Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 31, 2018

They also generate $1 trillion as consumers and $361 billion in revenue as entrepreneurs, launching companies at 4x the rate of all woman-owned businesses. Developing a diverse leadership pipeline can benefit companies in all sectors. How did (or didn’t) managers play a role? What made their ascent possible?

Management 9

Management Tacit Knowledge Diversity Leadership Pipeline 9

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 27, 2015

They have given their social media staff a clear mission and a great deal of autonomy; the account’s managers chat with customers, offer up front to solve problems, and empathize with frustrated travelers. At least that’s better than the 70% of companies that plainly ignore complaints on Twitter. This matters.

Company 8

Company Airlines Brand Analysis 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 2, 2014

It’s the same in a company. You have front-line employees who create what you sell or who deal directly with customers: software developers, sales reps, call-center staffers, and so on. You also have support staff, including the people in marketing, finance, HR, and other functions. Managing people Time management'

Cost 9

Cost Span of Control Management Bureaucracy 9

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 10, 2017

Bernstein studied assembly-line performance at a company he called “Precision.” Precision made it easy for managers to oversee their employees. Every spot on every line was visible to managers. However, most companies measure only tactical performance. These stats were reviewed by managers every week.

Organization 9

Organization Tactics Call Center Metrics 9

Harvard Business Review

MAY 2, 2012

My client Janet already had her laptop open when I asked how many versions of the budget report were on her company's SharePoint drive. Everyone from product managers, to call center reps, to the front-line worker in the branch or store uses information to make decisions. It's a hidden cost, and a growing one.

Business Intelligence 13

Business Intelligence Budgeting Report Library 13

Harvard Business Review

MAY 5, 2016

Aggravated and depressed by the decline of their core memory business in the 1980s, Intel’s top management struggled for strategic clarity. This painful decision cost tens of thousands of jobs but proved strategically, organizationally, and culturally essential to the company’s future success.

Levitt 8

Levitt Disaggregation Kaizen Call Center 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 19, 2013

However, most companies require considerable planning and need both a competitive advantage and a solid business plan in order to succeed. For my company, I focused on a big market and found a profitable and attractive niche. If you''re thinking about starting your own company, here''s my advice: Set realistic expectations.

Entrepreneur 8

Entrepreneur Hotels Travel Call Center 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 13, 2013

When I took over as CEO of Intralinks, a company that provides secure web based electronic deal rooms, the company was hemorrhaging so much cash that its survival was at stake. I spent more than four hours listening in to client support calls at the call center. So, what I do on my first day?

Call Center 9

Call Center Learning-by-Doing CEO Planning 9

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 23, 2012

Yet, when it comes to the workforce — one of a company's most expensive and valuable assets — too many executives rely on hunches, making decisions without making use of relevant data. The truth is that Gradgrind would make a terrible manager. But like many companies, they didn't know how to act on it. Take Sprint.

Metrics 12

Metrics Parcell Call Center Productivity 12

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

USAA Bank offers a voice-activated virtual assistant for mobile devices with a “tap to talk” feature that connects customers to a call center and allows agents to see what the customer was doing just before he or she called. Finance Internet Retail' Reconfiguring the branch network.

Banking 8

Banking Retail Open-book Finance 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 21, 2015

I’m convinced that the ingredient for the effective use of data and analytics that is in shortest supply is managers’ understanding of what is possible. And u nfortunately, there aren’t a lot of other good options out there for non-quantitative managers who want to learn about analytics. Managing Yourself Book.

Analysis 8

Analysis Supply Chain CRM Banking 8

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Carla was literally bred for success as a business manager. The daughter of a senior corporate executive, she had all the right tickets including an MBA from a top school and several years of experience with a prestigious management consulting firm. Are joint ventures or strategic alliances critical to the company's success?

Proposal 11

Proposal Cialdini Execution Influence 11

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 9, 2011

For instance, 82 percent of the companies on Fortune's 2011 100 Best Companies to Work For list offer telecommuting options. Managers sometimes worry about people who work remotely watching TV or doing their laundry, rather than focusing on their job. Managers need training to help them see the benefits and accept this change.

Productivity 14

Productivity Products Real Estate Bottom-up 14

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 28, 2017

For the moment, this is good news for those companies still experimenting or piloting AI (41%). Survey respondents from firms that have successfully deployed an AI technology at scale tend to rate C-suite support as being nearly twice as high as those companies that have not adopted any AI technology.

Survey 9

Survey Execution First-mover Advantage Technology 9

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 5, 2014

That isn’t easy, but the payoff is worth it: Our most recent research shows that companies with excellent marketing capabilities outperform the market with 2-3X greater revenue growth. Yet, only 30 percent of companies believe they understand their customers’ needs well enough to identify what initiatives will drive growth.

P&L 8

P&L Banking Marketing Call Center 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 8, 2017

Companies that claim to be “transforming” seem to be everywhere. Before describing those, let’s look at how we identified the exceptional firms that rose to the top of our ranking, a group we call the Transformation 10. How successful has the company been at creating new products, services, and business models?

Franchising 12

Franchising CEO Business Model Strategy 12

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 28, 2016

Every company these days seems to be either contemplating or pursuing digital transformation. We believe the greatest challenge to companies today is not keeping up with their competitors , but with their own customers. Operations need to go beyond the efficiency of the company to the efficiency of the customer.

Loyalty 8

Loyalty Peer Review Efficiency Call Center 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 9, 2011

It may seem counterintuitive, but smart companies need to routinely rid themselves of less profitable customers, the same way an asset manager or rebalances an investment portfolio or a Major League Baseball general manager trades a declining player. We call these people Cost Center Consumers, and they come in two flavors.

P&L 14

P&L Supply Chain Retail Price 14