As executives acquire more experience with outsourcing, they are discovering its strategic potential. By working with partners on core activities, companies are able to gain the expertise needed to transform themselves. The author illustrates this approach to change with examples from TiVo, bookstore chain Family Christian Stores, BP, and U.K. agency National Savings and Investments.

The author argues that the primary role of a company’s board must shift depending on circumstances. Offering examples of Swissair, General Motors and others, he illustrates how a board’s four main functions — auditing, supervising, coaching and steering — each have a different perspective and behavior.

The conventional planning process does not work for truly bleeding edge ventures. The authors suggest an approach to planning that diverges from conventional methods in six critical ways, emphasizing learning — not numbers — and drawing on in-depth studies of New York Times Digital, Thomson Corp., Corning and Analog Devices, among others.

As consumers become more informed, companies must go beyond relationship marketing and help customers find the best products for their needs — even if those offerings are from competitors. The author discusses General Motors, General Electric, Qwest and others to illustrate the trend.

Sellers, unlike their customers, can see the forest for the trees in an industry. Drawing on examples from Hilti, Algorithmics, McCain Foods and others, the authors describe three strategies for putting that unique view to use and discuss how these strategies can be implemented.

Most management advice urges companies to undertake frequent and radical change in order to stay competitive. But, says the author, such advice is overprescribed, and those that continue to heed it risk initiative overload, organizational chaos and employee burnout.

Japan’s economy has been in the doldrums for so long that many Japanese seem to have adopted a resigned attitude ofSho ga nai (“That’s life”) toward it. But Japan, of course, can become competitive again, provided its political and corporate leaders take on four difficult but essential tasks.
The first task is to instill a commitment [...]

The past decade has seen a virtual explosion of information about customers and their preferences. Many companies have the ability to gauge customers’ willingness to pay for their products and can determine with some accuracy the effect of price changes on sales volumes. With Internet shopping, it is possible to effect such price changes at [...]

Growth is not perpetual, and its continued pursuit can be costly, especially for large, mature companies. Instead, say the authors, smart managers should acknowledge the natural limits of their company’s path to growth and consider viable alternatives.

Fear is a four-letter word in companies today, but CEOs’ rhetoric of “love” often inspires more cynicism than genuine affection. Leaders would do well to develop a more sophisticated understanding of each term.

Executives who carefully cultivate financial market and business cycle literacy are likely to manage their companies better than those who do not.

To better manage technology, a generalist must know it well enough and challenge it often enough to truly understand its potential risks and rewards.

Deal making and salesmanship are giving way to creativity and invention as the driving leadership ethos in corporate America.

The authors provide a systematic framework for thinking through the opportunities and risks inherent in a strategy that seeks services-led growth. Drawing on the concept of customer-activity chains, they explain four paths that companies can follow to create new value for their customers. Prominent examples include Kodak, General Motors, UPS and Nike.