World’s Most Influential and Innovative Companies, 2023
CEO Insider
MARCH 16, 2023
Which companies have the strongest reputations within and across industries? Copyright The CEOWORLD magazine Limited 2021. All rights reserved.
Why the Best Strategies Blend the Digital and Physical
Skip Prichard
AUGUST 16, 2021
Legacy companies, we hear, are all doomed to fail unless they double down on the latest digital innovations, and disruptors are ordained to take over the world. Digital innovation is the answer to everything. And availability of merchandise is what allows a company to make a sale – or not. Rob Siegel. Rob Siegel.
Strategy 
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6 Omnichannel Support Strategies for Cleaning Companies
Strategy Driven
MAY 10, 2019
With an omnichannel strategy, a cleaning company will be able to offer customers a unified customer experience. The goal of an omnichannel strategy is to create a seamless experience as customers interact with the company at different stages of the customer journey. All of these must work together to ensure customer satisfaction.
Strategy 50
50 
Work That Matters starts with Matters that Work
In the CEO Afterlife
APRIL 5, 2016
Companies say they want to be customer-centric, to be innovative, to produce outstanding products and services, to be environmentally responsible, to be socially responsible, and so on. Some of these matters are the responsibility of the company, others are shared between the company and the employee. Matters that Work.
Teamwork 100
100 
Lessons from J.C. Penney
Women on Business
JANUARY 27, 2012
What is simple is creating a normal price tag with the everyday low prices, showcasing the monthly value in a sales display and simply letting the customer see for themselves that the monthly value merchandise is the cheapest. This is not an easy thing for a company to do because it creates the potential for criticism and staff confusion.
Merchandising 173
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Homeless, Not Helpless: Entrepreneurship in Unlikely Places | In the.
In the CEO Afterlife
NOVEMBER 13, 2011
I’ve never thought of the homeless as innovative or entrepreneurial. Beneath the pier and within reach of your coins from above are 5 picnic blankets spread six-feet apart, each with novel merchandising themes to entice charitable currency. The “M” Word: A Company’s Most Underrated Intangible. I suspect few do.
Brand 245
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Caring for the Commons
Great Leadership By Dan
JANUARY 20, 2012
Incidentally, Costco employees sell twice as much merchandise per square foot of retail space as their nearest competitor – Sam’s Club! Practicing forgiveness for well-intentioned mistakes is necessary for innovation to flourish. Even part-time workers receive benefits. He did so in spite of steady criticism from Wall Street analysts.
Morale 232
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Planning an epic launch of your product- 7 steps to get it right
Strategy Driven
DECEMBER 10, 2021
A good example would be clothing brands hosting giveaway contests before launching their clothing line by asking the participants to share their social media handles, create innovative content relevant to the product, or through quizzes. This trick commercializes the event and helps retain customers in the long run.
Productivity 81
81 
Google Restructures Finance Organization to Prioritize AI Investments
CEO Insider
APRIL 18, 2024
The restructuring, which encompasses layoffs and relocations, reflects the company’s commitment to adapting to the evolving landscape of the tech sector. Porat emphasized the significance […] The post Google Restructures Finance Organization to Prioritize AI Investments appeared first on CEOWORLD magazine.
How to Innovate When You're Not the Big Boss
Harvard Business Review
FEBRUARY 15, 2012
Given the unrelenting pace of change surrounding organizations in virtually every industry, companies are looking for executives who know how to innovate and introduce change, not simply caretakers who can manage the status quo. Senior management doesn't really encourage innovation, you'll hear. They won't let me take risks."
Innovation 15
15 
Great Companies Obsess Over Productivity, Not Efficiency
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.
Performance Measurement
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
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Reinvent Your Company by Reassessing Its Strengths
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
8 
Companies That Do Right by Their Workers Start by Elevating Their Definition of Success
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.
Avoid the Deadly Temptations that Derail Innovators
Harvard Business Review
JULY 11, 2013
Any promising new initiative — a stand-alone business venture or an innovation in an established organization — hits roadblocks and unexpected obstacles. Recently I''ve advised entrepreneurs and innovators about a different, seemingly better, dilemma: pop-up opportunities that look like short cuts to success.
Transforming Today’s Bad Jobs into Tomorrow’s Good Jobs
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?
Why Tesco’s Strengths Are No Longer Good Enough
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 10
10 
How 4 Retailers Became “Best Places to Work”
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. And every year, those partners come through; so the investment pays off.
Retail 11
11 
What Big Consumer Brands Can Do to Compete in a Digital Economy
Harvard Business Review
DECEMBER 4, 2018
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. Whether this will help J&J in the long run, no one knows. .”
Brand 10
10 Breaking the Rules
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. link] LeadershipNews: A Leadership Crisis or a Branding Issue?
Maturity 50
50 Morning Advantage: Did Disney Hit the Jackpot with Star Wars?
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 2, 2012
But Lucas didn’t push for more cash up front; instead he requested the rights to the film’s sequels and merchandise. Although the NFL faces many of the same challenges every multinational company encounters when trying to crack a new market, in many ways the league has a steeper hill to climb. Lucas lucked out. Dan McGinn.
Franchising 15
15 
For Better Presentations, Start with a Villain
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 12, 2015
Many executives start presentations about products or initiatives with a vague theme statement, often expressed with as much pith as a puff of smoke: “We have a new focus on customer satisfaction,” or “Our current strategic goals are execution and innovation.” And doing so will make your company or team the hero.
3 Changes Retailers Need to Make to Survive
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 9
9 
What Ron Johnson Got Right
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.
How Competition Is Driving AI’s Rapid Adoption
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 9
9 
Do Customers Even Care about Your Core Competence?
Harvard Business Review
OCTOBER 17, 2013
The company, Prahalad tells the CEO, is simply too complex and diverse. FedEx’s competencies in digital and transportational networks are its innovation platforms. JC Penney and its failed CEO Ron Johnson had many admirable and effective core retailing and merchandising core competencies. company like Apple.
Life After the Death of a Colleague
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.
Divest With Care
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.
Retail Success is About Who's Working When
Harvard Business Review
DECEMBER 6, 2011
Saving sales by pointing to merchandise locations is just one of the ways that store employees facilitate the sales process and perform a very important role. The most innovative employee managers we know use business analytics to understand the differences in how individual store associates perform.
Retail 15
15 
Megastores Want to Be Like Mom-and-Pop Shops… Sort Of
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
8 
Resolution 2011: Make Your Strategy Coherent
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
15 How Retail Can Thrive in a World Without Stores
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
8 
Are You Fighting the Future or Adapting To It?
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.
Etsy's Hackathon for Good
Harvard Business Review
NOVEMBER 14, 2012
The company is doing pretty well: it has over 800,000 active sellers and a 15 million-person marketplace across 150 countries, and last year its gross merchandise sales reached $525 million. But becoming a B Corp has connected Etsy's motivated employees to a movement bigger than the company itself.
Online Shopping Isn’t as Profitable as You Think
Harvard Business Review
AUGUST 21, 2014
When I argue that e-commerce isn’t likely to destroy innovative omnichannel retailers , I typically receive passionate responses. E-commerce companies, like physical retailers, have wide-ranging cost structures and financial results. E-commerce companies ship to customers from large, expensive, highly productive fulfillment centers.
Retail 8
8 
5 Questions That Will Help You Stay Ahead of Your Disruptors
Harvard Business Review
MAY 5, 2016
This painful decision cost tens of thousands of jobs but proved strategically, organizationally, and culturally essential to the company’s future success. The company will also eliminate a key chipset in the difficult tablet and smartphone market. But the past is merely a prologue. Delightful user experiences are delightful.
Levitt 8
8 Market to Millennials by Getting Out of the Way
Harvard Business Review
DECEMBER 9, 2015
In product tests conducted around events like limited-run merchandise (a limited-run chain designed by the rapper A$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).
How the Internet Saved Handmade Goods
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.
Is That a TV Show or Are You Trying to Sell Me Something?
Harvard Business Review
MARCH 5, 2013
After the retailers Target and Neiman Marcus teamed up on some merchandise, they decided to advertise it on ABC's drama series Revenge. We also want to know which ad campaigns strike you as innovative; tell us below and we could analyze your pick as part of this series. How Media Companies Can Boost Ad Revenues.
Embrace the Business Model That Threatens You
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. Take Walmart, for example.
PepsiCo’s Chief Design Officer on Creating an Organization Where Design Can Thrive
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.
When Was the Last Time You Asked, “Why Are We Doing It This Way?”
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.
4 Models for Using AI to Make Decisions
Harvard Business Review
JANUARY 27, 2017
The bad news: Petabytes of new data and algorithmic innovation assure that “autonomy creep” will relentlessly challenge human oversight from within. At one American retailer, an autonomous ensemble of algorithms replaced the entire merchandising department. These distinct approaches enjoy demonstrable real-world success.
Purpose is Good. Shared Purpose is Better
Harvard Business Review
MARCH 14, 2013
Companies are turning to "purpose" and "authenticity" as a way to engage consumers and employees. But it's hard enough to find a purpose in life if you're an individual, let alone an entire company. To understand the power of shared purpose, it's useful to look at the mission statements of leading companies.
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