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Verizon, the iPhone, and the Power of Second Chances

Harvard Business Review

The Verizon Wireless side of the telecom giant, which is 45 percent owned by Vodafone, is also deepening ties with Google for the Droid and betting on its faster fourth generation (4G) network based on new LTE (long term evolution) technology to leap forward in the wireless marketplace. They make mistakes. They fumble.

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Too Much Profit Can Doom Your Company

Harvard Business Review

Profitability as the key measure of business success was akin to a law of physics – like gravity – a foundational assumption which we all take as given: you have to deliver profits to create long term shareholder value.

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Are You Driving Too Much Change, Too Fast?

Harvard Business Review

She's outlined a long-term recovery strategy but the congealing critical consensus is that she's simply not moving fast enough. GE's Jack Welch was inordinately fond of emphasizing that his biggest leadership regret was that he didn't move fast enough to make fundamental changes.

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Five Questions Every Leader Should Ask About Organizational Design

Harvard Business Review

Business strategies are lofty, typically long-term oriented, and often aspirational. When faced with an organization design challenge, many managers rush to grab a cocktail napkin—long the instrument of choice for reorganizing—and sketch out a high-level diagram of boxes and reporting relationships.

Ulrich 8
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The New New International Economic Order

Harvard Business Review

All this represents a considerable turn away from anything resembling a Washington Consensus and towards a more highly managed system favoring preferential terms for developing countries and redistribution over competition and efficiency. But rules affect profits and long-term sustainability.

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How Much Do Companies Really Worry About Climate Change?

Harvard Business Review

That said, the respondents might be right in the larger sense that companies are unprepared for systemic and longer-term challenges. In my experience, most companies are risk-averse and like to fashion themselves as great “fast followers.”

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The Way Forward for Samsung, and Innovation

Harvard Business Review

The price of Android phones probably will rise in the short term. Samsung has built its name over the past two decades on being the world's greatest Fast Follower. In the near term, Samsung is going to be fine. In the long term, though, it's playing a game that's getting harder and harder to win.