The Horizons Tracker

OCTOBER 12, 2021

The results suggest that various cost-cutting measures, such as layoffs and offshoring, can have a much bigger impact than organizations think, with this impact lasting longer than we imagine. Each of the studies followed employees for up to two years, thus providing the researchers with a glimpse into changes in attitude over time.

Morale 126

Morale Offshoring Cost Loyalty 126

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 23, 2016

Companies will experience huge changes as physical infrastructure disappears, offshore capabilities are repatriated, more services become self-service and virtual, and customers begin to interact more with robots. Automation will transform not just production, but operating models. Start early to shift the leadership mindset.

Early Adopters 8

Early Adopters Short-term Long-term Compliance 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

As more firms became multinationals, fewer showed loyalty to particular communities or any hesitation to migrate their operations to wherever costs were lowest. The tight focus on generating returns drove many gains. It hurried along the formation of global supply chains with ever greater efficiency and economies of scale.

Supply Chain 13

Supply Chain Bureaucracy Short-term Agility 13

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 27, 2013

Combine these three, and you have a future in which companies offer customers fine-grained control over their manufacturing output, and earn loyalty and competitive advantage in return. Third, the demand for more personalized experiences, nurtured by our highly customizable digital devices, is on the rise.

Offshoring 8

Offshoring Productivity Products Competitive Advantage 8