Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

For example, one of eHarmony’s competitive advantages in the matchmaking market is that it limits competition on both sides of the match. It''s a nice primer on a range of views about what search engines should and shouldn''t reveal, and how the extraordinarily powerful company in the middle of the battle is responding.

Management 9

Management Risk Management Finance Real Estate 9

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 6, 2018

There is a lot of taxonomy and local knowledge that needs to be incorporated into the AI system —similar to the old “knowledge engineering” activity for expert systems. There are several domains and business problems for which the requisite knowledge engineering is available. Integration Time.

Company 8

Company Maturity System Engineering 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 20, 2014

In 18 short months, search engine Google erased 85 percent of the market cap of the top GPS companies after launching its mobile maps app. Banks possess inherent competitive advantages in the digital world. Competition Finance Innovation'

Banking 10

Banking Retail Finance Insurance 10

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 23, 2014

Having the team hear customer feedback firsthand was a big change, especially for the engineers. The feedback was hard for the engineers to hear, but it made a huge impact on them. But as Kevin Nolan, vice president of technology, said, “With FastWorks we’re learning that speed is our competitive advantage.

Ries 10

Ries Waterman Finance Competitive Advantage 10

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 29, 2013

You have no funding, but you have to convince some engineer who’s already juggling 15 job offers (including offers from Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google) to join you to help finish your product. Is this engineer going to accept your job offer? Beyond equity, you have two things to rely on: vision and personal charisma. Costs are low.

Venture Funding 8

Venture Funding Entrepreneur Attrition Engineering 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 5, 2018

The model was honed by Jack Welch in the 1980s and 1990s, with new portfolio restructuring strategies and a headlong expansion into finance. These strategies eroded GE’s competitive advantage in everything from consumer electronics and home appliances to trains and aircraft engines.

Welch 8

Welch Software Industry Hedge 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 27, 2017

. “The machine learning model is not a static piece of code  —  you’re constantly feeding it data,” says one Google engineer. It’s a different kind of engineering.” ” Firms look to leverage, amplify, and network autonomy into self-sustaining competitive advantage.

Outsourcing 8

Outsourcing Software CAPEX Competitive Advantage 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 23, 2013

And while we continue to be big believers that building new business is the key to America’s competitive advantage, it’s hard not notice the huge roadblocks in the way of entrepreneurs outside of the startup “super-hubs.” Many small businesses don’t require the sort of financing required by firms in pursuit of s-curve growth.

IPO 9

IPO Venture Capitalist Entrepreneur Competitive Advantage 9

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 22, 2012

He nodded: "That's our competitive advantage.". If businesses in China can import capital equipment, secure accounting and consulting services, hire the most efficient workers in the country, and secure financing for any project, how then will you compete? I said that I had, and that they were spotless. What did he mean?

Globalization 13

Globalization Competitive Advantage Software Consultative 13

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 15, 2013

For a brief period, as they were being built into the infrastructure of commerce, all these technologies opened opportunities for forward-looking companies to gain real advantages. Boards should require that CEO candidates demonstrate not just knowledge of finance and marketing but also a technology aptitude. Accountability.

CEO 8

CEO CIO Technology CFO 8

N2Growth Blog

APRIL 21, 2011

I want you to think about acquisitions from this perspective – anything that has been well engineered or properly developed has also been heavily invested in. Often times these acquisitions can provide you some form of exclusivity or other form of competitive advantage. Acquiring Value Not Companies.

Real Estate 310

Real Estate Company Brand Operations 310

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 20, 2013

Take Philips Electronics with its lighting, medical equipment, and consumer electronics divisions; ThyssenKrupp with its steel, elevators, and engineering services units; or smaller companies such as Trinity Mirror, which offers newspapers, printing, and digital services.

Strategy 8

Strategy P&L Engineering Cooper 8

N2Growth Blog

JANUARY 13, 2011

An idea is not synonymous with a competitive advantage, an idea is not necessarily a sign of creativity, an idea does not constitute innovation, and as much as some people wish it was so, an idea is certainly not a business. I want to start by actually defining what an idea is, and is not.

Blog 399

Blog Innovation Strategic Planning Brand 399

Harvard Business Review

JULY 15, 2013

As gerajohm commented, "The best executives I have met have had a great understanding of how to use technology to gain competitive advantage and improve operations. They worked together to identify the technologies that could improve the company''s competitive advantage versus technologies that were needed to support the business.

CIO 8

CIO Crisis Competitive Advantage Webinar 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 10, 2017

One reason for the paltry performance is that while other business areas, like sales or finance, are considered to be core functions, innovation is often considered to be something that’s “nice to have” rather than essential. Google’s “20% time” acts as a human-powered search engine for new problems.

Innovation 8

Innovation P&L ROI Long-term 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 15, 2016

Companies need these practical hacktivists to dream up new ways to meet the needs of consumers who require customization on demand and to outpace competitors in an era when competitive advantage is often fleeting. Windham built an entire ad-hoc team at Stanley Black and Decker — product planners, executives, and engineers.

Bureaucracy 8

Bureaucracy Innovation Brand Competitive Advantage 8

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 27, 2018

This will almost surely go beyond what can be considered “side work” and they’ll need to collaborate with others for engineering and process changes. Don’t bury it under another department like marketing, product, finance, etc. They saw an unexplained phenomenon, had a hunch, and started tinkering.

Learning-by-Doing 10

Learning-by-Doing Engineering Metrics Cost 10

Harvard Business Review

MAY 19, 2015

Hailed in the 1960s as bastions of sophisticated management, they used cheap financing to acquire, then rationalize, many family-owned firms. With GE’s recent announcement to split off its remaining finance operations , and Honeywell also considering divestment, the pressure on these groups remains in force.

Engineering 8

Engineering Learning Curve Fixed Costs Competitive Advantage 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 27, 2011

Anytime a CEO, quarterback, engineer or author is paid ridiculous amounts of money, dozens of investors, armchair quarterbacks, and scholars jump in to debate the value of individual contributors versus teams. And thank goodness, because that gives those of us who understand the real value of great people a huge competitive advantage!

Team 18

Team Engineering Competitive Advantage Taylorism 18

Harvard Business Review

JULY 12, 2017

In effect, they all had skin in the game, which remains one of the most elusive elements of modern finance. Thus a trust and efficiency engine like blockchain technology has the potential to drive radical change in the insurance industry while improving transparency and outcomes across the entire value chain.

Insurance 11

Insurance Industry Policies Market Penetration 11

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 2, 2018

Over the past few years, most businesses have come to recognize that the ability to collect and analyze the data they generate has become a key source of competitive advantage. With this dedicated resource, ZF has been able to solve problems that had stumped the company’s engineers for years.

Company 10

Company Automotive Project Chief Information Officer 10

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 26, 2016

Any business needs to make money eventually, but the power of rapid scaling is a huge competitive advantage that those in the Valley understand keenly. Think like engineers and customers. Valley companies think in terms of ecosystems, networks, and sharable services — elements that are crucial to scaling very quickly.

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist Company Succession Long-term 8

Miles Anthony Smith

NOVEMBER 7, 2019

It leads to a higher search engine visibility through stronger online authority (links and social shares). Content marketing cannot be done by someone in finance that kinda dabbles in writing. You must clearly define your competitive advantage, authority brand, and voice. But yes, they do! Hire a specialist.

Marketing 105

Marketing Content Audience Brand 105

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 11, 2017

Policy makers can and should do more to align the incentives of companies and workers, for example by providing tax incentives for profit-sharing schemes , by providing health benefits, by hiring new employees, or by linking workplace practices to government procurement and financing programs.

Skills 8

Skills Engineering Telecommunications Incentives 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 28, 2014

It happens every time there’s a big announcement about a national or regional innovation policy that will lead us into the future: We are presented with schemes to strengthen intellectual property rights, enlarge the pool of risk financing, and upgrade the universities while pushing them to collaborate more with industry.

Policies 8

Policies Innovation Finance Industry 8