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Publications from the themanager.org-team
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When to develop
strategic measures
Dagmar Recklies
Strategic measures serve to realize strategic
objectives on corporate level or business unit level. More
precisely: with which frequency and on which occasions should they
be developed. This article describes how it should be done, how it
should not be done, and what could be done between these two
extremes
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Two ideas for
improving strategic planning
Oliver Recklies
his article has the objective to analyze and to discuss one selected
problem and barrier related to the strategic planning process; those
problems and barriers for a sound strategic planning process have
been indentified in both the academic and the business literature.
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Practice of
strategic planning in German retail banks
by Oliver Recklies
This paper analyses the practice of strategic planning of two major
player groups within retail banking business in Germany. Both types
of banks face a set of burdens to organise their strategic planning
processes. To discuss strategic planning approaches within these
organizations the author uses a three step framework of (1)
strategic analysis, (2) strategy finding and (3) strategy
assessment. Key factors influencing the planning processes will be
identified. For each element of the framework the author discusses
tools and methods which are employed by bank managers to overcome
existing barriers. For strategy assessment two benchmarking
approaches are analysed. The author argues that approaches of these
banks give an example how small organisations might address the
issues of strategic planning.
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Sense and Nonsense
of Early Indicators
By Dagmar Recklies
Early indicators are very popular in the business world. People
normally like them because they see a lot of advantages. However, I
am reluctant to rely on early indicators too much. There are some
problems that are not easily solved. After a discussion of the
advantages and problems in the use of early indicators for business
decisions I propose a system for practical use in businesses.
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Thoughts on the
Lifecycle of Corporations
By Dagmar Recklies
Experience shows that the time span of successful corporate activity
is not endless in most cases. Of course, there are many corporations
with a history of 50 years and longer. Nevertheless, the number of
companies – no matter what size – that have been existing for 100
years or even longer is much smaller. This article looks at some
reasons why older companies are more inclined to failure then
younger ones.
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Practical Advice for Strategic Planning Meetings
By Dagmar Recklies
Strategic planning meetings are a very
controversial thing. They have a bit of a reputation to be just
another fancy management trend. Nevertheless, good preparation and
follow up can improve chances that the strategy meeting becomes a
success which everybody is willing to repeat after a year or two. I
was involved in the organization of several strategy meetings for
two completely different firms. Here is some practical advice that
builds on this experience.
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Internal Communication of Change
By Dagmar Recklies
There is no doubt that the reasons, the content and the objective of
a change initiative have to be understood by all affected employees.
Experience shows that in particular those more complex initiatives
tend to face enormous difficulties reach everybody in the company.
This paper will discuss one specific reason for failure of effective
change communication. The hypotheses is that change is communicated
by the wrong people.
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What
Makes a Good Change Agent?
by Dagmar Recklies
In the light of the many problems and risks associated with change
projects, the change agent has a very important function. The change
agent’s or change leader’s capabilities have a major impact on
success or failure of the project, and on the extent of potential
unwanted side-effects. The following article describes
required capabilities of good change agents. |
Small
and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Globalization
by Dagmar Recklies
Today, globalization is a major driver that has impact on nearly
every business. The internationalization of markets for sales and
purchasing at least indirectly influences every business.
This article discusses why globalization influences SMEs and what
special challenges SMEs face when planning to do business globally. |
What
Makes a Good Business Plan?
by Dagmar Recklies
Whether in start-up, expansion or turnaround-situations – every
business needs to write a business plan sooner or later. In the
authors experience not all businesses realize that a business plan
is more than the description of a company’s business model,
products and services. Thus, this article will discuss functions and
content of a good business plan. |
Managing
Change - Definition and Phases in Change Processes
by Oliver Recklies
Managing change is a challenging task. If you ask employees what
they think about change, you will normally find that most people
have negative attitudes and perceptions towards change.
This article attempts to provide an introduction into change management.
It defines what change is and describes seven phases of change
processes. |
Problems
in Managing Change
by Oliver Recklies
The process of change has impact on the whole organization and on
all individuals working there. Successful change requires the
participation and acceptance of everyone in the the organization.
That makes change management a challenging task.
This article provides a systematic overview on potential barriers to
change and gives some advice on how to make change successful. |
Beyond
Porter - A Critique of the Critique of Porter
by Dagmar Recklies
The writings of the American management-guru and Harvard-Professor
Michael E-Porter are considered to be among the most influential of
their subject – and among the most critiqued ones. Porter had a
lasting influence on strategic management with his books about
competitive advantages on industry level and on global level, which
were written in the eighties. Porter’s ideas became more and more
subject of critique under the impression of the developing Internet
economy during the last decade. Critics point out that economic
conditions have changed fundamentally since that time.
This article discusses Larry Downes' critique of Porter and explains
why Porters thoughts are not obsolete. |
Strategy
in Turbulent Times
by Dagmar Recklies
Management theory and practice widely accept today that businesses
operate in a more and more complex, dynamic, less predictable
environment. This new situation requires managers to develop new
ways of thinking and acting. Basing on the weaknesses of traditional
strategic planning, this article discusses new approaches in
management. They direct companies towards more flexibility and more
strategic innovativeness; but they do not present ready-to-use
solutions though. Rather they are intended to provide ideas for new
thinking and acting as a starting point to give all processes in the
organization a new strategic direction. |
Mergers
and Corporate Culture
by Oliver Recklies
It
is widely recognized that cultural differences between the partners of a merger
are one of the most common reasons for failure in mergers. This may happen
during pre-merger negotiations or during post-merger integration. Despite all
Due Diligence, the two partners of a merger fail to form a new successful unit
that is able to exploit all synergies. The development of a new,
shared culture is a critical factor for merger success. It is possible to
manage this process in a structured way.
This article gives a brief introduction into the concept of corporate
culture and explains, why it is so important in mergers |
Vision
as Key Factor in Merger Processes
by Oliver Recklies
The post-merger integration
process is a difficult and complex task. It comes along with long lists of
activities and tasks that have to be fulfilled within a short time and partly
with incomplete information (e.g. formation of new teams and departments).
There are many opportunities to exploit and many decisions to take. However, as
long as there is no vision for the new organization that is well known to
everybody, there is no use in investing too much effort in all these
issues.
The vision for the new organization has to come first. |
Managing
Growth - Phases of Growth
by Oliver Recklies
This article discusses the statement: It
is possible to speed up corporate growth – but not infinitely.
Today start-up, tomorrow at the stock exchange – this is
impossible for some practical reasons. The question is, however, how
fast an organization can develop from start-up with a team of five
to a business with 50+ people.
For this discussion, Greiners model of Five Phases of Growth is introduced. |
Managing
Growth II - Barriers and Preconditions
by Oliver Recklies
This article discusses what actually growth is. It is more than
increasing revenues or number of staff. Than it analyses the
barriers to and preconditions for successful and sustainable
corporate growth. |
Stakeholder
Management
by Dagmar Recklies
Today,
all players in business face the interest and the impact of different people
and groupings. Especially larger corporations have to care not only for the
needs of their direct owners, but also of various other groups, like employees,
public interest groups like environmental organizations, strategic partners,
journalists or public monitoring bodies. Therefore,
all businesses operate within a complex system of interests and influences.
Management has to assess and evaluate these external forces - called
stakeholders - in order to adjust
them with corporate objectives.
This article explains the concept of stakeholder management and how to
identify stakeholders and to assess their impact. |
Small
Business - Size as a Chance or Handicap?
by Dagmar Recklies
The
sector of small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) is an important factor in
most economies. SMEs have a good reputation for their ability to innovate and
for their close customer relationships. Smaller businesses, however, have
some disadvantages that make it difficult for them to compete with the
large players in their industry. This article analyses the advantages and
disadvantages that result from the smaller size of an organization. |
top of page |
Publications from our valued partners (more
detailed papers)
Strategic Hedge Fund Planning
by Attorney Hannah M. Terhune, JD, LLM (Taxation)
The purpose of this article is to highlight
key U.S. hedge fund development and planning issues of interest
to hedge fund sponsors worldwide.
|
In Tough Times,
‘Hyper-Creatives’ Provide Creative Advantage
by Jerry W. Thomas
Jerry’s article is about the use of “hyper-creatives’’ -- those
rare, everyday people who have an uncanny ability to dream up
successful products and services.
“Hyper-creatives,’’ Jerry writes, “are people in the target
market who are exceptionally creative in coming up with new
product ideas. These individuals can generate many more new
product ideas than the average person, and the quality of their
ideas far exceeds the output of their noncreative neighbors.
This ability is called ‘idea-centric creativity.’ Hyper-creatives
are particularly valuable now because it is quite common for
companies to cut or defer new product development when the
economy is weak.’’
|
Business Book:
Transformation Management - Towards the Integral Enterprise
Ronnie Lessem, University of Buckingham, Uk and Alexander
Schieffer, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland
with sample chapter
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Business Book:
The Rise and Fall of Management. A Brief History of Practice,
Theory and Context
Gordon Pearson, Keele University, UK
with sample chapter
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Glossary of
terms used in competitive intelligence and knowledge management
By Vernon Prior
A glossary with several hundreds of terms from the field of
competitive intelligence and knowledge management in the widest
sense
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The strategy
accelerator - Strategies for sustainable competitive advantage
By Alfred Griffioen
This article investigates how a company can make a profit in the
current market. It proposes a directive framework based on
market relevancy and whether the company has a unique product.
Based on these parameters, a company should either consolidate
its position, aim to excel more and more in its products,
effectively combine products or ally with another company to
differentiate or profile itself more.
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The Differentiation
Challenge
By Jean-Claude Saade
On any given morning, if we open a newspaper in Dubai, Beirut or
any other city in the region it will be full of advertisements,
messages and offers. At 10:00 am, let us try to remember the ads
we have seen a couple of hours ago. We might remember something,
only sometimes, but most of the time we cannot. We are facing
the terrifying lack of differentiation that is inundating the
market. Is the lack of differentiation an Agency challenge or a
Client challenge?
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Every blue ocean
will eventually turn red;
Create an unfair advantage instead
By Dr. Dan Herman
Once your Blue Ocean Strategy works, sooner or later someone
will copy or even improve your already successful model, and
your ocean will become red again. The critical question is: what
can be done which is immune from imitations? Apparently the
principle is simple. Introducing the Unfair Advantage.
Accompanying papers:
-
Test Yourself: Are You An
MBA Clone?
-
10 "De-clone Yourself" Tips for MBA clones
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The Family-Owned Business
There are three major pitfalls to avoid when operating a
family-run business.
Michael J. Conway, JD, and Stephen J. Baumgartner, MSc(Econ)
While there is entertainment value to the drama and intrigue
which surround the Earnhardt, Wrigley, Murdoch, and Walton
family-owned businesses, their highly publicized trials and
tribulations can also provide real life lessons for family-owned
businesses that operate well out of the limelight.
|
Benefits of International Portfolio Diversification
Findings indicate that co-movements among the U.S., Germany, and
Japan markets are significant.
Burhan F. Yavas, PhD
It is well known that stock market investing is risky. Both
practitioners and theoreticians recommend holding a
well-diversified portfolio to reduce risk. While mutual funds
offer a quick and relatively inexpensive way to diversify, the
purpose of this article is to address the issue of risk
reduction through international diversification.
|
Strategic Leadership
Part 1: Applying Lessons Learned from Research about Strategic
Leadership Development
Robert M. Fulmer, PhD, and Jared L. Bleak, EdD
Leadership has never been an easy proposition. Throughout
history observers have wondered if there were enough capable
leaders to manage the challenges facing all types of
organizations. Today, business and governmental organizations
face something of a "perfect storm" of problems that have
profound implications for current and future leaders.
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Managing
Organizational Knowledge
Insights offered from the Southern California aerospace industry
for managing knowledge assets.
Mark Chun, PhD, Mike Williams, PhD, and Nelson Granados, PhD
Through knowledge management, organizations identify and
leverage their collective knowledge to compete, including the
creation, storage/retrieval, transfer, and application of
knowledge. Increasingly, firms in many industries are taking
advantage of advanced technologies such as database tools and
web-based applications to effectively manage knowledge.
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The
Trader Joe’s Experience - The impact of corporate culture
on business strategy.
Mark Mallinger, PhD, and Gerry Rossy, PhD
The success of Trader Joe’s (TJ) markets is the result of a
unique business model that has built a national chain of
neighborhood grocery stores. The purpose of this article is to
explore the relationship between organizational culture and
business strategy that has propelled TJ to extraordinary
success.
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Aligning
Business with a Value Statement
Conversation with Dacor Executives:
Michael Joseph, CEO, Stephen Joseph, Director,
Interactive and Direct Marketing, Mauricio Roca,
Director, Business Development, Tony Zavala,
Executive Vice President, COO
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Electronic
Spreadsheets: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly.
Rick Hesse, DSc, Chair and Professor of Decision Sciences
On the 25th anniversary of the
development of electronic spreadsheets, the good news is that
spreadsheets have had a positive impact on the way businesses operate
behind the scenes—from finance and accounting to operations and
marketing and human resources—and they save time. The bad news is that
training is woefully inadequate and haphazard. The ugly news is that
spreadsheets are full of errors, with a majority of firms using them in
some way for financial reporting that falls under the Sarbanes Oxley
act. ... more
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Can Finance
Really Become a Strategic Partner to the Business?
By Anand Sanwal
Much has been written about how finance organizations can become
strategic partners with the businesses they support. While
purported experts point to a variety of frameworks, scorecards
and key performance indicators, etc. as the keys to bridging the
gap between finance and business, these trite 'solutions' have
done little to make finance the strategic business partner it
seeks to be.
...more
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A Gala Tribute to
Global Copycats
By Naseem Javed
Over the decade, the art of copying and stealing other people's
content and ideas has settled comfortably in the mainstream
across the globe. What formerly would constitute an act of
piracy is now a commonplace, everyday occurrence. Isn't it time
to give these 'borrowers' a tribute, host a gala dinner and hand
out awards? ...
more
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Coordination
of supply chain with revenue sharing contract in a fuzzy
environment: Investigation and analysis
By Xuping Li and Jinsheng He
The coordination of a decentralized supply chain can be achieved
by adopting supply chain contracts. This paper investigates how
a decentralized supply chain can be coordinated by a revenue
sharing contract, in which the supplier offers the retailer a
lower wholesale price in return for a percentage of the
retailer’s revenue.
...more |
The SME
Revolution starts in Dubai and GCC
By Naseem Javed
The Western economies realized decades ago that small and medium
enterprises are really the main drivers of the economy. While
big businesses are necessary to preserve and maintain structure
within the economy, surely they have considerable problems of
their own. Mega corporations of the earlier era have
increasingly lost their edge to smaller, nimbler organizations,
which have spouted all over the Western landscape. The Middle
East is now a new turning point for SME’s to begin a grassroots
revolution. |
The R(E)volution of
Lean
by Jerry Kilpatrick & Robert Osborne
Lean Manufacturing as a management tool has taken the
manufacturing industry by storm, and companies around the globe
have adopted Lean methods in many forms and by many names.
...more |
The
Surprising Secret of Successful Differentiation
By Dan Herman, PhD
A successful differentiation is not imitated by your competitors,
even though it brings you unmistakable success with consumers. It
seems impossible? Not quite so. I am about to reveal to you the
unexpectedly simple and wonderful secret of successful
differentiation: you must think beyond the core benefits of your
product category. Think: Off-Core Differentiation. |
The
Balanced Scorecard & Performance Improvement: Using the balanced
scorecard to combine viewpoints of company success
By David Chaudron, PhD
No manager can ignore the bottom line – the key indicator of what
has happened (i.e., a “lagging indicator”). But you need a “balanced
scorecard” to measure not just how you’ve been doing, but also
how well you are doing (“current indicators”) and can expect to
do in the future (“leading indicators”). Then you’ll have
clear picture of reality. |
The What’s
Next? Process For Developing Your Strategy
By Dr. Dan Herman
The old customary procedure of strategy development has a pure and
sound logic. It has been designed in order to answer the question:
What is it that we should do in order to achieve our goals?
What is the alternative to the old brick road to strategy? Dan
proposes that we move from wish-oriented management to
opportunity-oriented management. He hereby offers a new process
leading to successful strategizing |
The
Strategy IS the Brand Or: How Can You Create Your Very Own Monopoly?
Dr. Dan Herman
So, what really is a strategy? By definition, a strategy is the way
by which you are planning to obtain your goals. In a competitive
environment, your goal is that the consumer will prefer you to your
competition. That is why the strategy is, in fact, the way by which
you plan to achieve an advantage over your rivals – in the eyes of
your consumers. Almost always, preference can be achieved only by
differentiation, by either doing something other than what your
competitors are doing or by doing things in a markedly dissimilar
manner. |
Re-Conforming the
Supply Chain From Supplier to Customer: Before the Software
by Gerald Najarian
Now that Supply Chain Management has entered the consciousness of
manufacturing managers, we are experiencing the inevitable rush to
apply a software solution to implementation of a fully integrated
chain of activities from the top to the bottom of the materials
flow. But supply chain management is much more than software. It is
the adoption of an over arching approach to the management of the
modern manufacturing (or distribution) enterprise. Much like MRP or
JIT, supply chain management requires a commitment to doing business
in a new and more enlightened paradigm. This article appeared in
Midrange Enterprise Magazine. |
The Pull
System Mystery Explained: Drum, Buffer & Rope With A Computer
By Gerald Najarian
Going forward by moving backward is how one author described a pull
system. Others use the analogies of drums, buffers and rope to
explain how to "pull" production through a manufacturing
shop. This pull sequence system is known as a Kanban system in Japan
and in The Toyota Automobile Corporation where it was developed and
refined. |
Flow Manufacturing is the
Essential Component in Your Supply Chain Strategy
Gerald Najarian, The Remington Group, LLC
Supply Chain Management is to the twenty first century manufacturing
enterprise as MRP was to the factory of the 1970s; the overriding
framework that points the business toward the customer. The customer
of the MRP and post MRP era could put up with the fixed (and mostly
long) lead times, inflexible product structures and, the high cost
of batch/subassembly/final assembly manufacturing and inventory
management of that time. Not so the customer of the Supply Chain
Management era. As we begin the Supply Chain Management era with the
market’s demand for flexibility, velocity and, minimal waste (not
necessarily no waste), we now focus on this new overriding framework
that is under-girded by ERP and empowered by modern Flow
Manufacturing. This article appeared in APICS The Performance
Advantage magazine. |
top of page |
Publications from our valued partners
(brief writings)
Strategic Planning: How to Create
Marketplace Strategies That Actually Gets Results
By Scott Glatstein
Research shows very few companies actually know how to create an
effective strategic plan AND successfully implement it in the
marketplace. Is your company one of them?
|
Expanding Your Business Internationally:
8 Points To Consider Before Going Global
By Robert Kendzior
|
Business Growth Tips: A
Roadmap to Business Growth & A Prosperous Future
By Bill Gilbert
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Business Strategy Execution:
4 Reasons Why Your Company’s Strategy Isn’t Working
By Scott Glatstein
Articulating a good strategy is only the beginning. It’s the strategy’s
execution that determines whether an organization can turn good
intentions into profits.
|
Business & Purchasing: Buy Smart and Avoid Excess Inventory in Your
Warehouse
By Dan Kaplan
Many companies are surprised when they find excess inventory of fast
moving items during a physical inventory.
|
Competitive Intelligence: How To Track Your Competitors & Uncover Their
Not So Hidden Secrets
By
Srikanth Chari
In
business, you always need to know what your competitors are doing. To
survive you must perform competitive intelligence activities and monitor
the broader market for new developments that could affect your company,
your products and brands, suppliers, and distributors.
|
Technology
eases the inevitable last mile in the supply chain
Colleen Rose, Group IT director, The Smollan Group
|
Out of
stock, out of mind, out of business
By Chris Olivier, CEO, The Smollan Group
|
Outsourcing
Sales
By Asim Khan
Many companies make the decision to outsource sales in order to
reduce operating costs and focus internal resources on developing
the company’s product or service.
pdf-file (93 KB)
|
Phenomenological
Perspectives on Change
by Daniel Burger
Although the age-old Empirical-Analytical Model with its focus on
measurement is still very much dominant in most contemporary
organisations, an increasing number of theorists and practitioners
are recognising the importance of the individual experience in
management and change processes. Given that this 'individual
experience' has been a central focus of the Phenomenological
Movement since its inception, this paper argues that an
understanding and application of phenomenological principles may
have much utility in organisational change efforts, especially
considering the key role of the individual in achieving change.
pdf-file (255 KB)
|
A
Humanistic/Existential Approach to Strategy
by Daniel Burger
An increasing body of evidence is indicating the importance of
utilising people as a competitive advantage, yet many contemporary
organisations are still persisting in their use of conventional
approaches to strategy. However, criticisms against these approaches
include that they ignore human factors, thereby suggesting that they
may be fundamentally insufficient to reach a people-based
competitive advantage.
pdf-file (251 KB)
|
Gameplaying
in Corporate
By Steve Banhegyi
Ever hear talk in the workplace about someone or other being engaged
in "playing games"? Well, maybe that someone is smarter
than we think because using a game analogy to think about almost
everything you do has the potential to make life a lot more
rewarding, interesting and fun.
|
Risk Inclination -
How Do You Compare to Others
By Jim McCormick
Ever wonder how risk inclined you are? And how you compare to
others?
|
When
Consulting Projects Go Sideways
By Michael W. McLaughlin
The problems that plague consulting projects are often avoidable, at
least in hindsight. Before a project, consultants should think of
all the potential problems and assess how they might impact the
project. A low impact event may slow the schedule slightly, while a
high impact one could mean project cancellation. Usually, project
teams resist this kind of thinking; they prefer not to focus on the
negative aspects of a project, especially during the euphoric
outset. Like it or not, the beginning is the best time to get the
potential pitfalls out in the open.
|
Deciding
To Go International (pdf-file)
by Asim Khan
There are many benefits to marketing a company’s products or
services overseas, but the decision to go international must be made
carefully. Cultural and language barriers, political issues and
variations in religious beliefs, societal norms, and business
negotiation styles impact how business should be conducted with
international counterparts. Two steps can prepare an organization
for an overseas effort.
|
Lean Operations
and Six Sigma
Series
From Tefen Operations Management Consulting
- The first article gives an overview on Characteristics/Attributes
of a Lean Operation. (pdf-file)
- The second article some guidelines for a
successful implementation of lean tools and techniques in life
science industry: Applying
Lean Tools and Techniques in Pharmaceutical Environments.
(pdf-file)
- The third article is about Taking
On Six Sigma Programs. It offers guidelines for in-house and
outsourcing decisions. (pdf-file)
- The forth article is a case study about Using
the Six-Sigma Methodology to Improve Wafer Fab Productivity
(pdf-file)
|
How
discretionary spending effects a business valuation
By Byron M. Lund
Discretionary spending is spending that must be done for the long
term profitability of a company, but may be postponed from the
current period(s).
|
Spreadsheet
errors could cause actuaries to misjudge risk and rate policies
incorrectly
By Adrian Miric
|
Cash to Cash Cycle Series
By Chris Anderson
What Would You do with $1,000,000?
What do you and your business need that you have been putting off
because you don't have the money today? $1,000,000 certainly would
fill those needs. But where do you find 1 Million just lying around
your business right now? Well, you probably have $250,000 in each of
four areas in your everyday business, and you don't even realize it.
And so let's look at four places in your business where we will find
$250,000 each and see how you can find it:
Part 1: Inventory - $250,000.00
Part 2: Accounts Receivable -
$250,000.00
Part 3: Sales - $250,000.00
Part 4: Accounts Payable - $250,000.00
Part 5: How-to Procedures - $1,000,000.00
|
Dysfunctional
Functions
By Vaidyanathan Nateshan
One of the most important issues that has been troubling Boardrooms
and HR managers takes its roots in the functional division of an
organisation. The classic division of organisations as functions has
created walls or “silos” under which, people thrive, specialise
and aspire for growth, resulting in frustration on not being able to
grow beyond a point.
|
Nine
Pitfalls of Organizational Change
By David Chaudron, PhD
The Wall St. Journal has many times reported on the struggling
efforts of companies trying to effectively change their
organization. With such national focus on the needs of organizations
to respond to today’s volatile climate, why all the
failure?
Based on our experience, there are several significant causes to an
organization's change efforts to stumble or stagnate. You can use
this information to avoid these pitfalls, or recover from them if
you have fallen in.
|
Put
success into succession planning
By Bryan Hattingh
Succession planning, as it is constituted today, is a hotly debated
but generally ignored practice in corporations and businesses.
|
RFID: “Ready
For Industry Deployment” or “Rosy Fantasy In Disguise”?
by Wally Klatch
Judging by the amount of ink, either real or virtual, that has been
used to write about RFID you would think it is the most widespread,
the most useful, the most all-curing logistics remedy that can be
found – the business-technology version of patent medicine. One
carnival barker after another proclaims its many wondrous benefits
wrapped in snappy high-tech verbiage.
|
Questions
every CEO should be asking his managers
By Ian Widdop
Do you know what is really driving your business? Ask your sales
managers, says Growth Partners director Ian Widdop. This
article lists 20 questions that reflect issues that emerge regularly
in sales-oriented companies, and especially those involved in
business-to-business commerce.
|
Embrace CPM, and
escape Excel hell
By Gavin Halse
Corporate performance management (CPM) has existed in some form or
other since companies first started making things, and is therefore
not a new concept for manufacturers. Increasing competitive and
regulatory pressures are resulting in an increase in formal CPM
acceptance. However, the concept only now appears to be
getting requisite attention from the IT community. Does the
relatively slow uptake of CPM by IT mean that IT professionals are
simply slow to understand how manufacturing companies are run, or
are there more fundamental factors involved?
|
Unstructured
data offers a vast store of untapped BI value
By Garth Wittles
Traditional business intelligence (BI) vendors tend to agree that
clean data is essential to analysis and reporting. But GARTH WITTLES,
district manager for Verity in South Africa, believes organisations
are losing a huge amount of information if they rigidly apply this
approach to data gathering and analysis. Typically 20% of an
organisation's data is structured, which means that it can be used
in BI data analysis. The remaining 80% is usually cast aside and is
not factored into the analysis and reporting that business
executives find so crucial to making decisions.
|
MANAGEMENT
QUALITY AND LEARNING ORGANIZATIONS
By Härje Franzén
”Management Quality” or Quality of Management is a concept that
describes an organization’s capacity to exercise high management
quality.
|
How
to deal with the 4 types of M&A activity
By Bryan Hattingh
BRYAN HATTINGH, CEO of leadership solutions group Cycan, says there
are various types of mergers and acquisitions and that companies
would do well to consider the principles behind each before signing
on the dotted line.
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The
Intelligent Strategist
Change Designs Magazine featuring this article
- The concept of intelligence. How it has broadened to include IQ
(rational intelligence), EQ (emotional intelligence) and SQ
(spiritual intelligence.)
- The powerful strategist.
- The seven deadly traps of strategy.
- The role of the powerful strategist.
- The mind of a strategist. (when to do strategy, what is a powerful
strategy.)
- The heart of a strategist. (power and politics).
- The soul of a strategist. (how to inspire others.)
pdf-file - 396 KB
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The
Change Leader - Trail Blazer or Tour Guide?
Change Designs Magazine featuring this article
- The change guide from hell.
- The change guide of choice.
- Characteristics of a trail blazer vs. a tour guide.
- The difference between paradigm busting changes that result in new
industries, vs. changes that have been implemented before in other
companies and other industries.
- The four gifts of a change guide: Intellect, compassion,
inspiration and wisdom.
- The itinerary of a change guide.
pdf-file - 397 KB
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Serve
your Service with a Pinch of Fun
By Atanu Adhikari
Two biggest problems in today’s business are to motivate workers
and consumers. Routine type of work environment and consumer
environment resulting into both employee as well as customer
turnover. Making routine employees and customers experience fun can
turnaround organization’s performance. It can act as important
differentiator in creating an edge over the competitors.
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Running
A Productive Project Meeting
by Tim Kress
Well-run project meetings are essential to project success. Poor
meeting facilitation will not only damage the project, but the
project manager's reputation as well. This article provides a
roadmap to productive meetings.
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Small Business: Don't Wait For Tax Time To Look At The
Bottom Line
By C.J. Hayden
A curious thing happens to entrepreneurs in the spring of every year. They wake
up one day and realize they had better figure out how much money they made last
year so they can pay their taxes. But wait, shouldn't a business owner already
KNOW how much money he or she made last year, last quarter, or last month?
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Management
Quality - The Role of the Middle Managers
Middle managers who fill this role address all critical success factors
pertaining to management quality. They are role models who interpret and
represent the established management policy and make it alive to their
reporting managers and their staff. They are key persons in communicating and
tracking different kinds of goals and in making information flow up and down.
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Changing
Information to Knowledge
By Deepak Pareek
The information universe is transforming. The technological
developments of the closing decades of the last century have created
an ever-expanding universe of information, from pure content
creation to the endless statistics created by every individual’s
interaction with the new technological environment. This
growth in the ability to create and distribute information, and the
facility to monitor its use, offers enormous cultural, educational
and financial benefits for those who know how to harness it and can
present information in usable form hence extract Knowledge. However,
the same growth has led to an inevitable dilution in both the
quality and the applicability of that information to any particular
individual unable to utilize knowledge of information.
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What To
Do When Your IT Project Is Late, Over Budget, and Looks Like It’s
Never Going To Work
by Frank Schmidt
Here’s a scary statistic. According to four prominent research
firms, only around 20% of all IT projects are finished in a timely
manner. By “timely” the researchers mean without loss of quality
or being over budget. They go on to say the average project runs
approximately 200 percent late, roughly 200 percent over budget, and
contains only 2/3 of the original functionality. Failure is the norm
in the IT industry. But why? And more importantly, how do we fix it?
There must be a way to dissect the problem, and create a solution to
the diagnosis of “doomed failure.” Trust me, there is!
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Circling
the Pyramid - Building Lasting Commitment to Change
by Edmond Mellina
In any change initiative, the overarching objective is to drive the
lasting adoption of new behaviours and attitudes within the
organization. The challenge can be framed through a series of
questions: What is the best strategy to build commitment to the
change? How do you monitor the level of allegiance? What is the
difference between mere compliance and full internalization? In this
article, we present a model we have developed to help address these
issues. Although simple in its form and application, it has proven
effective in a multitude of change situations.
pdf-file - 219 KB
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The
Neglected Firm (Every manager must manage two firms)
Brief description of the book by by Jorge A. Vasconcellos e Sá
Every manager must manage simultaneously two firms: the present one
and the future one. The first is managed through the functional
departments: marketing; finance; etc. The second is managed through
the most recent area of management: planning. And the area about
which we know less: what constitutes simultaneously a risk and a
great opportunity.
pdf-file - 281 KB
find this book at amazon.com
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Handling
Challenging Situations with a Customer-Focused Mindset
By Terence R. Traut
Most
Customer Service Professionals deal with many challenging customer situations.
The ultimate goal in these challenging situations is to provide a
win-win solution. We want our customer to leave the
interaction feeling listened to, well taken care of, and valued.
A customer-focused mindset will have a tremendous impact on
accomplishing these goals. Along with customer focus, an
invaluable tool for dealing with challenging situations is the
Five-Step Process.
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Project
Closure – The Phantom Phase
By Shaun H. Ajani
In projects that do not respect an exacting stance for proper
methodology, the Project Closure Phase is neglected. This is even
the case in huge corporations with proper Project Management
methodologies. It is indeed the Phantom Phase that lingers on for a
while, and when nobody steps up and takes responsibility for its
execution, it effervesces into nothingness, abandoning some
important aspects of the project, such as Weighted Critical
Measurements (WCM), Issues, Reviews, and Client Permissions.
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Management
Quality and "the good work-place"
by Harje Franzén
The good work-place is a concept that has been brought into new
focus, through positive actions like the "Great Place to
Work" Institute and certificate, but also through many negative
reports of poor working conditions. Burn-out, high turnover of staff
and unequal opportunities represent part of the content of many
articles and reports. How can improved Management Quality contribute
towards better places to work? The answer may seem self-evident, but
let us dig deeper into this question.
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The
Art of Succession Planning
by Paul Shearstone
Succession planning, like any business acumen, is both an art and a
science. That is to say, there are many proven strategies that can
and must be followed so that successful transition can occur.
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The Laws and
Ethics…. Who’s Kidding Who?
By Paul Shearstone
Years ago I read an article by a renowned psychologist wherein he
wrote his studies found one percent of all human beings would never
lie, cheat or steal. One percent would always lie, cheat or steal
and given the right set of circumstances, the rest of us would
likely lie, cheat and/or steal. I mention this to highlight
the fact that, if we can buyoff on this one principle – sobering
though it may be – we have then, a benchmark from whichto begin to
at least try to understand the denigration of ethics that lead to
outcomes like Enron and WorldCom
html-file - 55 KB
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Change,
Employee Performance, and Blended Performance Solutions
by Terence R. Traut
Blended performance solutions combine strategic performance support,
information access, communication, and training to achieve the most
effective performance gains in the most efficient manner. In this
article, the author identifies the features of blended performance
solution components.
html-file - 53 KB
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Effective Networking for Professional
Success
Book Summary by Regine P. Azurin and
Yvette Pantilla
We are all “self-employed” now. Today there is absolutely no job
security. We are living in an age of corporate downsizing, and
freelance consultants, or self-employed workers are growing by
the day. Networking is one skill you need to practice to get
ahead and survive these uncertain times.
html-file 33 KB
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The Role of the
Change Master - From Change Agent to 'Change Master'
By Ruth Tearle
A change agent may be a full time organisational development
professional, a leader of a division or a middle manager charged
with the responsibility of bringing about a change in his/her area.
Anyone involved in helping a team achieve something new becomes an
agent of change. Depending on the type of change he/she is tasked
with, a change agent may perform any of the roles discussed in this
article.
However a change master, is able to perform all of these roles.
html-file - 73 KB
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Benchmarking
and Improving Management Quality
by Harje Franzén
By defining Management Quality as an organizational concept and
applying established Quality methodology to the area of management,
a great potential for improvement becomes apparent. This improvement
translates directly to business results or other major objectives. A
model of Management Quality has been developed, and used in practice
to benchmark management quality in more than ten Scandinavian and
international organizations. The results clearly show that even the
leading edge companies can take great steps forward, by using a
structural approach to management quality and by learning from best
practices of others.
html-file - 42 KB
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How to
Negotiate Successfully
By Karl Heinz Lorenz
Whether in sales, in consulting, in staff dialogue or when meeting
business partners - the ability to manage negotiations and
conversations effectively determines your business success. Along
with methodical aspects, a sound knowledge of human nature and the
ability to develop a feel for the person you are talking to are
fundamental.
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