementing it in its factories around the world. The authors examined the five-year history of the Volvo Production System, visited 44 of Volvo's 67 plants and interviewed 200 managers. The authors found that there were four distinct stages of change in the rate of performance improvement and that there was a strong relationship between a plant's maturity in a production system implementation and its performance; progress roughly followed the shape of an S-curve. The pattern implies that a plant's rate of improvement changes in the shape of a bell curve as the plant becomes more mature in implementing the production system. Performance improves slowly at first, and then at an increasing rate before the improvement rate gradually decreases. To measure the performance of the plants, the authors focused on nonfinancial metrics related to the quality, cost, delivery and safety of the plant's output. They obtained this data from the company's documents and during plant visits and interviews. They then used statistical methods to find patterns. Volvo's assessment process provides a structure and a standard by which loca...
    Note: "Operations"--Cover. - Includes bibliographical references. - Description based on online resource; title from cover page (Safari, viewed April 27, 2015)
    URL: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/-/53863MIT55406/?ar
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    MPI Ethno. Forsch.
  • 4
    Online Resource
    Online Resource
    Strategic decisions for multisided platforms (2014)
    Cambridge, MA : MIT
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: 1 online resource (1 volume) , illustrations
    Keywords: Multi-sided platform businesses ; Business enterprises ; Technological innovations ; Electronic books ; Electronic books ; local
    Abstract: Multisided platforms (MSPs) are technologies, products or services that create value primarily by enabling direct interactions between two or more customer or participant groups. Prominent examples of MSPs and the participants they connect include eBay (buyers and sellers), Airbnb (dwelling owners and renters), the Uber app (professional drivers and users), Facebook (users, advertisers, third-party game or content developers and affiliated third-party sites), and Ticketmaster (event venues and consumers). As these examples illustrate, MSPs include some of the largest and fastest-growing businesses of the past decade. Why? Successful MSPs create enormous value by reducing search costs or transaction costs (or both) for participants. As a result, MSPs often occupy privileged positions in their respective industries; most other industry participants revolve around and depend on MSPs in important ways. This article begins with a description of how MSPs work and why they can erect such high barriers to entry for new participants. It then offers an analysis of four fundamental strategic decisions and associated trade-offs that set MSPs apart from other types of businesses and that every MSP entrepreneur and investor should carefully consider. These challenges are as follows: •the number of sides to bring on (deciding whether to bring on two or more); •design (ensuring the interests of the different platform sides are not in conflict with each other or the MSP); • pricing structures (determining which platform side or sides should be charged more, based on the groups' relative value from interacting with each other); and • governance rules (regulating the participation and activities undertaken by the various platform sides to ensure a high level of quality, or outsourcing that function to users through ratings systems). After examining the factors that drive each of these decisions and using real-world case examples, the author presents general principles that apply to both startups and incumbent MSPs.
    Note: Includes bibliographical references. - Description based on online resource; title from cover page (Safari, viewed April 27, 2015)
    URL: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/-/53863MIT55225/?ar
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  • 5
    Online Resource
    Online Resource
    Rewriting the playbook for corporate partnerships (2014)
    Cambridge, MA : MIT
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: 1 online resource (1 volume) , illustrations
    Keywords: Business networks ; Partnership ; Business planning ; Electronic books ; Electronic books ; local
    Abstract: Today's business environment is unforgiving of companies that are slow to adapt. To extend their capabilities and facilitate change, many organizations have experimented with different types of strategic partnerships with suppliers and customers that help them design and deliver products and services efficiently. But some innovative companies are attempting to redefine the parameters of strategic partnerships through multileveled relationships with customers and suppliers that leverage the resources and capabilities of the respective parties. What makes such partnerships - which the author calls adaptive strategic partnerships - counterintuitive is that they are being used in situations where the two most relevant streams of organizational economics would argue for vertical integration. One company that has pursued adaptive strategic partnerships is Bharti Airtel Ltd., the Indian telecommunications services company. Back in 2004, Bharti Airtel's managers found that negotiating and updating contracts with vendors interfered with their ability to focus on satisfying the company's customers and outsmarting its competition. Contrary to what other telecom operators have done, it negotiated unconventional relationships with some of its leading vendors, including Nokia Siemens Networks (now Nokia Solutions and Networks), Ericsson and IBM. Instead of expanding network infrastructure by purchasing increasing amounts of equipment (such as exchanges and cellular antennas), which often results in unused capacity, Bharti Airtel pays the vendors to operate the network; it compensates them based on telecom volume, paying only when equipment is in use. In addition to rethinking its approach to network capacity, vendors take responsibility for network performance and troubleshooting. Typically, companies with outside partners rely on simple tools such as service-level agreements, which specify what is expected from each party and provide for performance standards to assess compliance. But in managing its partnerships with vendors, Bharti Airtel uses a joint governing structure that encourages people at different levels of the organizations to communicate and address problems as they arise (for example, restoring service after a severe storm). In some cases, such interactions have led the company and its partners to redraw the scope of their collaborations (for example, assign responsibility for building and maintaining the cell towers to a new company), ...
    Note: Includes bibliographical references. - Description based on online resource; title from cover page (Safari, viewed April 22, 2015)
    URL: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/-/53863MIT55221/?ar
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  • 6
    Online Resource
    Online Resource
    What unhappy customers want (2014)
    Cambridge, MA : MIT
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: 1 online resource (1 volume)
    Keywords: Consumer satisfaction ; Evaluation ; Electronic books ; Electronic books ; local
    Abstract: Although companies have invested heavily in technology and other resources to provide better customer service, many businesses are finding that being able to create satisfied and loyal customers is more difficult today. Hurdles include a daunting rise in customer expectations; challenges posed by the Internet, social media and online word of mouth; and poor execution of upgraded corporate complaint-handling policies. Since the 1970s, the authors have conducted six customer satisfaction surveys patterned after a baseline survey by the U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs. Their latest survey found that: • The explosion of online social networking and other communication tools has raised the stakes in the area of customer satisfaction. • The intensity of negative reactions seems to be increasing. • In addressing complaints, companies are failing in their efforts to create one-stop services with technology and people dedicated to resolving customer problems. So, what can companies do to improve the level of customer satisfaction? The authors identify five areas of focus. 1. Encourage unhappy customers to complain, but be prepared to resolve the complaints. Today' unhappy customers expect businesses to handle customer service flawlessly (even if it is outsourced to a third party). 2. Understand what results your investments in customer service will produce. Since the 1970s, companies have invested billions of dollars in upgraded corporate complaint-handling practices. Only 20% of recent complainants were "completely satisfied" with the results of their complaint (compared to 23% in 1976). 3. Recognize that technology has limits - and that some customers want to interact directly with a person. Only 6% of today's complainants consider the Internet their primary channel for complaining. The authors say that online communication channels might be utilized more effectively to steer customers to live complaint handlers rather than pursuing totally automated solutions. 4. Be aware that customers may be even more influenced by positive online word of mouth than by negative word of mouth. By a margin of 46% to 19%, prospective buyers cited positive posts more often than negative comments as being most influential on their future purchases. 5. For most customers, customer dissatisfaction is about more than money. Only 26% of survey respondents wanted financial compensation for their lost time, inconvenience or injury. Many more people seek nonmonetary remedies...
    Note: Includes bibliographical references. - Description based on online resource; title from cover page (Safari, viewed April 27, 2015)
    URL: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/-/53863MIT55313/?ar
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  • 7
    Online Resource
    Online Resource
    Should you outsource analytics? (2014)
    Cambridge, MA : MIT
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: 1 online resource (1 volume)
    Keywords: Quantitative research ; Contracting out ; Electronic books ; Electronic books ; local
    Abstract: The surge of interest in big data has led to growing demand for analytics teams. Assembling such teams, however, is difficult. For one thing, many companies lack the in-house knowledge and experience needed to put together a world-class analytics team. What's more, the labor market for analytics professionals has grown increasingly tight. The shortage of analysts - particularly those capable of developing and leading world-class teams that can enable a company to create a competitive advantage from its data and analytics - is driving organizations to consider outsourcing their analytics activities. Analytics is the latest in a string of activities companies are outsourcing to business process organizations (BPOs). It draws heavily on mathematics and statistics knowledge, and many analytics-oriented BPOs have operations in India. Although some companies have world-class analytics capabilities in-house, the authors posed the question: Can an analytically naïve company "buy" world-class analytics functions by hiring outside experts? The authors studied both four multinational companies that used one or more offshore analytics BPOs and four analytics BPOs. Two of the client companies had skills that were judged to be "analytically superior"; the other two were judged to be "analytically challenged." The analytically challenged companies saw analytics BPOs as a way to obtain the resources and training needed to manage and execute their analytics and to gain quick access to important insights. By contrast, the analytically superior companies wanted to expand their internal analytic capabilities, in part because they wanted to preserve their ability to develop and protect intellectual property; they tended to use offshore BPOs to perform low-level analytics. According to the authors, the best analytics BPOs have core competencies that go beyond what most companies can perform on their own with internal teams. They advise companies working with analytics BPOs to be clear about who does what, who owns what, how each party can use the information it has and what happens to the information and knowledge in the event that the BPO is acquired.
    Note: Includes bibliographical references. - Description based on online resource; title from cover page (Safari, viewed April 22, 2015)
    URL: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/-/53863MIT55216/?ar
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  • 8
    Online Resource
    Online Resource
    Getting value from your data scientists (2014)
    Cambridge, MA : MIT
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: 1 online resource (1 volume) , illustrations
    Keywords: Personnel management ; Database industry ; Electronic data processing personnel ; Database management ; Electronic books ; Electronic books ; local
    Abstract: Simply hiring expensive data scientists isn't enough. To create real business value with data scientists, top management must learn how to manage them effectively.
    Note: Description based on online resource; title from cover page (Safari, viewed May 5, 2015)
    URL: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/-/53863MIT56119/?ar
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  • 9
    Online Resource
    Online Resource
    The opportunity paradox (2014)
    Cambridge, MA : MIT
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: 1 online resource (1 volume) , illustrations
    Keywords: Opportunism (Psychology) ; Business ; Electronic books ; Electronic books ; local
    Abstract: Capturing new growth opportunities is fundamental to strategy, innovation and entrepreneurship. These days, experimentation and improvisational change are in. But how should managers address the challenge? The answer, the authors argue, can be more complex and more crucial to a company's success than previously thought. Their research on mature corporations, growing businesses and new ventures suggests a paradoxical tension between focus and flexibility that can define or break a business. Based on more than 150 interviews with managers at 30 companies in North America, Europe and Asia, the authors conclude that focus is still critical and may be just as important as flexibility. What's more, they conclude that a company's focus may influence its flexibility and vice versa. There are two components to capturing a new business opportunity: opportunity selection and opportunity execution. Opportunity selection involves determining which customer problem to solve, whereas opportunity execution deals with solving the problem. The authors point out that most books, articles and thought leaders focus on opportunity execution - how to create value by developing solutions. But research suggests that innovation initiatives often move so quickly to identify a solution that the innovators have to cycle back to figure out which problem they are actually solving. The authors found that opportunity selection appears to matter as much as opportunity execution. More importantly, how managers approach opportunity selection (whether with flexibility or with focus) has a critical impact on how successful they are at opportunity execution. The authors observed that managers and entrepreneurs tend to fall into two groups: opportunists and strategists. Opportunists rely on a less scripted and more flexible approach to opportunity selection, letting emergent customer inquiries shape opportunity selection. Strategists follow a different pattern. They constrain the selection of opportunities so that they pursue opportunities that are more likely to result in success, and they try to capture several opportunities in a row versus one in isolation. The authors found that companies that were more focused in opportunity selection were often more flexible in opportunity execution.
    Note: Includes bibliographical references. - Description based on online resource; title from cover page (Safari, viewed April 27, 2015)
    URL: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/-/53863MIT56114/?ar
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  • 10
    Online Resource
    Online Resource
    Why managers still matter (2014)
    Cambridge, MA : MIT
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: 1 online resource (1 volume)
    Keywords: Performance ; Management ; Executives ; Electronic books ; Electronic books ; local
    Abstract: The Industrial Revolution brought the decline of small-scale, cottage production and the rise of large, integrated businesses; Adam Smith's invisible hand was replaced with what business historian Alfred D. Chandler Jr., called the "visible hand" of management. But now that pendulum appears to be swinging the other way - to a system of loose networks, virtual businesses and peer-to-peer interactions. A supposed hallmark of the new economy has been the decline of managerial authority. Management gurus, consultants and pundits have proclaimed that hierarchy is out. Modern organizations such as online retailer Zappos have come to favor flat hierarchies with widely distributed authority. And yet, given the demands of the current environment, authors Nicholai J. Foss and Peter G. Klein argue that managerial authority is still essential in situations where (1) decisions are time-sensitive; (2) key knowledge is concentrated within the management team; and (3) there is need for internal coordination. Such conditions, they observe, are also hallmarks of our networked, knowledge-intensive and hypercompetitive economy. While it is true that many knowledge workers no longer need a boss to direct them to tasks or monitor their day-to-day progress, the authors contend that the role of managers and the definition of "authority" needs to change. Managers need to move away from specifying methods and processes in favor of defining the principles they want people to apply or the goals they want people to meet. In other words, the main task for top management is to define and implement the organizational rules of the game. To be sure, procedures for defining rules and frameworks can themselves be delegated and nested. Indeed, when a company's key assets are knowledge workers whose skills and behaviors are difficult to assess objectively, companies will need to increasingly rely on more subjective assessments of performance, which must be carried out by managers.
    Note: Includes bibliographical references. - Description based on online resource; title from cover page (Safari, viewed April 27, 2015)
    URL: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/-/53863MIT56110/?ar
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  • 11
    Online Resource
    Online Resource
    When customers help set prices (2014)
    Cambridge, MA : MIT
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: 1 online resource (1 volume) , illustrations
    Keywords: Pricing ; Consumer goods ; Customer relations ; Electronic books ; Electronic books ; local
    Abstract: For most companies, pricing has always been a sensitive, private affair. This article is directed at managers who seek to profit from product differentiation and take maximum advantage of their ability to stand out. Instead of leaving good money on the table and struggling to convert product differentiation into revenue, the authors argue, companies should consider enlisting the pricing help of their customers. Outsourcing pricing isn't an all-or-nothing proposition. Managers can select pricing models ranging from complete oversight to complete delegation. Citing examples from companies including Google, Uber, Orbitz, Volkswagen, Coca-Cola and Humble Bundle, the article integrates classic views on pricing with the latest research and practice to develop a simple framework to help managers decide how much pricing control they should retain and how much they should relinquish to customers. For most businesses, the default approach is having a single fixed price and selling to anyone willing to pay that amount. However, authors Marco Bertini and Oded Koenigsberg argue that this is economically inefficient: Those prepared to pay more in effect receive a discount; those willing to pay less (but an amount that's still profitable) are turned away. For companies interested in interactive approaches to pricing, the authors discuss three collaborative models: auctions, name-your-own-price auctions and negotiations. In the authors' view, asking customers to weigh in on price can have benefits that go beyond promoting greater efficiency. It can promote customer engagement, provide opportunities for customization, allow managers to signal information about their company or product and open up opportunities for increasing market share.
    Note: "Marketing"--Cover. - Includes bibliographical references. - Description based on online resource; title from cover page (Safari, viewed May 5, 2015)
    URL: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/-/53863MIT55419/?ar
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  • 12
    Online Resource
    Online Resource
    The problem with online ratings (2014)
    Cambridge, MA : MIT
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: 1 online resource (1 volume)
    Keywords: Decision making ; Electronic discussion groups ; Electronic books ; Electronic books ; local
    Abstract: In the digital age, we are inundated with other people's opinions. We browse books on Amazon with awareness of how other customers liked (or disliked) a particular tome. On Expedia, we compare hotels based on user ratings. On YouTube, we can check out a video's thumbs-up/thumbs-down score to help determine if it's worth our time. For the most part, consumers have faith in online ratings and view them as trustworthy. But, the author argues, this trust may be misplaced. The heart of the problem lies with our herd instincts - natural human impulses characterized by a lack of individual decision making - that cause us to think and act in the same way as other people around us. When it comes to online ratings, our herd instincts combine with our susceptibility to positive "social influence." When we see that other people have appreciated a certain book, enjoyed a hotel or restaurant or liked a particular doctor, this can cause us to feel the same positive feelings and to provide a similarly high online rating. The author describes an experiment that he and two colleagues conducted on a social news-aggregation website. On the site, users rate news articles and comments by voting them up or down based on how much they enjoyed them. The researchers randomly manipulated the scores of comments with a single up or down vote and then measured the impact of these small manipulations on subsequent scores. The results were striking. The positive manipulations created a positive social influence bias that persisted over five months and that ultimately increased the comments' final ratings by 25%. Negatively manipulated scores, meanwhile, were offset by a correction effect that neutralized the manipulation: Although viewers of negatively manipulated comments were more likely to vote negative (evidence of negative herding), they were even more likely to positively "correct" what they saw as an undeserved negative score. This social-influence bias snowballs into disproportionately high scores, creating a tendency toward positive ratings bubbles. Positively manipulated scores were 30% more likely than control comments (the comments that the researchers did not manipulate) to reach or exceed a score of 10. A positive vote didn't just affect the mean of the ratings distribution; it pushed the upper tail of the distribution out as well, meaning a single positive vote at the beginning could propel comments to ratings stardom.
    Note: Includes bibliographical references. - Description based on online resource; title from cover page (Safari, viewed April 27, 2015)
    URL: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/-/53863MIT55224/?ar
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  • 13
    Online Resource
    Online Resource
    Raising the bar with analytics (2014)
    Cambridge, MA : MIT
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: 1 online resource (1 volume) , illustrations
    Keywords: Quantitative research ; Industrial management ; Electronic books ; Electronic books ; local
    Abstract: A majority of managers see the importance of increasing the use of analytics in decision making, according to a recent survey of 2,037 managers conducted by MIT Sloan Management Review, in partnership with SAS Institute. More than half of this year's survey respondents strongly agree that their organization needs to step up the use of analytics to make better business decisions - and that percentage rises to 87% if respondents who agree "somewhat" are included. This finding - that a majority of survey respondents agree strongly about the need to step up analytics use - holds true across a range of industries. Several forces, the authors argue, are helping spur managers' interest in analytics, including increased market complexity (for example, omnichannel retailing that encompasses both digital and brick-and-mortar channels) and the availability of better analytics tools and data. The authors report that some companies are sharing their data and analytics with business partners in order to meet strategic business objectives. For example, WellPoint, a U.S. health insurer based in Indianapolis, Indiana, is using analytics to help forge a payment model with physicians that rewards providers when they reduce overall health-care costs and enhance quality and health outcomes. Specifically, WellPoint is converting administrative claims and authorization data into useful information about populations of patients and sharing that information with physicians and their care teams. The survey data suggests that companies for which analytics has improved the ability to innovate are more likely to share data with partners and suppliers. Half of this year's survey respondents somewhat or strongly agree that analytics is helping their organization innovate - and 16% believe that strongly. Those survey respondents who strongly agree that analytics is helping their organization innovate are much more likely to say they collaborate with partners and suppliers through the use of analytics than respondents who don't think that analytics is helping their company innovate. The authors conclude that as companies use analytics to improve their ability to innovate, they also tend to collaborate more through their use of analytics: Analytics becomes an important medium through which organizations interact with both internal and external stakeholders. Thus, organizations that innovate thanks to analytics don't merely increase their use of analytics in decision ma...
    Note: Includes bibliographical references. - Description based on online resource; title from cover page (Safari, viewed April 22, 2015)
    URL: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/-/53863MIT55217/?ar
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  • 14
    Online Resource
    Online Resource
    How strategic is your board? (2014)
    Cambridge, MA : MIT
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: 1 online resource (1 volume) , illustrations
    Keywords: Boards of directors ; Management ; Strategic planning ; Electronic books ; Electronic books ; local
    Abstract: In a world where business models are evolving rapidly and new competitors can emerge almost overnight, strategic thinking - especially at the top of the company - is more important than ever to a company's survival. However, the authors argue, boards of directors have no clear model to follow when it comes to developing the strategic role that is best suited to the company they oversee. As with other leadership roles, the one played by the board varies with the company's culture and the norms and legal requirements of its home country, as well as the norms of the industry. More importantly, the board must play a role that matches the strategic needs of the company and the state of its sector. The board of a young company, for example, usually needs to wrestle with different strategic issues than the board of a long-established company. In the authors' view, three dimensions shape the board's contributions to strategy: 1. A Definition of Strategy Companies define strategy in different ways, depending on their place in their industry and the nature of their industry. Often boards go wrong simply because they have not defined the right measures of competition or the right challenges on which to focus. 2. The Role of the Board The board's role in strategy may range from that of advisers who supervise the strategy to full coauthors of the company's game plan. 3. The Context of the Company The board's involvement in strategy also depends on the context or environment in which the company competes. If the company operates in a market that has a fairly simple and stable competitive dynamic, the board may be well advised to remain distant and largely hands-off on strategy questions. In a more chaotic context, however, a board may choose to take a stronger, hands-on approach to strategy development. These three variables, and the interaction among them, make determining a board's responsibilities for strategy a complex decision. However, the authors suggest, analyzing the three variables in detail can help clarify how a given board can best contribute to a company's strategy.
    Note: Includes bibliographical references. - Description based on online resource; title from cover page (Safari, viewed April 27, 2015)
    URL: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/-/53863MIT56112/?ar
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  • 15
    Online Resource
    Online Resource
    Creating more accurate acquisition valuations (2014)
    Cambridge, MA : MIT
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: 1 online resource (1 volume) , illustrations
    Keywords: Investment analysis ; Business planning ; Electronic books ; Electronic books ; local
    Abstract: Managers often must make decisions about complex strategic issues, and they are expected to make choices carefully and objectively. A retailer, for example, may need to decide whether to bid more in a highly competitive auction. Or a manufacturer may want to determine how long to hold onto a money-losing plant as the economy sinks into a recession. In boom times, deals are often in demand and expensive (and acquirers tend to know it); but when the economy cools off, acquisitions fall out of favor and prices decline. Conventional capital budgeting methods for valuing acquisitions and investments (such as discounted cash flow) may result in overpricing in "hot" deal markets and underpricing in "cold" deal markets. By setting potential deals in the context of real options theory and behavioral economics, authors Han Smit and Dan Lovallo write, executives can compensate for potential biases. Investor exuberance, the positive sentiments of boards and interest by rivals can cause executives to view acquisition opportunities as more attractive than they actually are in "hot" deal markets. Loss aversion and a narrow perspective that does not consider long-term growth options, meanwhile, can subdue acquisition behavior during "cold" markets. The article is designed to improve the use of valuation methods and help mitigate decision biases. Treating acquisition decisions as simple go/no-go choices based on expected cash flows, the authorswrite, creates an unhealthy dynamic. Because it's difficult for executives to recognize their own biases, the authors suggest using a formalized process to de-bias the decision-making team. First, managers must determine whether they are facing an investment in a "hot" or "cold" deal market (something that can often be revealed by the number of deals), after which the authors propose taking a broader view, supported by checklists. A valuation checklist can help executives temper their natural inclination to focus on growth options in "hot" markets and refocus it on staging, deferring or recouping their investments. Similarly, a checklist can help executives divert their natural attention from short-term risk to long-term growth options in "cold" deal markets.
    Note: Includes bibliographical references. - Description based on online resource; title from cover page (Safari, viewed April 27, 2015)
    URL: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/-/53863MIT56109/?ar
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  • 16
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    What it takes to reshore manufacturing successfully (2014)
    Cambridge, MA : MIT
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: 1 online resource (1 volume)
    Keywords: Industrial location ; United States ; Industrialists ; United States ; Regional planning ; United States ; Electronic books ; Electronic books ; local
    Abstract: Rising labor costs in China and other emerging economies, high supply chain and logistics costs, and wide differentials in energy costs in different parts of the world are provoking a fresh round of relocation of manufacturing and production. While some labor-intensive jobs are moving out of China to Southeast Asia or the next emerging low-cost regions, some manufacturing work is also returning to the United States. Wal-Mart is facilitating reshoring efforts among its suppliers, and consultants are offering reshoring conferences, reports and lots of advice. While the data on comparative labor and factor costs may be compelling, reshoring - bringing assembly work back from abroad - is hard work, notes author Willy C. Shih. This is especially true when needed resources (the supplier base, the workforce and even the company's own internal product design capabilities) have atrophied. Shih studied several initiatives aimed at rebuilding regional capacity in the United States (including at GE's Appliance Park in Kentucky and two Flextronics International plants in Texas) and other examples in Europe and Asia to identify lessons about what works. The benefits were no surprise. Placing manufacturing close to the market minimizes inventory in the pipeline, reduces delivery times and shortens ordering cycles. The challenges were less apparent: the need to stabilize the workforce, address skill gaps, rethink the capital/labor ratio, localize the supply base and rethink product design to leverage the proximity to manufacturing. In many ways, Shih writes, the challenges of reshoring to the United States are the challenges of reshoring in any market in the world. Managers must design supply chains for the production of goods that balance proximity to diverse markets with the locations of their capabilities and their supply ecosystems. Doing that well, Shih argues, will always be a source of competitive advantage.
    Note: Includes bibliographical references. - Description based on online resource; title from cover page (Safari, viewed April 27, 2015)
    URL: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/-/53863MIT56113/?ar
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  • 17
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    The upside to large competitors (2014)
    Cambridge, MA : MIT
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    Language: English
    Pages: 1 online resource (1 volume)
    Keywords: Marketing ; Competition ; Commerce ; Electronic books ; Electronic books ; local
    Abstract: New research suggests that a smaller company can benefit by making consumers aware that it competes against bigger corporations.
    Note: Description based on online resource; title from cover page (Safari, viewed May 5, 2015)
    URL: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/-/53863MIT56118/?ar
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  • 18
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    Finding the right corporate legal strategy (2014)
    Cambridge, MA : MIT
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    Language: English
    Pages: 1 online resource (1 volume)
    Keywords: Corporation law ; Corporate governance ; Law and legislation ; Electronic books ; Electronic books ; local
    Abstract: Companies have increasingly recognized that legal capabilities are crucial for ongoing corporate success, and they understand the importance of working with legal counsel. All too often, though, senior executives still view the law as a constraint on managerial decisions, primarily perceiving it as an issue of cost and compliance. But this limited perspective of the law does not explain how some leading companies, such as Qualcomm and the Walt Disney Co., have managed to deploy their legal departments to shape the legal environment in order to secure long-term competitive advantage. In their research, the authors have developed a framework that can help executives identify the different ways in which legal strategies can be used to achieve various corporate goals, including the identification of value-creating opportunities. The framework consists of five different legal pathways, which the authors describe using examples such as Qualcomm, Microsoft, United Parcel Service and Xerox. In order of least to greatest strategic impact, the five legal pathways are (1) avoidance, (2) compliance, (3) prevention, (4) value and (5) transformation. In the avoidance pathway, managers see the law as an obstacle to their desired business goals. Companies operating in the avoidance pathway will often have lax internal controls or a failure to perform due diligence, and this approach can lead to disaster. Companies in the compliance pathway recognize that the law is an unwelcome but mandatory constraint, and they think of compliance basically as a cost that needs to be minimized. For businesses in the prevention pathway, managers take a more proactive approach, using the law to preempt future business-related risks. The value pathway represents a fundamental shift in mind-set, from risk management to value creation; managers use the law to craft strategies that increase ROI in ways that can be directly tied to a profit-and-loss statement. For companies in the transformation pathway, executives have integrated their legal strategy not only within the organization's various value-chain activities but also with the value chains of important external partners. Finding the right legal pathway for a particular company requires more than just a consideration of the overall business model. Other key factors include managers' attitudes toward the law and their level of legal knowledge, the sophistication of legal counsel and, in particular, the legal department's abil...
    Note: Includes bibliographical references. - Description based on online resource; title from cover page (Safari, viewed April 27, 2015)
    URL: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/-/53863MIT56108/?ar
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  • 19
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    Finding the value in social business (2014)
    Cambridge, MA : MIT
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    Language: English
    Pages: 1 online resource (1 volume) , illustrations
    Keywords: Social media ; Marketing ; Internet marketing ; Electronic books ; Electronic books ; local
    Abstract: A recent survey by Deloitte and MIT Sloan Management Review suggests that companies are starting to derive real value from social business (defined to include activities that use social media, social software and technology-based social networks to enable connections between people, information and assets). However, that business value is concentrated most strongly in companies that have reached a certain level of sophistication in relation to their social business initiatives. MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte have been exploring the impact of social media on business over the past three years through surveys, data analysis and interviews with executives and academics. The latest survey explored whether companies are deriving value from their social business initiatives. Sixty-two percent of managers surveyed report that their organization's social business initiatives are at least somewhat successful at meeting their stated business objectives, while 63% of respondents report that social business has positively affected business outcomes at their company. Fifty-nine percent of respondents in multinational companies report that social business helps them operate across geographies. Perhaps equally compelling is the extent to which individual employees indicate the value of social business to their daily work. Fifty-seven percent of respondents say that it is at least somewhat important for them to work for companies with mature social business practices, while 46% of respondents say that social business is at least somewhat important for decision making in their day-to-day role. A key factor in whether companies are able to derive positive benefits from social business is social business maturity. The researchers asked survey respondents to envision a company with ideal social business practices and then to assess how close their company was to that ideal. The higher a respondent rates his or her company, the more likely they are to report that the company is deriving business value from its social business initiatives. For example, 92% of respondents from the companies with the most mature social business practices say that social business helps them operate across geographies. The data shows that, based on maturity, different groups share distinctive social business practices. Thus, while incremental improvements to existing social business practices are likely to yield positive business outcomes, the kinds of benefits asso...
    Note: Includes bibliographical references. - Description based on online resource; title from cover page (Safari, viewed April 27, 2015)
    URL: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/-/53863MIT55319/?ar
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  • 20
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    Why customer participation matters (2014)
    Cambridge, MA : MIT
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    Language: English
    Pages: 1 online resource (1 volume) , illustrations
    Keywords: Market surveys ; Focus groups ; Marketing research ; Consumers ; Research ; Electronic books ; Electronic books ; local
    Abstract: Most managers know that listening to customers makes good business sense. Businesses have much to gain from actively seeking and encouraging customer participation, which the authors define as getting customers to provide constructive suggestions and share their ideas on how to shape product and service offerings. Yet many companies only pay lip service to this idea. Rather than encouraging customers to share their views about the company and its products with managers, the authors found, companies tend to focus on encouraging customers to take part in spreading positive word of mouth. Yet word of mouth is only one type of voluntary behavior that customers engage in. Moreover, it indicates only what people on the outside are saying, not how companies can improve their offerings or what customers may be looking for. The authors, who conducted surveys of customers as well as interviews and roundtable discussions with senior executives in a variety of industries, found that both customer word of mouth and customer- to-business interactions are associated with a customer's propensity to buy more of a company's products and services. While not all satisfied customers become repeat buyers, encouraging them to provide feedback and suggestions helps tie them more closely to the business. Companies can even recapture defecting customers simply by contacting them and encouraging them to participate. In addition, customer-to-business interaction is often more malleable than customer-to-customer word of mouth and more readily within the control of management. In a study of customers of a global bank, the authors found that customers who purchased the most were individuals who participated and engaged in much word-of-mouth behavior. High participation/ high word-of-mouth customers were the most loyal and attached to the brand; customers who did not participate tended to be the least valuable, the least loyal and the least attached to the organization regardless of whether they spread positive word of mouth. The implications of the findings are that fostering customer participation can be very valuable and that companies are better off emphasizing customer participation over word of mouth (as opposed to the reverse), because it creates more customer "stickiness" (as in greater attachment and commitment). Nevertheless, the authors say, the two approaches should be seen as two sides of a coin, working both internally and externally to build financ...
    Note: Includes bibliographical references. - Description based on online resource; title from cover page (Safari, viewed April 22, 2015)
    URL: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/-/53863MIT55220/?ar
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  • 21
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    The dandelion principle : redesigning work for the innovation economy (2014)
    Cambridge, MA : MIT
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: 1 online resource (1 volume) , illustrations
    Keywords: Technological innovations ; Management ; Creative ability in business ; Electronic books ; Electronic books ; local
    Abstract: In May 2013, software giant SAP announced plans to hire hundreds of people diagnosed with autism, with a target of having people with autism represent 1% of the company's work force by 2020. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines autism as a developmental disorder associated with "impairment of the ability to communicate with others" and "preoccupation with repetitive activities of restricted focus." Companies don't typically seek out these characteristics in new hires. But SAP took a different perspective. "We share a common belief that innovation comes from the 'edges,'" one SAP executive stated in the company's press release. "Only by employing people who think differently and spark innovation will SAP be prepared to handle the challenges of the 21st century." More specifically, the company had discovered that some people with autism have abilities that are extremely well-suited to performing some vital information technology tasks. SAP's move embodies an emerging management principle - the authors Robert D. Austin and Thorkil Sonne call it "the dandelion principle" - and offers an alternative way of thinking about human resources management. In some ways, the "dandelion principle" turns some of the basic tenets about how to recruit and manage people inside out. The authors use the dandelion as metaphor because, they note, dandelions are actually nutritious - but are seen as weeds in the context of a green lawn that demands uniformity. The industrial economy, the authors argue, required uniformity in operations. In the industrial economy, companies could often win by operating more efficiently than rivals. Today, that's no longer enough. Faced with lower-cost competition from developing countries, established companies also need to innovate, to offer products that are better than what's available from competitors. But innovation, the authors observe, calls for organizational capabilities different than efficiency. Efficiency requires getting people and machines to mesh more smoothly; the emphasis is on parts fitting in and reducing variation around averages. Innovation, by contrast, involves finding new and better ideas and using new processes. Managing innovation is less about averages and more about understanding outliers. The emphasis is on increasing interesting variation, then identifying value in some of the variants. In an innovation-oriented economy, the authors contend, companies may benefit from accommodating employees wit...
    Note: "Leading your team"--Cover. - Includes bibliographical references. - Description based on online resource; title from cover page (Safari, viewed April 27, 2015)
    URL: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/-/53863MIT55407/?ar
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  • 22
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    Online Resource
    Bringing fun and creativity to work (2014)
    Cambridge, MA : MIT
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    Language: English
    Pages: 1 online resource (1 volume)
    Keywords: Employee motivation ; Creative ability in business ; Electronic books ; Electronic books ; local
    Abstract: How do you inspire employees to become more motivated and perform better? By challenging them to test their creativity and collaboration skills through a team-based contest.
    Note: Description based on online resource; title from cover page (Safari, viewed April 27, 2015)
    URL: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/-/53863MIT56102/?ar
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  • 23
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    Online Resource
    Protecting intellectual property in China (2014)
    Cambridge, MA : MIT
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: 1 online resource (1 volume) , illustrations
    Keywords: Intellectual property ; China ; Electronic books ; Electronic books ; local
    Abstract: Intellectual property protection is the No. 1 challenge for multinational corporations operating in China. According to the U.S. government, China accounted for nearly 80% of all IP thefts from U.S.- headquartered organizations in 2013, causing an estimated $300 billion in lost business. For European manufacturers, the loss of IP in China reduced potential profits by 20%. The effects from IP leakage are visible in counterfeited items including toys, luxury goods and automotive and aircraft parts. But IP violations go beyond products. They extend to pirated operational processes and entire business and service models. For many multinational corporations, IP leakage becomes a barrier to integrating Chinese sites and partners into global innovation activities. IP leakage frequently occurs through staff transfers or shared practices from foreign multinational corporations to local joint ventures or supply chain partners. For multinationals, this type of IP leakage is often a calculated risk worth taking. However, unintended IP leakage can affect a company's reputation and profitability. Even worse, it can create powerful local or even global competitors. To learn about how companies are managing the China IP protection challenge, authors Andreas Schotter and Mary Teagarden studied more than 50 multinational corporations. They identified nine IP protection practices that companies can use in China. Four of the practices are defensive and externally focused; the other five are proactive and internal. Together, these practices, which operate on the strategy, legal and business intelligence layers, create what the authors call the "IP protection web," which allows corporations to (1) expand faster within China and across other emerging markets; (2) improve performance; and (3) enhance local and global innovativeness. According the authors, most of the companies they studied learned to protect their IP through trial and error - there is no single "best" process or practice. However, the changing composition of IP risk creates a need for ongoing reconfiguration. Indeed, as Chinese companies become more skillful at absorbing leaked IP from those employees who formerly worked for international rivals, international companies must develop more sophisticated responses and develop new ways to engender loyalty.
    Note: "Global"--Cover. - Includes bibliographical references. - Description based on online resource; title from cover page (Safari, viewed April 27, 2015)
    URL: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/-/53863MIT55417/?ar
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  • 24
    Online Resource
    Online Resource
    Stories that deliver business insights (2014)
    Cambridge, MA : MIT
    Details
    Language: English
    Pages: 1 online resource (1 volume) , illustrations
    Keywords: Consumers ; Research ; Ethnology ; Marketing research ; Electronic books ; Electronic books ; local
    Abstract: Ethnography has often been portrayed as a "fly on the wall" technique, with anthropologists lurking in people's homes to observe consumers' unadulterated lives. The authors argue that this description does not do justice to the way ethnography actually works in the corporate world or to ethnography's increasingly important role in formulating business strategy. The authors' research across a variety of companies suggests that ethnography - artful in situ investigation into what customers do and feel and how they talk about what they do and feel - is a powerful tool to use to gain insights into your market. To arrive at a more in-depth understanding of how corporations use ethnography to their advantage, the authors conducted interviews with executives in various industries worldwide, including Ford and Wells Fargo. Where data analytics and surveys provide flattened snapshots, ethnography contributes an empathic understanding of how consumers live, work and play through gritty and detailed descriptions. Whether conveyed in video format, presentations or reports, these stories describe how people confront and surmount the hurdles they encounter in meeting their responsibilities and fulfilling their hopes in our globalized consumer culture. By delving into the richness of people's life stories, ethnographic research can pivot companies away from less meaningful segmentation parameters, such as demographics or purchase history, and toward those that drive behavior, such as purpose and intent. Quantitative techniques such as factor analysis can subsequently be applied to locate and size market segments. Consistent with the idea that ethnography helps organizations deal more effectively with market complexities, the executives the authors interviewed often talked about ethnography as having helped them sort out puzzling data. While these discussions call into dispute the perception that ethnography is merely an exploratory technique, they also underline the point that ethnographic stories often provide insight into consumer behavior that is hard to come by in other ways.
    Note: Includes bibliographical references. - Description based on online resource; title from cover page (Safari, viewed April 22, 2015)
    URL: https://learning.oreilly.com/library/view/-/53863MIT55223/?ar
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