Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 13, 2011

Then the family's CFO, my wife, who also happens to be a CPA, demanded to know their TCO. cost of improving the operating systems; unfortunately, the new OS could not be loaded from the internal CD drive and required an external DVD player, which cost $120. The CFO's skepticism was proved correct, and I lost all credibility.

Technology 15

Technology CIO CFO TCO 15

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 4, 2017

By one analysis , 88% of companies appearing on the Fortune 500 list in 1955 were not on it in 2014 (having merged, gone bankrupt, or fallen off the list). And the most-successful managers must change similarly as they assume additional or different responsibilities through their careers, moving from head of sales to COO or from CFO to CEO.

Agility 15

Agility Balanced Scorecard COO CFO 15

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 18, 2011

At Hartwell Pacific, the global metal recycling company I founded in 1993 and exited in 2008, I was operating factories in six different cities in four countries, so developing an effective global management system was critical. After lunch we would take a tour of that country's operations. We tried to be as inclusive as possible.

P&L 15

P&L Globalization CFO Operations 15

Harvard Business Review

JULY 31, 2017

Housing market price changes can be more accurately predicted from analysis of Google searches than by a team of expert real estate forecasters. When a change practitioner talks about data, typically that is qualitative information, generated by a root cause analysis workshop or similar.

Marketing 8

Marketing Root Cause Analysis Management Supply Chain 8

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

In our work with clients across dozens of sectors over more than five years, we have found that the strongest CMO/CFO partnerships develop when both parties undertake five actions: 1. CMOs need to start building this relationship by having a clear understanding of what CFOs expect.

CFO 8

CFO Short-term Long-term Benchmarking 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 23, 2018

Recall that Nokia dominated the mobile and smartphone markets in 2007-2008 when Apple launched the iPhone and Google the Android operating system. The new rivals revolutionized customer expectations, causing Nokia’s Symbian operating system to become outdated. Isn’t it obvious that these two are the main alternatives?

Strategy 8

Strategy Analysis Operations CFO 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 29, 2014

In Sarah’s opinion, the problem was obvious: Sid Yerby, the CFO. Despite her repeated requests for comprehensive financial statements, he continued to come to board meetings with a mere two pages of analysis that lacked any explanation. had pulled her aside and asked her to stop arguing with the CFO. Some months back, J.P.

Case Study 9

Case Study Real Estate CFO Letter 9

Strategy Driven

JANUARY 28, 2011

Sharon Drew explores what happens when he stumbles in the dark trying to bring his fellow managers, the internal tech team (which is responsible for the current site), and the CFO (to whom the tech team reports) on board. She then presents the same situation using Buying Facilitation ®. The result? Sellers sit and wait while they do them.

Servant Leader 50

Servant Leader Newsletter Resources CFO 50

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

I Give This Blurb 3 Stars Operation Clean Turf and the War on Fake Yelp Reviews Businessweek Were the 19 companies accused of commissioning fake online reviews the only firms out there engaged in this nefarious practice? Not likely. Federal Trade Commission says 15% to 20% of all reader reviews might be fake.

Review 8

Review CFO PR Analysis 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

Scaling up comes with CFO and board pressure to gain efficiency, and the natural tendency of a business will be to squeeze customer teams. Consider hiring a “customer operations” person to focus on automation full-time. I’ve just spent paragraphs talking about operations, analytics, and efficiency.

Metrics 13

Metrics Engineering Efficiency Learning-by-Doing 13

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 4, 2015

A new Conference Board study, as CFO magazine reported , reveals some startling growth in greener products at a dozen big companies like Kimberly-Clark, Dow, GE, Siemens, Toshiba, and more. But by and large, for years, Walmart has taken, in my view, a mainly operational, cost-reducing, brand-fitting approach to sustainability.

Productivity 8

Productivity Products Chemicals Retail 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 7, 2015

Sometimes it doesn’t make sense for companies operating in the same space to continually compete. operate in an extremely competitive (borderline oligopolistic) industry. When a company operates in non-complimentary divisions, it can be difficult to maintain a single balance sheet that optimizes overall shareholder return.

How To 8

How To Due Diligence Strategy Proposal 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 5, 2014

Since this was a minor operation, Sheila’s supervisor, the head of Supply Chain, paid her very little attention. Eventually, her team built a portfolio that caught the interest of the CFO and the CEO, and soon she was meeting regularly with them. Howard was a high-potential manager at a large life sciences firm.

Supply Chain 8

Supply Chain CFO Performance Review Construction 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 17, 2015

For example, Cesar Bocanegra started as VP for operations, then asked to take on human resources as well. Good Shepherd’s CFO, Greghan Fischer, for example, saw strong potential in Yan Li, a quietly competent member of her finance team. He was promoted to COO within two years.

Development 8

Development Mentor COO CFO 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 6, 2011

The analysis and design phase of a "bet your company" process change needs to be done thoroughly. Process champions must have them ready for the day when the CEO or CFO effectively says, "Show me the money.". What can we learn from this failure? How can you avoid this happening to you? Quickly deliver tangible results.

Process 14

Process Six Sigma Finance Short-term 14

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 26, 2014

We have reviewed hundreds of corporate announcements and websites, interviewed numerous leadership experts, and conducted an analysis of CEO changes and successions over the past five years at S&P 500 and Global 100 companies. Through this effort, we have observed certain characteristics of this emerging trend.

CEO 12

CEO Contingency Plans Telecommunications Planning 12

Terry Starbucker

DECEMBER 2, 2010

This post isn’t intended to argue the merits of Obama’s politics, nor of the Times’ and other analysis. For years, I operated with the belief that all I had to do was come up with the most brilliantly creative and strategically sound solution. and public opinion.” And I say “we” because I’ve been as guilty of this as anybody.

Influence 275

Influence Blog Politics Learning-by-Doing 275

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

In most larger companies, you'll need to generate roughly 200+ responses per operating unit per period. Your CFO and finance team can take a leadership role here. Unless you have achieved stability, you're in for some fun at compensation time. Is your data set sufficient to reduce statistical variation? But few could see much progress.

Incentives 10

Incentives Sample Customer Loyalty Metrics 10

Harvard Business Review

JULY 2, 2013

If people think of you as an excellent operations guy, they may have a hard time imagining you as a strategic thinker. Mary Beth Perdue had stiff competition when she applied for the newly created position of vice president of external reporting and analysis at Freddie Mac in 2009. "I folks were also very qualified," she says.

How To 10

How To Reputation Case Study Career 10

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 21, 2015

Lotta Tindal, the chief marketing officer for the Dutch hospitality group Ervaring Hotels & Resorts, hadn’t wanted to come to the presentation, but Gerard Bakker, Ervaring’s CFO, had twisted her arm. “These things are nothing more than glorified sales pitches,” she whispered to him.

Case Study 8

Case Study Travel Hotels NPV 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 26, 2016

Instead she was ramping up mobile-banking operations—which competitors were also doing—and looking to experiment with something more innovative: partnerships with supermarkets and electronics stores that would allow FDM to set up kiosks within them. . “Change is necessary to survival,” Sophie replied.

Case Study 8

Case Study CEO Banking Agility 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 30, 2015

So once the finance department, CFO, or treasure department has determined what the rate is, managers know that is the number to beat if they want to win support for their projects or proposals. Let’s look at that first instance. “You’re basically saying that we’re not getting the return you expected.”

Cost of Capital 8

Cost of Capital Cost Finance Discount 8