Increased emphasis on continual innovation — and increased awareness that it demands knowledge beyond the confines of a single organization — means research partnerships have become a more common and more important strategic tool. These inter-organizational arrangements fall broadly into two camps: the tightly coupled partnership; the more loosely coupled alternative. The former is characterized […]
Read More… from Innovation Partnerships-Loosely or Tightly Coupled?
In the 1940s, psychologist Jean Piaget suggested that children use their hands-on experiences of the world around them to build and develop their knowledge. This theory went on to shape the modern approach to learning, moving it away from lecturing to passive audiences to actively engaging participants. Similar is the science behind a method known […]
Read More… from How LEGO® Helps Strategic Thinking and Idea Generation
Giving people the freedom to work on their own ideas is commonly associated with progressive leadership and company creativity. (Google’s policy of allowing employees to spend 20 per cent of their time on ‘pet’, company-related, projects, has led to profitable innovations such as AdSense and Gmail.) But is this ‘bottom-up exploration’ consistent with the idea […]
Read More… from Ideas, Implementation and the Learning Organization
Most organizations are split into different business divisions that all report to a corporate office. This office houses the CEOs and other corporate functions, such as HR, finance and IT. In recent years, these functions have often underperformed and corporate offices have failed to add value. Could the reason behind this be that CEOs do […]
Read More… from Four Ways CEOs Can Align Function Heads with Corporate Strategy
In the quest to achieve global efficiency, often companies find themselves faced with a dilemma: how can they manage the various processes needed to run a global organization, yet keep a locally-flexible system at the same time? Unable to reach this equilibrium, many find themselves stuck in a rigid system and not as customer-orientated as […]
Read More… from Balancing Local and Global Efficiency with Anchored Agility
Investments in IT account for a large proportion of corporate discretionary spend and leaders need to understand the likely impact of such investments before allocating resources to it. The amount of ‘cash you splash’ on your IT systems has been a perennial problem for many leaders. What type of IT investment should I opt for? […]
Read More… from Computer Says ‘Yes’ – The Impact of IT Investment
More than just an assigned period for eating, a lunch break is an opportunity for employees to engage in various types of activities, from socializing with friends and colleagues to relaxing with a book to catching up on work. Managers and employees might assume that the effectiveness of a lunch break in helping employees restore […]
Read More… from Reenergizing Lunch Breaks and the Role of Autonomy
In Aristotle’s great work the Nicomachean Ethics, happiness (eudaimonia) is not a feeling so much as a state — and a state with a distinctly moral dimension. Synonymous with ‘living well and acting well’, it arises from being part of and being active in a social life and a political community, and it originates in […]
Read More… from Aristotle, Ethics and the ‘Art’ of Leadership
Scholars have identified different approaches to the management of uncertainty in the entrepreneurial process. The ‘classic’ model is ‘focused commitment’. The argument in this stream of research is that making commitments early may secure future opportunities and discourage rivals from investing, accelerate learning and enable economies of scale, and provide ‘first mover’ advantage. Put very […]
Read More… from Flexibility Vs Commitment in the Entrepreneurial Process
Discussing her return to PwC as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in 2012, Carol Sawdye said she would be spending much of her first year on the job focused on “change management.” In saying so, Sawdye acknowledged that the role of a CFO has now transformed; they need to assume bigger responsibilities and play a crucial […]
Read More… from CFOs Reborn as Agents of Organizational Change
