Friday, December 28, 2018
Saturday, December 22, 2018
Tapping into the business value of design
Tapping into the business value of design
Reimagining global ties: How China and the world can win together
Reimagining global ties: How China and the world can win together
What Singles Day can tell us about how retail is changing in China
What Singles Day can tell us about how retail is changing in China
Economic Conditions Snapshot, December 2018: McKinsey Global Survey results
Economic Conditions Snapshot, December 2018: McKinsey Global Survey results
What can we expect in China in 2019?
What can we expect in China in 2019?
Friday, December 21, 2018
Thursday, December 20, 2018
How to select and develop individuals for successful agile teams: A practical guide
How to select and develop individuals for successful agile teams: A practical guide
The seven make-or-break API challenges CIOs need to address
The seven make-or-break API challenges CIOs need to address
How to serve today’s digital traveler
How to serve today’s digital traveler
Wednesday, December 19, 2018
Perspectives on CCAR: Preparing for 2019 amid expectations of regulatory relief
Perspectives on CCAR: Preparing for 2019 amid expectations of regulatory relief
Five Fifty: Year end 2018
Five Fifty: Year end 2018
Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Driving value from fleet telematics
Driving value from fleet telematics
Positioning for growth in the fast-changing lubes market
Positioning for growth in the fast-changing lubes market
Monday, December 17, 2018
Preparing millennials for the age of automation
Preparing millennials for the age of automation
Machine learning and therapeutics 2.0: Avoiding hype, realizing potential
Machine learning and therapeutics 2.0: Avoiding hype, realizing potential
Synergy and disruption: Ten trends shaping fintech
Synergy and disruption: Ten trends shaping fintech
Reserve a seat—the future of mobility is arriving early
Reserve a seat—the future of mobility is arriving early
The journey to a new tomorrow: A conversation with Patrick Conway, MD, President and CEO, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina
The journey to a new tomorrow: A conversation with Patrick Conway, MD, President and CEO, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina
Right product, right time, right location: Quantifying the semiconductor supply chain
Right product, right time, right location: Quantifying the semiconductor supply chain
Growing faster than the market: Three questions the C-suite should ask
Growing faster than the market: Three questions the C-suite should ask
Friday, December 14, 2018
Finding talent and speed to transform a credit-card company into a digital native
Finding talent and speed to transform a credit-card company into a digital native
Digital insurance in 2018: Driving real impact with digital and analytics
Digital insurance in 2018: Driving real impact with digital and analytics
McKinsey Quarterly 2018 Number 4: Overview and full issue
McKinsey Quarterly 2018 Number 4: Overview and full issue
Realigning global support-function footprints in a digital world
Realigning global support-function footprints in a digital world
From understanding to action: Our top reads from 2018
From understanding to action: Our top reads from 2018
Improving patient adherence through data-driven insights
Improving patient adherence through data-driven insights
Powerful pricing: The next frontier in apparel and fashion advanced analytics
Powerful pricing: The next frontier in apparel and fashion advanced analytics
Talent and technology in Africa today
Talent and technology in Africa today
Building a one-stop shop for government services in Australia
Building a one-stop shop for government services in Australia
Insights into the 2019 individual exchange market
Insights into the 2019 individual exchange market
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Wednesday, December 12, 2018
Testing the resilience of Europe’s inclusive growth model
Testing the resilience of Europe’s inclusive growth model
Learning from digital threats
Learning from digital threats
How plastics waste recycling could transform the chemical industry
How plastics waste recycling could transform the chemical industry
Taking digital transformation to the limits at Koç Holding
Taking digital transformation to the limits at Koç Holding
A next-generation operating model for source-to-pay
A next-generation operating model for source-to-pay
Corporate and investment banking in Mexico: Delivering value through new models
Corporate and investment banking in Mexico: Delivering value through new models
The transformation of global acquiring
The transformation of global acquiring
Tuesday, December 11, 2018
An Executive Guide to the Winter 2019 Issue
Grow Faster by Changing Your Innovation Narrative
George S. Day and Gregory P. Shea (Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania)
Companies aspiring to be organic-growth leaders in their industries have abundant advice to follow. They can emulate the practices of giants like Amazon, Starbucks, and 3M, and adopt a host of popular innovation prescriptions — use design thinking, act more like a lean startup, cocreate with customers, and so on. Though much of this well-meant advice has its merits, it often leads to patchwork interventions with disappointing results.
It’s better to start with a coherent, affirming narrative about how the business is equipped to innovate for growth. Of course, once that message is in place, the company must reinforce it with action.
The authors tested 18 widely touted levers that companies could pull to support their innovation narratives and identified the four that organic growth leaders use most to stay ahead of competitors: (1) investing in innovation talent, (2) encouraging prudent risk-taking, (3) adopting a customer-centric innovation process, and (4) aligning metrics and incentives with innovation activity.
Key Words for Digital Transformation
Shantanu Narayen (Adobe), interviewed by Paul Michelman (MIT SMR)
By many rights, one might have expected to find Adobe on the register of companies disrupted by digital transformation. And yet the 35-year-old software developer has persevered — even excelled — by embracing the very technological forces (think cloud computing, mobile technology, platforms, IoT) that could well have been the harbingers of demise for a legacy producer of packaged software designed for the desktop.
In conversations that took place via videoconference and email, MIT Sloan Management Review editor in chief Paul Michelman asked Adobe chairman and CEO Shantanu Narayen to share his thoughts on several key words related to Adobe’s journey: communication, artificial intelligence, platforms, expectations, and uncertainty.
The Promise of Targeted Innovation
Marcel Corstjens (INSEAD), Gregory S. Carpenter (Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University), and Tushmit M. Hasan (University of Texas)
The largest consumer goods companies each spend more than $1 billion annually on R&D. What have they gotten in return for their hefty outlays? On average, virtually nothing from a sales perspective. An industry analysis found that the sector’s biggest R&D spenders saw no appreciable impact on revenue. That’s troubling for companies whose growth has plateaued over the past five years. At the company level, however, the picture is more nuanced: Even though companies that spent heavily on R&D saw no measurable impact on sales, some outfits that focused on iterative improvements to products or services showed a significant positive correlation. Conventional management wisdom holds that across sectors, R&D productivity depends on industrial might. In the consumer products world, at least, the authors’ analysis suggests that’s not the case. This article explains why and provides guidance on how big spenders can improve their returns.
Bill It, Kill It, or Keep It Free?
Wolfgang Ulaga (INSEAD) and Stefan Michel (IMD)
In tough times, companies hunt for new sources of growth. Yet in doing so, many overlook opportunities to generate sales from services they’re already giving customers for free. Though it sometimes makes sense to stick with a free model, companies too often make that the default option. This article provides a framework for transitioning from free to fee. The research behind it focuses on B2B companies, but the takeaways also apply to B2C companies. The framework includes three steps: (1) Take stock of all the services you give away, (2) build action plans for pricing and selling services you’ve decided shouldn’t be free, and (3) manage the resistance to change, whether internally or from customers and distributors.
The Truth About Behavioral Change
Damon Centola (University of Pennsylvania)
People tend to assume that Twitter adoption spread virally through the internet, thanks to social contacts connected by weak ties and long bridges. That narrative is easy to grasp. Unfortunately, it is also inaccurate. Research shows that Twitter’s growth pattern was surprisingly geographic. Friends and neighbors adopted the technology from one another. It spread locally, like a grassroots social movement. The real story of Twitter’s success illustrates how social networks promote behavioral change. Unlike knowledge sharing, which is a simple contagion that spreads quickly, behavioral change is a complex contagion, which requires reinforcing ties and wide bridges to spread. This article, adapted from the author’s book How Behavior Spreads, explores these concepts.
A New Playbook for Diversified Companies
Ulrich Pidun (BCG), Ansgar Richter (Surrey Business School, University of Surrey), Monika Schommer (BookingGo), and Amit Karna (Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad)
Scholars have argued for years that large amounts of diversification hurt performance and value creation. But the authors’ research shows that high levels of diversification aren’t necessarily bad for performance and that diversified firms aren’t a dying breed.
In recent years, the risk of value-destroying behavior seems to have been reduced by new trends such as increased efficiency of capital markets, a stronger focus on corporate governance, and improved transparency and steering due to advances in information and communication technology. Diversified companies tend to reap such rewards when they limit the number of business models in the portfolio and support them with a strong, cohesive operating model; tailor the corporate parenting strategy to the portfolio; and allocate resources on the basis of clear portfolio roles.
Think Critically About the Wisdom of Experts
Andrew A. King (Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College)
Expert analysis informs the decisions we make as managers and in our lives. Almost daily, however, some expert’s previous certainty is discredited by new analysis. So how should we treat the next piece of advice we get?
Philosophers of science generally recommend that we trust what we hear from well-credentialed people. But we can and should think critically about what we read and hear. In particular: Don’t hesitate to challenge experts. When an expert links a cause to a supposed effect, ask whether it’s a story to make sense of the past or a theory to forecast the future. Unearth assumptions that experts have used to get from the raw data to a set of conclusions. Identify alternative explanations for a particular conclusion, and ask why each one is not a better answer.
How Should Companies Talk to Customers Online?
Brent McFerran (Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University), Sarah G. Moore (University of Alberta School of Business), and Grant Packard (Lazaridis School of Business and Economics, Wilfrid Laurier University)
More people are engaging with customer service through digital channels, including websites, email, texts, live chat, and social media. Despite the convenience and speed of such interactions, they lack some of the most important aspects of off-line customer service. For example, nonverbal expressions and gestures can signal engagement, and tone of voice can convey empathy and focus. Over time, these interpersonal touches help companies build and sustain relationships with customers. The authors explain how simple shifts in language can enhance customer satisfaction and purchase behavior.
Deriving Value From Conversations About Your Brand
Brad Fay (Engagement Labs), Ed Keller (Engagement Labs), Rick Larkin (Engagement Labs), and Koen Pauwels (D’Amore-McKim School of Business, Northeastern University)
In studying more than 500 leading consumer brands, the authors found that there was little correlation between what consumers said about brands online and what they said off-line, even though both can have big effects on a company’s sales. The authors asked consumers to recall the product and service categories and brands they talked about the day before, then compared the two types of conversations. Based on their analysis, the authors concluded that managers need to avoid relying solely on social media to represent the ecosystem that affects brand success.
Driving Sustainability-Oriented Innovation
Thijs H.J. Geradts (Erasmus University and Nyenrode Business Universiteit) and Nancy M.P. Bocken (Lund University and Delft University of Technology)
Faced with mounting pressure from governments, investors, and employees to be more aware of the environmental and social impacts of business activities, companies are searching for ways to do things differently while also seeking opportunities for growth. As a result, many are encouraging their employees to develop new products, services, or business models that create value for both the company and society. To learn what leading companies are doing to address that challenge, the authors conducted interviews with managers at seven multinational companies recognized for their sustainability activities.
The Public Sector Can Teach Us a Lot About Digitizing Customer Service
Alireza Nili, Alistair Barros, and Mary Tate (Queensland University of Technology)
Digital customer service agents — also known as virtual assistants, chatbots, or softbots — are poised to transform customer service over the next decade. Most companies that use digital agents rely on them to sift through incoming customer requests and to process the most straightforward issues. More complex issues get passed along to human agents.
But digital agents can actually handle more. Public service agencies in Australia are already using them to handle complex inquiries from citizens regarding services. In most countries, government entities are slower than businesses to adopt new technologies. Companies worldwide stand to learn valuable lessons from these Australian public service agencies.
An Executive Guide to the Winter 2019 Issue
The Uncertain Status of Gig Work
Editor’s note: Elsewhere is a column that highlights ideas from other media platforms we believe are worth your attention.
In the 20th century, it became cheaper for companies in developed countries to employ workers full time than it was for them to find the right people “on demand” for each task that needed doing. But the so-called gig economy has changed that. Today, there are people out there ready and willing to do almost any task: drive you to appointments, bring you a take-out meal, assemble your new Ikea sofa, even clear spiders out of your house. So both individual customers and hiring organizations have just-in-time options aplenty.
As a recent article in The Economist notes, the gig economy is growing, even though many of the jobs may not pay very well. Many workers value the flexibility and income that gig work provides; customers like being able to find people to do things they want done. Still, the extent to which gig workers, typically self-employed individuals, should be afforded the legal rights of employees has yet to be fully resolved in many jurisdictions. Tribunals and courts in England and California have recently ruled in favor of giving gig workers some protections (such as a minimum wage), but decisions in Italy and Australia have gone the other way. “The battle over the gig economy has a long way to run,” The Economist notes, and the outcome of that battle could have implications for both innovation and jobs.
The Distinct Charm of Voice
The number of “smart” speakers connected to the internet and capable of looking up information and performing various tasks is on track to reach an estimated 100 million by the end of 2018. Some analysts expect the number of digital assistants to grow more than 75-fold in the coming years as tech giants like Amazon and Google look for ways to extend voice activation into new areas.
As writer Judith Shulevitz points out in The Atlantic, pursuing voice is a way for the big companies to “colonize space” — to pull appliance and device makers, app developers, and consumers into their ecosystems of products and services. But it’s more than that, too. Amazon’s Alexa, for example, doesn’t simply help people do things they already do (albeit in a different way, “replacing fingers and eyes with mouths and ears”). It also brings technology “closer to our own level” through the highly personal act of conversation, Shulevitz suggests.
The article looks at some of the new research academics and corporate R&D labs are conducting on human speech and the nonverbal aspects of communication. It also explores the question of whether computers will eventually be able to develop something resembling empathy. Today’s smart devices aren’t really hearing us yet. They are “as likely to botch your request as they are to fulfill it,” Shulevitz writes. But over time they will get better.
Frightening if True
We have become all too accustomed to software-based hacks and large-scale data thefts — despite increasing efforts by companies to protect themselves. Fortunately, hardware hacks are exceedingly rare. While the potential for damage is staggering, they are much harder to carry out.
So when Bloomberg Businessweek reported in October that Chinese military operatives had somehow planted tiny spy-chips on China-built servers purchased by Apple, Amazon, and more than two dozen other organizations, the shock waves could be felt from Silicon Valley to the Pentagon and the CIA. The article claims that rogue, rice-sized microchips were attached to server motherboards supplied by Supermicro, based in San Jose, California. Once those tiny chips were in place, attackers could gain access to any network that used the compromised servers.
Reporters Jordan Robertson and Michael Riley say the story was based on information provided by 17 unnamed sources, including high-level people at Apple and U.S. security agencies. But basic details have been strongly disputed by Apple, Amazon, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. director of national intelligence, and other news organizations have not been able to confirm the information. Both Apple and Amazon Web Services have asked Bloomberg for a retraction. In the face of these challenges, Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple reports that Bloomberg has committed additional resources to investigating the story.
The Uncertain Status of Gig Work
Artificial Intelligence Brings Out the Worst and the Best in Us
I’ll never forget something that psychologist Daniel Kahneman said a couple of years ago at a people analytics conference. The keynote was largely about how algorithms can reduce “noise” (random, irrelevant factors that cloud our judgment) when we’re rating job candidates and trying to predict people’s performance. About halfway through, Kahneman made a quick, almost offhand comment that really struck me: He said he was “quite worried” about AI’s dark, dystopian possibilities, despite its great potential for good. The better AI becomes at making decisions, the less we’ll need human judgment — and that, he suggested, will threaten the power structure in organizations. Leaders won’t like that, so they’ll resist adopting the technology for their biggest, most important decisions.
That rang true when Kahneman said it, and it still does. It’s consistent with the ongoing human struggle to maintain control in the face of technological advancement, though it’s not one of the unintended consequences we usually think of regarding AI in the workplace. We tend to focus on other risks — amplifying cognitive biases, cannibalizing livelihoods, disrupting businesses. Those concerns are more than justified, but perhaps we have been a bit myopic and have overlooked something that’s as dangerous as relying too heavily on technology or allowing it to run amok: failing to reap its benefits, out of a deep, paradoxically self-destructive desire to keep calling the shots and preserve our status.
It’s an unsettling thought. But two articles in this issue of MIT SMR (and others we’ve recently published) offer useful reminders that there’s reason for optimism, too. As keen as we may be to retain power and its privileges, we also see ourselves as fair, and we want to live up to that self-image. AI is starting to help us in that regard. As Josh Bersin and Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic argue in “New Ways to Gauge Talent and Potential” — and as Kahneman himself said at the conference — AI-enabled tools can greatly reduce the role of bias in hiring decisions by screening for traits that affect performance and by disregarding those that don’t, such as the extent to which people look or sound like us. And in “Using Artificial Intelligence to Promote Diversity,” Paul Daugherty, H. James Wilson, and Rumman Chowdhury, too, urge us to hold ourselves to a higher standard of organizational behavior. They call on makers of AI systems to design, train, and refine applications that “ignore data about race, gender, sexual orientation, and other characteristics that aren’t relevant to the decisions at hand.”
Though these articles acknowledge that there’s plenty of room for our darker instincts to assert themselves, they suggest ways to bring us into the light — which feels constructive.
Artificial Intelligence Brings Out the Worst and the Best in Us
Monday, December 10, 2018
Friends or foes: The rise of European aggregators and their impact on traditional insurers
Friends or foes: The rise of European aggregators and their impact on traditional insurers
Distraction or disruption? Autonomous trucks gain ground in US logistics
Distraction or disruption? Autonomous trucks gain ground in US logistics
Saturday, December 8, 2018
Lubes growth opportunities remain despite switch to electric vehicles
Lubes growth opportunities remain despite switch to electric vehicles
Natural language processing in healthcare
Natural language processing in healthcare
Friday, December 7, 2018
How Do You Lead Digital Transformation?
Leading an organization through digital transformation is an uncharted journey for most of us. Moving away from legacy systems, processes, and operations to a digital model requires a steady strategic hand. Too many companies approach this transformation as a technology issue when it’s really a people and processes issue.
Please join Gerald C. Kane and Anh Nguyen Phillips, coauthors of MIT SMR’s report, “Coming of Age Digitally,” for a discussion on the steps leaders can take to prepare for and execute digital transformation of the organization.
In this webinar, you’ll learn:
- Which functional areas have the greatest success in leading digital progress.
- Why technology shouldn’t be the key focus of your digital transformation effort.
- How to align digital and overall strategy for smoother transitioning off legacy systems.
- Why the C-suite’s digital leadership is essential (to a point).
How Do You Lead Digital Transformation?
The cloud as catalyst for retail
The cloud as catalyst for retail
The European public-procurement opportunity: Delivering value in medtech
The European public-procurement opportunity: Delivering value in medtech
Megadeals: How data and analytics can dramatically boost success
Megadeals: How data and analytics can dramatically boost success
Thursday, December 6, 2018
Wednesday, December 5, 2018
The Operations 4.0 podcast: Productivity and ‘pilot purgatory’
The Operations 4.0 podcast: Productivity and ‘pilot purgatory’
Profiling tomorrow’s trendsetting car buyers
Profiling tomorrow’s trendsetting car buyers
Catalyzing the growth of the impact economy
Catalyzing the growth of the impact economy
Tuesday, December 4, 2018
Building a tech-enabled ecosystem: An interview with Ping An’s Jessica Tan
Building a tech-enabled ecosystem: An interview with Ping An’s Jessica Tan
The future of automated ports
The future of automated ports
Zero-based productivity—Organization: Using zero-based principles to forge a purpose-built organization
Zero-based productivity—Organization: Using zero-based principles to forge a purpose-built organization
What it takes to go agile
What it takes to go agile
The new CFO mandate: Prioritize, transform, repeat
The new CFO mandate: Prioritize, transform, repeat
Monday, December 3, 2018
Zero-based productivity—Organization: Using zero-based principles to forge a purpose-built organization
Zero-based productivity—Organization: Using zero-based principles to forge a purpose-built organization
What it takes to go agile
What it takes to go agile
The new CFO mandate: Prioritize, transform, repeat
The new CFO mandate: Prioritize, transform, repeat
Saturday, December 1, 2018
In pursuit of prosperity
In pursuit of prosperity
Building the zero-based culture
Building the zero-based culture
Permian, we have a gas problem(s)
Permian, we have a gas problem(s)
OFSE quarterly: Volatile end to a positive quarter
OFSE quarterly: Volatile end to a positive quarter
The European electric bus market is charging ahead, but how will it develop?
The European electric bus market is charging ahead, but how will it develop?
In full swing: North America’s crude prices and changing takeaway capacity
In full swing: North America’s crude prices and changing takeaway capacity
Friday, November 30, 2018
Reviving grocery retail: Six imperatives
Reviving grocery retail: Six imperatives
Rethinking the African business opportunity
Rethinking the African business opportunity
Seeing your way to better strategy
Seeing your way to better strategy
Thursday, November 29, 2018
Balance Data and Intuition to Make Strategic Decisions
Our research on enterprise use of key performance indicators (KPIs) uncovered a lack of consensus around whether organizations should look to data or intuition to drive decision-making. Of the 3,225 executives we surveyed, 38% reported their organizations make decisions more rooted in intuition, compared with 27% who rely more on data. The remaining 35% stated they are equally intuitive and data-driven.
In lieu of an emergent best practice, we considered both sides of this equation: While data can provide an objective picture of performance, some choices about the right messages, campaigns, and strategies for customer acquisition, retention, and overall growth come from our innate ability to know what will connect with others.
Balance Data and Intuition to Make Strategic Decisions
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Rebooting Japan’s mobility market
Rebooting Japan’s mobility market
The State of Fashion 2019: A year of awakening
The State of Fashion 2019: A year of awakening
Applying artificial intelligence for social good
Applying artificial intelligence for social good
The product management talent dilemma
The product management talent dilemma
The rise of digital challengers – Perspective on Slovakia
The rise of digital challengers – Perspective on Slovakia
A welcome change in lease-accounting rules
A welcome change in lease-accounting rules
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
#MITSMRChat: Sports Analytics, Basketball IQ, and Lessons for Leaders
Join MIT Sloan Management Review and MIT Sloan School of Management on Twitter at #MITSMRChat and learn about the intersection of business and sports analytics. The discussion centers around how insights from the sports industry can help your company excel at performance measurement.
The Twitter Chat will feature Counterpoints cohosts Ben Shields (@benryanshields) and Paul Michelman (@pmichelman) and guest Ben Alamar (@bencalamar). Shields is a senior lecturer at Sloan School of Management, and Michelman is the editor in chief at MIT Sloan Management Review. Alamar is a sports analytics expert, the author of Sports Analytics: A Guide for Coaches, Managers, and Other Decision Makers, and the former director of sports analytics at ESPN; he will share his data on how the NBA draft could make fewer mistakes if they measured basketball intelligence.
Listen to the first episode of Counterpoints (“The Quest to Measure Basketball IQ”), MIT SMR’s sports analytics podcast, before joining the Twitter Chat for a more in-depth experience. At the end of the chat, Shields, Michelman, and Alamar will take questions from participants.
To join the Twitter Chat, go to MIT Sloan Management Review’s Twitter feed at 12 p.m. EST on Dec. 6, or search Twitter for the hashtags #MITSMRChat or #MITSloanExperts to follow along.
Questions we’ll discuss include the following:
- How are analytics changing professional sports?
- What lessons from sports analytics can managers take away when facing the analytic challenges of performance measurement?
- Is basketball intelligence simply intelligence?
- Should NBA teams implement basketball IQ as part of the draft process?
#MITSMRChat: Sports Analytics, Basketball IQ, and Lessons for Leaders
Monday, November 26, 2018
Friday, November 23, 2018
The EU gas network resilience through advanced analytics
The EU gas network resilience through advanced analytics
MARPOL 2020: An opportunity for OPEC to reclaim market share
MARPOL 2020: An opportunity for OPEC to reclaim market share
Five key questions clients ask about our energy demand outlook to 2050
Five key questions clients ask about our energy demand outlook to 2050
Thursday, November 22, 2018
The advanced-analytics solution for monitoring conduct risk
The advanced-analytics solution for monitoring conduct risk
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
How to win in Africa
How to win in Africa
How Indian private equity is coming of age
How Indian private equity is coming of age
Full speed ahead in European asset management
Full speed ahead in European asset management
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Smarter call-center coaching for the digital world
Smarter call-center coaching for the digital world
Cyber risk measurement and the holistic cybersecurity approach
Cyber risk measurement and the holistic cybersecurity approach
Rebooting analytics leadership: Time to move beyond the math
Rebooting analytics leadership: Time to move beyond the math
Monday, November 19, 2018
Saturday, November 17, 2018
Supply Chain Information Management
Supply Chain Management
Product Demand, Information and the Supply Chain
- Inbound Quality Control Supply Chain Metrics Management
- Logistics Definition In Business Supply Chain Management
Supply Chain Demand
Supply Chains
The businesses which are best in providing that market tend to be those which may adjust the performances properly to adhere to the market because it changes continually over time.
The supply chain leaders act in a proactive fashion by looking at the market trends and try to reinvent the supply chain strategies and processes they use.
Businesses have to go through the issues around discussing data that most of them may need to serve the clients better. There tend to be considerable resources invested in order to define and clarify the best approaches.
Main Supply Chain Improvement Considerations:
- What data is key to our supply performance?
- What are the supply chain critical success factors?
- Define the top key performance indicators for the supply chain management?
Businesses require to view demand info from the instant clients and additionally from the finish clients that supply chain eventually facilitates. Additionally to discussing demand data all over the supply chain, businesses have to reveal decisions they create which have supply chain effects.
As an example, the chain of retail shops might wish to conduct unique marketing on a collection of products.An evaluation of previous periodic sales data wouldn’t forecast the surge in demand which will are caused by operating that marketing.
Additionally it is essential for businesses to allow both realize how good they do in overall performance of all their supply chain actions.
Clients still demand even more from the supply chain. Companies that could come together to build effective supply will be those that do the finest within the long run.
Companies that could learn how to reveal data properly will be types to build one of the most competing supply. Customers tend to be drawn to effective supply as well as they acquire market information on the cost of much less effective supply.
Supply Chain Information Management
Friday, November 16, 2018
How Google.org is helping workers prepare for a digital skill shift
How Google.org is helping workers prepare for a digital skill shift
The new Great Game in North American asset management
The new Great Game in North American asset management
Why tech-enabled go-to-market innovation is critical for industrial companies—and what to do about it
Why tech-enabled go-to-market innovation is critical for industrial companies—and what to do about it
The next horizon for industrial manufacturing: Adopting disruptive digital technologies in making and delivering
The next horizon for industrial manufacturing: Adopting disruptive digital technologies in making and delivering
Africa’s overlooked business revolution
Africa’s overlooked business revolution
How bots, algorithms, and artificial intelligence are reshaping the future of corporate support functions
How bots, algorithms, and artificial intelligence are reshaping the future of corporate support functions
Tech-enabled disruption of products and services: The new battleground for industrial companies
Tech-enabled disruption of products and services: The new battleground for industrial companies
The trillion-dollar opportunity for the industrial sector: How to extract full value from technology
The trillion-dollar opportunity for the industrial sector: How to extract full value from technology
How disruptive technologies are opening up innovative opportunities in services
How disruptive technologies are opening up innovative opportunities in services
The road to China: An opportunity for Russian gas to play out
The road to China: An opportunity for Russian gas to play out
Purchase Order Management and Scheduling Delivery
Order Management
There are 3 primary actions within a process.
The stage had been to select the place for any establishment and final stage had been to develop the working methods. They examined the company and developed predictions for any development of sales in every of all their product classes.
We discovered the best place logistically but tend to not find the correct land so we search in concentric groups out from that point till we discovered real estate which fit the requirements, the personnel requirements and the budget.
Essentially, what we should do is to cover the brand new building across the inventory.
Purchase Order Management
The new establishment was created to allow additional requirements.
The launching docks additionally support go across docking. You will find areas of the stockroom with various temperatures - background space heat, iced heat, as well as a regular temperature region to help new product traces.
As they started to shift in the new establishment, time and co-ordination had been essential.
We use choosing strategies such as path choosing and influx choosing.
The expense of creating the brand new establishment would be purchased by elevated working productivity within the next 2 to 3 years.
There are different important advantages, All of the competition have a similar products which they do it so they have to provide additional abilities to acquire clients.
That establishment also is very useful in assisting them to acquire and preserve great clients in the future.
As a business gets into new stage of the development, getting the appropriate establishments to help that development tend to be solution to the accomplishment.
That provider as a result can each fill up the order from the inventory and/or supply products from different providers. This provides better flexibility which always can create additional value for the customer.
Businesses now handle several divisions of providers, outsourcing providers and supply chain partners. That complexness has changed in reply to changes in way products tend to be offered, increased customer services anticipations and the necessity to react fast to new market needs.
- Inventory Management Template: Track Inventory Costs, Stock Levels And Plan Orders
- Business Report Templates For KPIs Management
That sluggish motion of data will work good enough in certain easy stores, however in complicated business models quicker and a lot more correct motion of data is essential to accomplish the responsiveness and effectiveness that is required to support the operations in the supply chain.
Contemporary order management centers on approaches to allow quicker and a lot more correct motion of order linked data.
That implies the running of schedule purchases must be automatic and purchases that need unique dealing with as a consequence of problems for example inadequate inventory, skipped shipping date ranges or customer change demands have to be coming to an attention of folks that are prepared for these problems.
Systemize the order handling. Manual involvement must be reduced for any routing and satisfying of schedule purchases.
Different activities must discover purchases with issues which need individuals to discover and handle them on time. Make order standing noticeable for customers as well as service agents. Let clients monitor the orders via all phases from placing an order to shipping of the final products to the final destination or delivering the service.
Purchase Order Management and Scheduling Delivery
Thursday, November 15, 2018
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
Visualizing early childhood development
Visualizing early childhood development
Automation and the future of the African American workforce
Automation and the future of the African American workforce
Central and Eastern Europe needs a new engine for growth
Central and Eastern Europe needs a new engine for growth
Planning for the Human-Digital Workforce
The robots aren’t coming — they’re already here. Companies are achieving productivity gains by using software robots to perform routine, rules-based service processes. Done right, the combined efforts of robots and humans can provide a triple win: value for the shareholders, customers, and employees.
In this webinar, Mary Lacity, Walton Professor of Information Systems and director of the Blockchain Center of Excellence at the University of Arkansas, discusses how companies can achieve that triple win by thinking strategically, starting right, and institutionalizing fast.
In this webinar, you’ll learn:
- Some of the hazards along the way toward effective automation
- The differences between robotic process automation and cognitive automation
- The action principles for success, such as why you should measure the productivity of the combined human-digital team
- What’s ahead: integrating service automation technologies
Planning for the Human-Digital Workforce
Defining Lead Times in Forecasting Techniques
Lead Times and Forecasting
Just about all forecasts handle 4 significant factors that mix to determine which market circumstances would be possible.
Here are few examples of those factors that generally tend to be considered:
Is market expanding or is it decreasing?
Lead Times
Or perhaps the market is comparatively developed and need is constant at degree that’s been foreseeable for certain duration of many years. Also, numerous products have periodic need that fluctuate.
Market Share
Maybe the market is developing – the products and/or solutions tend to be new and there’s no a lot historical data when needed or need differs extensively simply because new clients are getting to acquire new products.
Such as variability sought after, uncertainty in providing supply is making predicting even harder. Also, longer lead occasions connected with product need an extended period horizon in which forecasts should be carried out.
Supply sequence forecasts should handle the period of time that includes the bundled lead occasions among all elements that go to the development of your final product.
Product qualities include functions of product that impact customer need for any product.
Forecasts for developed products may handle lengthier time-frames compared to forecasts for products which are building fast. It also is critical to understand whether or not the product can satisfy a need from an additional product.
Products that each contend with and/or enhance both must be forecasted with each other. This will improve your forecasting accuracy.
No matter whether the complete dimension of market is expanding and/or diminishing, what’s the pattern in organization’s market reveal? Is is expanding and/or decreasing?
Understanding lead times is key to successful operations management. Regardless whether it is production activity, marketing activity, quality process or sales management = the principles are always the same.
In addition, defining lead times and processes leads to defining your critical success factors (CSFs) and consequently your KPIs in a more appropriate manner that reflects your real performance improvement.
Defining Lead Times in Forecasting Techniques
AI adoption advances, but foundational barriers remain
AI adoption advances, but foundational barriers remain
The symbiotic relationship between organizational health and safety
The symbiotic relationship between organizational health and safety
Five Fifty: When disaster strikes
Five Fifty: When disaster strikes
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
‘True Gen’: Generation Z and its implications for companies
‘True Gen’: Generation Z and its implications for companies
The insurance agency of the future: Building a digital service model
The insurance agency of the future: Building a digital service model
Cybersecurity and the risk function
Cybersecurity and the risk function
Merchant risk management: The new frontier in renewables
Merchant risk management: The new frontier in renewables
Digital procurement: For lasting value, go broad and deep
Digital procurement: For lasting value, go broad and deep
Monday, November 12, 2018
Business Forecasting & Aggregate Planning
Causal methods of predicting believe demand is highly associated with specific environment and/or market elements.
For occasion, demand for industrial financing generally is strongly linked to interest rate. So if interest slashes tend to be expected within the next time period, after that bank loan forecasts could be extracted making use of causal relationship with the interest rate.
An additional solid causal relationship is present in between pricing and demand. If costs are reduced, demand could be expected to boost and in case costs are elevated, demand could be expected to drop.
Simulator methods use mixtures of causal and period sequence methods to mimic the behaviour of clients in various conditions.
This could be used to respond to questions for example what can occur to sales if price ranges on the type of products tend to be reduced and/or what can occur to our market-share if the rival presents the product and/or opens up a shop close by.
Many businesses utilize just among these methods to accomplish specific forecasts. Most businesses do few forecasts utilizing few methods then mix the effects of all of these various forecasts in the real forecast they rely on to plan the business.
Simple Historical Data Analysis
Studies have demonstrated this procedure of building forecasts utilizing various methods then mixing the effects in ultimate forecast generally creates much better precision compared to productivity of one way on your own.
So try to use various methods to analyze your forecasts and after that make a comparison analysis between them.
Most longer variety, multiple – yr forecasts tend to be extremely speculative. Mixture forecasts are certainly more correct compared to forecasts for single products/services or little market sectors.
For instance, annual forecasts for consumer sales in certain city/region tend to be truly correct however if those forecasts tend to be categorized to sales by areas in the city/region, they get less correct.
Forecasting just like any other type of planning is both art and science. The more your business goes through these exercises period after period – the better it will become.
Business Forecasting & Aggregate Planning
Saturday, November 10, 2018
Achieving digital alpha in asset management
Achieving digital alpha in asset management
Friday, November 9, 2018
The rise and rise of medtech in Asia
The rise and rise of medtech in Asia
New demand, new markets: What edge computing means for hardware companies
New demand, new markets: What edge computing means for hardware companies
Powering the digital economy
Powering the digital economy
Thursday, November 8, 2018
The executive's AI playbook
The executive's AI playbook
From heavy industry to modern tech hub
From heavy industry to modern tech hub
Banks in the changing world of financial intermediation
Banks in the changing world of financial intermediation
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
How to Delegate More Effectively
How to Delegate Better?
Saying what they desire is important if employees will assume responsibility for personal job fulfillment.
Remain aimed at exactly what people would like. That is useful whenever people get distracted by whining, accusing some others and demonstrating protective conduct.
Engage in functions that give some others control. People dedicate to this. Decisions created by management are almost always resented.
Normally, non-assertive conduct is a kind of hostility. It is generally very best for any manager to inspire people by allowing all of them understand they also have a great deal to provide. As manager, you want the complete participation for team accomplishment.
Make a vision in the future. People answer anyone who has a definite, powerful concept of how they need to become better.
Give Employees More Responsibilities
Whenever providing the financial compensation, turn it into a substantial and individual event compared to awkwardly passing it with no clarification. It is the multifaceted motivation, getting each financial and mental means.
How a particular person measures up in pay with these he recognizes as equates to can be more essential compared to the money he makes. Cash, after that, is unquestionably a key point in job fulfillment, while not at top of the level.
Nevertheless, if they are compensated competitively, you will require above cash to completely fulfill all of them. In addition, it is debatable whether providing extra quantities of capital leads to high stages of fulfillment.
The excellent manager understands via expertise which mixture of methods works well with every employee.
Job Satisfaction
- Eliminate certain regulations whilst keeping responsibility.
- Boost the responsibility of people for personal function.
Give people a comprehensive effort. Trust employees with completing entire tasks whenever feasible, or minimum clarify the importance to bigger and general targets.
Make regular reviews immediately accessible to employees.
Present new and a lot more challenging tasks.
Be certain they are offered with training and support essential to effectively complete the duties. Designate people specialized task that permit them to develop the knowledge and experience they need.
Important: Give people the reputation they should have.
The manager may talk about this to higher management, have post created in organizational paper or basically require a recognition at a meeting. Give much more independence to accomplish the job.
Additional employees can be permitted to examine their very own function in place of getting it examined by somebody. An invaluable employee might seat at the meeting for your needs and get that business travel you typically might get.
Have employees go to high-degree meetings. The function demands the individual to create the investigation of the specific topic and learn more.
It truly can help if you’re able to allow some others understand this individual. Be certain to clarify the motives. You are providing employees the better project as they did very well.
Regrettably, for lots of businesses, training has unfavorable connotation. As an alternative, have employees go to training in their own personal development. Certain businesses tend to be wise sufficiently to get that one step when it comes to training. Always share ideas with the employees.
How to Delegate More Effectively
Private equity operating groups and the pursuit of ‘portfolio alpha’
Private equity operating groups and the pursuit of ‘portfolio alpha’
Huānyíng to the new Chinese traveler
Huānyíng to the new Chinese traveler
Tuesday, November 6, 2018
How to lead a successful government transition
How to lead a successful government transition
Building digital ecosystems in Japan
Building digital ecosystems in Japan
Five enterprise-architecture practices that add value to digital transformations
Five enterprise-architecture practices that add value to digital transformations
How leading CEOs manage their middle tenures
How leading CEOs manage their middle tenures
How consumer-goods companies can win in Southeast Asia
How consumer-goods companies can win in Southeast Asia
Black Friday 2018: Consumers are eager, more digital, and willing to spend
Black Friday 2018: Consumers are eager, more digital, and willing to spend
Monday, November 5, 2018
Business Report Templates for KPIs Management
Business Report Templates
Luckily, nowadays there are numerous applications which will quickly and instantly assemble a high quality business report. Even though you’re able to create a business report template from start, why would you do it and waste hours of your time?
Issues could get little complex whenever you understand you will find different kinds of business reports.
Business ideas differ in content material and dimensions based on the character of your business and on focus that’s put on particular essential places compared to some others. The best choice is to create the plan on your own you may already know the business better then anybody else.
However if you wish to bring in shareholders, in that case your plan would have a completely different reason and you will have to create the plan that targets all of them so that it should be as obvious and brief as feasible.
As beneficial as information you are discussing could be, it is also essential to build engaging content material.
Business Reports
Take a look at how to create a business report in order to keep it really targeted and with no mistakes and ensure the actual information is true and introduced fairly.
Business Report Template
Effective business report template uses visual presentation of your major key performance indicators (KPIs) and/or critical success factors (CSFs). It will not only show the required information and data – but also it will help remind you of the critical information you must focus on at any time. As a result prior to creating business report for management you need to prepare all the required data.
Download Business Report Templates:
You might need help assembling the financial information when you do not have financial foundation, however try and get help from others in particular departments to clarify exactly what all numbers actually imply – in case you are not familiar with the details. This will help you to be able to create a more effective business report.
The Goal of Business Management Reporting
Each reality should be obvious and established, no matter whether the report concentrates on one scenario and/or examines the efficiency of a complete organization. It might be focus of one department or function – for example sales report, financial report or operational report.
You are in position to consider the entire plan of the report. Created business reports let you make a statement on your perspective and vision for the business and guide managers and business professionals for focus on the major issues.
Always try to anticipate your target audience even before planning a new report. This is very important, because it will allow you to communicate better. For example, it is very different when you need to develop business report for external stakeholders like vendors, investors or clients – compared to developing internal monthly business management report for your team.
The different scenarios and stations offer additional insight into the KPI information and details you will need to communicate. At the same time business reports can be used yo effectively communicate and create a business plan by using scenario planning like real, forecasted or budgeted perspectives for the business performance.
Always keep in mind that your target audience will anticipate particular information to stay in a particular format. For instance use charts and visual indicators to simplify and improve your main message for your report. Using dashboards and scorecards allows you to organize a large set of data points and information in a scorecard or dashboard report that is going to be easy to understand and use. Take advantage of the one-page executive scorecard templates to simplify your reporting.
Business Report Templates for KPIs Management
Sunday, November 4, 2018
Job Satisfaction Survey is Not Enough
Understanding and Managing Job Satisfaction
Lower job satisfaction contributes to reduced respect for any organization as location to function.
Several managers tend to be immune to the necessity to prevent poor maintenance circumstances to prevent turn over, absenteeism and lower efficiency.
The locating backed the concept great maintenance may prevent a lot of the unfavorable outcomes of lower morale. However, great maintenance only should be starting.
Job Satisfaction
Maintenance isn’t sufficient inspiration to do the job. Just about all grownups have many general motives and/or needs that could be regarded as valves and/or shops that station and control the movement of possible power from person’s tank.
A durable objective can be regarded as the device and/or power outlet that opens up for power movement, generally as a result of regular use. The weakened objective could be regarded as a good device that, even if open up, enables just restricted power movement.
Requirement for Accomplishment. It’s need for individual achievement.
You will find certain categories that provide hints to individuals’ degree of interest for accomplishment on their job and in life in general.
The individual engages in actions where successful and/or outperforming some others is main objective. That does not include competitors with other people however is related to the personal-enforced regular of top quality overall performance. Common these include seeking to discover much better approach to performing some thing, operating thoroughly on the new plan and seeking to boost prior results.
There has to be proof of participation in long-run objective (certain statement of emotions around and/or seeking objectives).
Proof of this form of planning are available in people speaking about exactly how they also prevent or backup strategies to get over obstacles to accomplishment.
Affiliation actions involve events, reunions and leisure actions. An individual talks around people and working together with people.
For the objective to become accepted, the personal activities should provoke solid responses in some other team members and should be meant to accomplish something valuable.
Getting a track record and/or position… Additional signs of objective tend to be if the person is considering getting signs of higher standing and/or shows dissatisfaction with recognized substandard interpersonal position.
Even though all these interpersonal objectives are available in any business, you’d anticipate to get numerous people in specialized functions for example technology, accounting and finance. You’d anticipate to discover numerous people examples in assisting positions for example hr, management and customer service.
Job Satisfaction Survey is Not Enough
Saturday, November 3, 2018
New technology, new rules: Reimagining the modern finance workforce
New technology, new rules: Reimagining the modern finance workforce
Setting the framework for car connectivity and user experience
Setting the framework for car connectivity and user experience
Digital R&D: The Next Frontier for Biopharmaceuticals
Digital R&D: The Next Frontier for Biopharmaceuticals
Friday, November 2, 2018
Improving Your Communication by Engaging In Listening
Listening
One of the most important skill and habit for any business person is good listening.
Imagine what would it mean to you if you can better understand your customers, coworkers, subordinates and all stakeholders in your organization.
Good sales people for example already know that listening is a lot more important than talking. When you listen they will simply tell you all you need to know and you can adjust (improve) your approach.
Why don’t you set up some rules for yourself before you going to the next meeting, sales presentation or an interview. These rules will help you improve your productivity.
How about if you prepare ahead of time by spending only 5 minutes to highlight for you what you are trying to achieve and what do the other parties really want?
As you listen you will adjust and change any assumptions you have made.
You’d focus about what questions you’d ask and maybe take into account what others might have to know or the most important thing to all of them or you can think of a specific topic.
In preparing – you’ll again want to organize. During interview, you sit and place the tape recorder on table, push play and record. By simply analyzing later you will learn more about you and your strengths and weaknesses which will help you improve the next time.
This is exactly what successful business people do – they learn and improve.
Proven Business Rules
- 9 Organization Design And Development Rules For Managers
- Activity Based Costing And GAAP Accounting Rules
These are the basic rules we rely on to judge ourselves and our businesses.
Have you been curious to find what rules you are using? What are you looking to do in order to boost your chances of success in the job?
If you don’t use any rules then simply stop talking and I can let you know what you need to know.
Without listening people in a meeting are no more in rapport and no more they are focusing on the original message or intent.
Have you been missing the communication?
It’s the language that you consume and process information. What takes place if two individuals are speaking in various languages?
If client makes among these statements, which will you record and which wouldn’t even register?
All of us speak with our selves and that is okay. This is exactly what could take place throughout conversation.
If you manage a team spend some time to train them to improve their listening skills – this will improve the performance of your entire team.
Improving Your Communication by Engaging In Listening