Strategy Driven

JULY 13, 2011

Performance measurement typically drives much of the way a large company works. Supplementing profits with ROIC and revenue growth is a step in the right direction to ensure that the profits a business earns are actually creating value, not simply over-consuming capital that another company could better deploy.

ROIC 62

ROIC Balanced Scorecard Metrics McKinsey 62

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 1, 2017

At a time when so many companies are starved for growth, senior leaders must bring a productivity mindset to their business and remove organizational obstacles to workforce productivity. Companies most often improve labor efficiency by finding ways to reduce the number of labor hours required to produce the same level of output.

Efficiency 8

Efficiency Productivity Products Company 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 30, 2014

Strategic consistency is the hallmark of many great companies. over the last half-century, but also one of the best-performing companies in any industry. But the corporate landscape is also littered with once-great companies whose strategies became obsolete faster than they were able to reinvent themselves. Or consider U.S.

Company 8

Company Supply Chain Airlines Health Care 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 19, 2018

There’s been a ripple of excitement of late as some big companies have unveiled (fairly modest) raises and bonuses for workers. A sound economy, a booming stock market, and huge business tax cuts, the story goes, have convinced CEOs of companies flush with cash to distribute some of it to front-line employees. to $15 per hour.

Definition 8

Definition Company Succession Airlines 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 12, 2017

But at good jobs companies, these very skills are already demanded, developed, and put to use. Mercadona’s store employees are empowered to order products and present them in a way that satisfies their customers and improves company performance. When that future comes, who will have the competitive advantage?

Merchandising 8

Merchandising Retail Competitive Advantage Technology 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 2, 2017

Over the past year, we hosted current or former leaders from each of these retailers at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, and all four talked about a corporate culture of setting high expectations and creating conditions that encourage employees to innovate. For Boyan, the key is giving real power to store managers and partners.

Retail 13

Retail Merchandising Incentives COO 13

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 4, 2018

The ones that manage to escape are discount chains —such as T. A recent report by the consultancy BCG documented a general decline in sales among consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies in the United States during 2017, with mid-sized and large companies losing market share and small companies increasing theirs.

Brand 11

Brand Retail Incubator Merchandising 11

You're Not the Boss of Me

OCTOBER 31, 2010

They stifle creativity and innovation. As they often say in retail stores about handling merchandise, “ If you break it you own it”. If we are to encourage the innovators of our time we must also accept that rules should be subject to rigorous question and challenge. What do you think?

Maturity 50

Maturity Blog Merchandising McCarthy 50

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 17, 2011

Unfortunately, many managers misunderstand their competitive set, and that leads to strategic mistakes. The root cause of this problem is that in an increasingly demand-driven economy, consumers are redefining companies' competitive sets. Braun simplified its merchandising and brand strategy.

Management 15

Management Retail Brand Merchandising 15

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 6, 2014

If round after round of profit warnings was not enough – group operating profits fell 20% between 2011 and 2013 and are likely to fall another 30% in 2014 — the company recently announced it had overstated its first-half profit by about $400 million. Troubles at Tesco, the UK’s leading retailer, are mounting. How did this happen?

Retail 11

Retail Merchandising Discount Price 11

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 15, 2017

Pioneers of new business models, such as Alibaba and Amazon, are launching innovations in rapid succession, such as voice ordering and real-time pricing, while simultaneously building scale and driving down costs. In the process, the company became better acquainted with its customers – what they liked to buy and how they liked to shop.

Retail 10

Retail Chief Executive Officer Supply Chain Operations 10

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 6, 2011

Fixated on that challenge, retail chains have invested heavily in sophisticated inventory management systems. This was despite the fact that, according to the inventory management system, only 2-3% of items ever ran out before being replenished. Full disclosure: I am an advisor to the company.)

Retail 15

Retail Merchandising Succession Taylorism 15

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 10, 2012

The company was masterful at the buy side of M&A. The company did not overlook small deals if they contributed to the development of critical capabilities. Indeed, the median acquisition at this company was for less than $15 million. The ability to divest strategically is as important as the ability to acquire strategically.

Due Diligence 15

Due Diligence EBITDA Health Care Gordon 15

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 11, 2013

Under Johnson''s leadership, Penney''s share price plunged by half and the company lost $4 billion in sales. Harry Gordon Selfridge, who founded the eponymous London-based retailer, did the unthinkable when he opened his first store in 1909, taking merchandise out from behind the counters so that customers could actually touch it.

Merchandising 9

Merchandising Retail Gordon Price 9

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 17, 2018

Amazon, born 24 years ago, had captured about 45% of online retail commerce in the United States by 2017, but still stood for just about 5% of total US retail gross merchandise volume in that year. Even if a technology race develops, some companies will adopt rapidly, but others less so—and the benefits of AI will vary accordingly.

GDP 10

GDP McKinsey Long-term Technology 10

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 24, 2013

In the words of its executive vice-president and chief merchandising and marketing officer, “This is really the year of localization.”. The infiltration of technology into every part of our lives has made many people seek out personal, low-tech/high-touch experiences and relationships with the companies they patronize.

Retail 8

Retail Merchandising Market Penetration Brand 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 3, 2014

After forcing Nardelli out in 2007, founder Bernie Marcus got the company back on the competing-by-boosting-margins-through-innovation road. Clothing designers fought the concept, but our two heroes persevered (more drive), and today the company has more than 3 million members and is growing at nearly 100% year-over-year.

Merchandising 8

Merchandising Budgeting Restructuring PR 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 17, 2013

The company, Prahalad tells the CEO, is simply too complex and diverse. So WalMart’s gargantuan core competencies of buying power, supply chain management and logistical superiority guarantee the “everyday low prices” its customers crave and demand. company like Apple. Because, as Web 2.0

Core Competence 8

Core Competence Prahalad Supply Chain Hamel 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 23, 2012

In fact, the company has about 500 metrics that it tracks every day, the majority of them relating to the customer experience. Many companies pride themselves on moving from quarterly to monthly customer feedback sessions. The company gets daily or hourly feedback from buyers and responds with continual improvements.

Merchandising 14

Merchandising Metrics Restructuring Library 14

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 3, 2011

Companies that demonstrate strategic coherence — think Wal-Mart and Coca-Cola — earn a market premium in terms of higher earnings and greater shareholder value. The big question for many leaders as they look toward 2011 is: "How can my company be one of them?". There's no doubt about it; numbers don't lie.

Strategy 15

Strategy Fixed Assets Competitive Advantage Long-term 15

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 21, 2017

As more companies struggle to find their niche with the modern consumer, they’re turning to new technologies to recreate this sensory experience. To embrace this market shift, retailers will need to experiment with a range of technologies and strategies across marketing, supply chain, and merchandising. Insight Center.

Retail 8

Retail Supply Chain Merchandising Brand 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 27, 2017

At some of the world’s most successful enterprises — Google, Netflix, Amazon, Alibaba, Facebook — autonomous algorithms, not talented managers, increasingly get the last word. Elite MBAs (Management by Algorithm) are the new normal. Top management would have to trust its computationally brilliant bidding software.

Outsourcing 8

Outsourcing Software CAPEX Competitive Advantage 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 28, 2014

A recent article in The Economist , citing the work of Ryan Raffaelli at Harvard Business School, points to what it calls a “paradox” in the aftermath of disruptive innovation. Today, the company does roughly $50 million in total sales, with the home market accounting for over 80% of them. That’s a healthy company. cut of sales.

Disruptive Innovation 8

Disruptive Innovation Supply Chain Technology Parcell 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 9, 2015

In product tests conducted around events like limited-run merchandise (a limited-run chain designed by the rapper A$AP Rocky, for example) , 72% of our fans chose to engage with other like-minded fans when incented with a reward on our platform (in this case, our mobile Virgin Mega app).

Marketing 8

Marketing Brand Merchandising Advertising 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 22, 2013

If your company is already well established and has smart management, it is likely that it will become a hybrid in the next ten years, blending its legacy business with a new business model that is rising to threaten it. Merchandise ordered online can now be drop-shipped for same-day pickup at local stores.

Business Model 8

Business Model Merchandising Course Education 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 11, 2015

Mauro Porcini is PepsiCo’s Chief Design Officer—the first to hold the position—where he oversees design-led innovation across all the company’s brands under CEO Indra Nooyi. That’s where our work is really about innovation. I strongly believe that design and innovation are exactly the same thing.

Organization 8

Organization Brand Six Sigma Innovation 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 1, 2016

When CEO Brian Cornell took the reins two years ago, he inherited a company that had been struggling for years, taking far too few risks, and sticking too close to the core. ” was the guiding question that fueled Wollaert’s curiosity when he first joined the Coca-Cola Company designing new factories.

Diversity 8

Diversity Retail Discount Brand 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 9, 2014

Both have signed on with Prism Skylabs , a software company, to map in-store customer behavior. ” Lezon, along with Alex and Ani’s head of merchandising and head of sales operations, used the data to inform product placement. “I don’t come in every morning and say, “How am I going to innovate today? .

Retail 12

Retail Chief Technology Officer Technology Merchandising 12

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 4, 2015

Innovation is widely regarded as important to long-term business performance. We’ve found that CEOs of big pharmaceutical companies, for example, are more likely to have a background as company lawyers, salespeople, or finance managers, than one in medicine or pharmaceutical R&D.

CEO 8

CEO Innovation Pharmaceuticals Merchandising 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 23, 2015

Here at Machine Shop , the wholly owned innovation company of the alternative rock band Linkin Park, we identified the need to think differently years ago. For more than a decade, Linkin Park and Machine Shop enjoyed success and continued to innovate. of course). We also looked beyond music for insights.

Business Model 8

Business Model Merchandising Restructuring Fashion 8

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 27, 2018

Data science can enable wholly new and innovative capabilities that can completely differentiate a company. But those innovative capabilities aren’t so much designed or envisioned as they are discovered and revealed through curiosity-driven tinkering by the data scientists. ” a product manager inquires.

Learning-by-Doing 10

Learning-by-Doing Engineering Metrics Cost 10

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 26, 2017

Rarely do people point to encouraging employees to disagree with their managers, as Amazon does, or firing top performers, as Jack Welch did at GE. Each of these companies has aligned and integrated its culture and brand to create a powerful engine of competitive advantage and growth.

Brand 8

Brand Company Operations Merchandising 8

In the CEO Afterlife

NOVEMBER 4, 2012

As fast as we could pin an idea on the wall, some red-faced account manager in a bad suit would run away with it. But even artists have to eat, and the fuel of commerce and industry is innovation and novelty. Economically I probably helped shift some merchandise. Enhanced a few companies’ bottom lines. Let’s trade.

Advertising 265

Advertising Creativity Industry Bottom-up 265

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 15, 2010

What drives some companies to succeed while others languish? Successful companies develop a system of a few truly unique capabilities that help them create differentiated value for their chosen customers. Walmart's success doesn't just stem from impressive logistics, aggressive vendor management and its position as a low-cost retailer.

Succession 15

Succession Retail Merchandising Supply Chain 15

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 12, 2014

Any company building an online presence wouldn’t think twice about the need for sophisticated web analytics. Despite its success online, relatively few companies with physical venues employ advanced analytics solutions that track customer behaviors in their physical spaces. This is changing fast, however. Operations.

Retail 9

Retail Customer Intimacy Apparel Wireless 9

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 8, 2011

How can they build the kind of advantage that will allow their company to thrive for decades? How thoroughly must they transform the company to make this happen? All too soon, however, the demands of managing the near-term business take over. You will have to learn to say "no" a lot more than your predecessor probably did.

Merchandising 14

Merchandising Budgeting Pharmaceuticals CEO 14