Harvard Business Review

JUNE 29, 2016

In the oil industry, for example, what used to be weeks of inspection work now takes just days, thanks to drone-based thermal imaging and gas “sniffer” technology to inspect oil rigs and pipelines. And one of retail’s largest players, Walmart, is testing how drones could help improve warehouse inventory management.

Competitive Advantage 10

Competitive Advantage Company Outsourcing Analysis 10

Strategy Driven

AUGUST 10, 2015

But for old-school bureaucracies, it’s a scary new world that requires managers to rethink the basic principles that govern established businesses. If your firm outsources mobile app development to an agency or design firm, there’s your answer). EVALUATE how StrategyDriven gives you a competitive advantage.

Strategy 50

Strategy Succession Software Industry 50

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 9, 2012

Consequently, top management teams tend to be the Goldilocks of crazy: They don't want insane, and they don't need conventional; they want their craziness to be "just right." Crazy ideas, of course, can be a source of sustainable competitive advantage. Real craziness is what gets outsourced. Which ideas are too crazy?

Outsourcing 14

Outsourcing Management Core Competence Competitive Advantage 14

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 30, 2016

One applications outsourcing team, for example, proposed a clever UX tweak to help optimize a global fulfillment process their company managed for its biggest client. Their RFP-responsive outsourcing expertise had perversely obscured essential insights into what creative fulfillment should mean for both customers and client.

Process 12

Process Competitive Advantage Outsourcing Supply Chain 12

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

MARCH 26, 2012

In the worst cases, it only takes months to move from profitable differentiation to commodity competition. Scale economics has been one of the last bastions from the competitive storm. In other words, the advantages of size gave some companies a bit of safe harbor. The competitive advantages of scale are being commoditized.

Porter 12

Porter Competitive Advantage Safe Harbor Efficiency 12

Harvard Business Review

MAY 26, 2016

Conventional wisdom holds that improving working conditions (which typically costs money) would undermine the competitive advantage these firms enjoy. Traditional mass manufacturing is based on principles of “Scientific Management” that date back to the 19th century. Insight Center. Operations in a Connected World.

Lean Manufacturing 9

Lean Manufacturing Supply Chain Apparel Compliance 9

Strategy Driven

MARCH 18, 2011

Further, they need to limit their focus to, at most, six capabilities, and make those capabilities work together as a mutually reinforcing system that perpetuates competitive advantage. Assets are important, but they are, increasingly, table stakes in most competitive industries; everyone in the game has them.

Resources 52

Resources Industry System Strategy 52

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. The technology’s flexibility introduces synergies where none existed before. 3D printing offers even more advantages to these groups. GE might be first to capitalize on this.

Engineering 8

Engineering Learning Curve Fixed Costs Competitive Advantage 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 9, 2015

The debt becomes much more difficult to manage and cynicism corrodes the functioning of the society. That means cracking down on tax shelters that give some businesses a competitive advantage. Without middle class growth, institutions lose legitimacy. The American example is degraded. The ground is fertile for populist revolt.

Class 8

Class Outsourcing Long-term Short-term 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 18, 2012

These relationships were essential in gaining the confidence of customers who had qualms about outsourcing to IBM. Palmisano warned against prioritizing shareholders or other constituents, calling this "a false choice," and explaining that "Long-term management is a serious challenge in a world driven by short-term thinking.

Globalization 15

Globalization Golden Parachute Short-term Long-term 15

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 24, 2015

Executives are bombarded with bestselling ideas and best practices for achieving competitive advantage, but many of these ideas and practices contradict each other. Should you create a blue ocean, be adaptive, play to win — or forget about a sustainable competitive advantage altogether?

Strategy 8

Strategy Competitive Advantage Environment Execution 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 23, 2014

A few years ago Dave Ulrich, a management thought leader from the University of Michigan, made a comment I found both insightful and profound: “ Every leader needs to have a model of organization design.” An effective organization design model guides a manager in answering five fundamental questions in a thoughtful and well-integrated way.

Ulrich 8

Ulrich Cost Efficiency Consultative 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 20, 2016

In a world underpinned by ever more powerful, affordable, and public technology platforms, software is still king. ” Rather, this approach recognizes a fundamental shift in the sources of value creation and competitive advantage toward software. And its importance as a source of value will only continue to grow.

Software 8

Software Company Airlines Business Model 8