Harvard Business Review

MAY 15, 2018

Here’s a truth: many in the marketing industry today don’t really understand brands. Data-Driven Marketing. Time , in a brand system, helps both the brand and consumers to share long-term relationships, medium-term objectives and short-term actions. Ilka & Franz/Getty Images. Insight Center.

Brand 8

Brand Productivity Products Short-term 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 7, 2017

It is tough to beat the market and over long periods of time indexing has been shown to outperform most active managers. On the other side, fans of active management see it as a trend that can damage market efficiency and lead to distortions in market prices. But what’s the role of investors?

Supply Chain 8

Supply Chain Asset Management Chemicals Long-term 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 2, 2014

Actual retailers, though, have tended to stick with simpler techniques, such as simply looking at how long it has been since a customer last bought anything, and picking a cutoff period (nine months, say) after which that customer is considered inactive. This resistance to state-of-the-art statistical models has frustrated the academics.

Simon 11

Simon Retail Uncertainty Apparel 11

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 30, 2016

Simply improving short-term performance by cutting costs across the board isn’t the answer – activists can do that themselves, simply by taking out 10% from your company’s cost baseline. What advantage do we have — or can we create — in the market, and how do we maintain and extend this advantage?

Management 8

Management Short-term Constraint Apparel 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 30, 2018

And big companies, like elephants, have long memories. Many long-timers can remember — and will happily detail in meetings — all of the “historical attempts [at innovation] that didn’t pan out – and it may just not have been the right time,” says Stacey Butler, director of innovation at NRG Energy.

Innovation 15

Innovation Company Budgeting Survey 15

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 25, 2015

Penney’s recent announcement that it is resurrecting its print catalog reflects a trend of retailers returning to the print medium as an important sales and marketing tool. According to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), catalog mailings grew in 2013 to 11.9

Retail 8

Retail Brand Fashion Apparel 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 2, 2014

Actual retailers, though, have tended to stick with simpler techniques, such as simply looking at how long it has been since a customer last bought anything, and picking a cutoff period (nine months, say) after which that customer is considered inactive. This resistance to state-of-the-art statistical models has frustrated the academics.

Simon 8

Simon Retail Uncertainty Apparel 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 22, 2012

Many chase market share they'll never get. A lot of companies throw money at the problem — more R&D, more marketing, more sales people. The problem with investing in organic growth is that the costs hit the books before the revenues do, creating a tension between short-term profitability and long-term growth.

Retail 12

Retail Long-term Short-term Apparel 12

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 22, 2015

They avoid getting trapped on a growth treadmill, chasing multiple market opportunities where they have no right to win. Instead, they are clear-minded about what they do best, developing a solid value proposition and building distinctive capabilities that will last for the long term.

Execution 8

Execution Strategy Fashion Apparel 8

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 19, 2015

For every Apple, there is an Atari, for every Fuji a Polaroid, and for every Zara an American Apparel. To be clear, this tendency to focus on exploitation and not exploration may even be welcomed by some investors who value predictable short-term returns from reduced costs and investments, increasing dividends and share buybacks.

Company 8

Company Succession Maturity Long-term 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 17, 2014

Identifying this so-called “growth gap” is critical, because the bigger the gap, the more a company needs to look beyond its current offerings, markets, and business models to find growth opportunities. By reaching new customers in current markets? By stealing share from current competitors?

Innovation 9

Innovation Company Venture Capitalist Business Model 9

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 23, 2015

degrees Celsius , or even 2 degrees (the stated long-term goals). Besides possibly saving humanity, the deal has another big upside — it signals to financial markets and businesses that the low carbon economy is worth investing in. Multi-trillion-dollar markets are in play and there will be many more winners than losers.

Supply Chain 8

Supply Chain Apparel Energy Price 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 2, 2011

And how would we know that we are on the right track if we couldn't define ourselves largely in terms of being better than others? In reality, each country needs the other to succeed in order to thrive — to finance growth, secure export markets, train talent, transfer technology, and more.

Apparel 15

Apparel Pharmaceuticals Finance Licensing 15

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 27, 2017

In emerging markets, billions of people have moved out of extreme poverty. This approach was credible as long as economic inequality was kept within reasonable bounds. Our research shows that many companies are increasingly geared toward the short term. Such companies tend to generate less growth and value in the long run.

Globalization 8

Globalization Supply Chain Human Capital Long-term 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 9, 2016

Examining these incidents in detail, five main findings stood out: The impact of misbehavior on corporate reputation is significant and long-lasting. Among the companies in our sample, share prices declined by a market-adjusted 3.1% (1.1% The incidents that we identified were cited in over 250 news stories each, on average.

CEO 8

CEO Sample Reputation Press Release 8

LDRLB

JULY 17, 2013

For too long the business world has been obsessed with the notion of building a sustainable competitive advantage… I’m not arguing that it’s a bad idea—obviously, it’s marvelous to compete in a way that others can’t imitate… But it’s now rare for a company to maintain a truly lasting advantage. “Strategy is stuck.

Competitive Advantage 150

Competitive Advantage Taylorism Taylor Restructuring 150

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 28, 2014

Henry Ford understood this, paying the workers at Ford more than their counterparts at other industrial companies, reasoning that helping to expand the new middle class was a way to expand the market for Ford’s product. Some have gone so far as to cap the highest salaries they will pay in terms of ratios to the lowest.

Golden Parachute 11

Golden Parachute Apparel Trends Short-term 11

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 6, 2012

These factors include China's rapidly rising labor costs, which we discussed in an earlier HBR blog ; the increased value of the yuan; the challenge of managing long-distance supply chains; the quality control concerns that continue to haunt many manufacturers that have offshored production; and the significantly higher productivity of U.S.

Insourcing 10

Insourcing Supply Chain Offshoring Apparel 10

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 13, 2017

So you look at past projects, gather and analyze relevant market data, make predictions about how much revenue you’ll be able to generate, decide what resources you’ll need, and set milestones to reach your targets. Before the venture is launched, decide what success will look like in concrete terms. Not so fast.

Planning 9

Planning Benchmarking Project Competitive Advantage 9

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 29, 2012

Evidently not everyone is choosing to see their world in black and white financial terms. These companies have the scope to easily gather data on their true impact (Coke's effect on the water table wherever it has a plant, for example) and the market dominance to act unilaterally. Some are seeing in color.

Meyer 14

Meyer Leadership Metrics Apparel 14

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 18, 2018

Lance Best, the CEO of Barker Sports Apparel, was meeting with Nina Kelk, the company’s general counsel, who also oversaw human resources. It had been a long day at the company’s Birmingham, England, headquarters, and in the early evening the two were going over the evaluations of each of Lance’s direct reports.

Case Study 14

Case Study Team CFO Merchandising 14

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 25, 2013

Not long after she reached shore, she decided to do something about it. So in 2010, I started this foundation and coined the "circular economy" term to help frame the concept. The marketing model changes. We looked at the three biggest segments — packaging, food waste, and apparel. How do you begin to address those?

Company 10

Company Apparel Engineering Welch 10

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 2, 2013

One company had three simultaneous mobile marketing initiatives, conducted by different groups, using different tools and vendors. If your company has wildly different digital marketing activities for each brand or region, you know what I mean. The CDO''s job is to turn the digital cacophony into a symphony.

CIO 8

CIO Technology Apparel Information Technology 8

Eric Jacobson

NOVEMBER 12, 2014

However long it takes," he adds. Jake : Learning to wear multiple hats while maintaining focus on the long-term. It’s been a battle to personally keep my focus on where I’m ultimately moving the company while trying to handle budgets, customer-service relationships, inventory management, and marketing.

Entrepreneur 73

Entrepreneur Advice Apparel Audience 73

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 20, 2011

From relentless demand for resources to bamboo-like 9% growth to vicious competition for the technologies and industries of the future, China will be the big story for a long time. The list of "once-in-a-century" storms, floods, and droughts this year is too long to list. China, China, and China. The greening of the supply chain.

Supply Chain 15

Supply Chain Apparel P&L Long-term 15

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 9, 2016

For the budding entrepreneur, a good starting point is to create a qualitative understanding of market drivers. Entrepreneurship for the Long Term. Today, Leslie Wexner is CEO, chair, and founder of L Brands, a $25 billion market cap company with two primary brands, Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works.

Brand 8

Brand Merchandising Chief Financial Officer Retail 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 20, 2016

Larry Fink, the CEO of Blackrock — the world’s largest asset owner — followed up his 2015 letter to S&P 500 CEOs with another treatise against short-term focus. For some, it’s about the commercial opportunity to appeal to a new or growing market of rights-focused consumers. And so, after a divisive U.S.

Energy 8

Energy Banking Chemicals Globalization 8