Organizational transformation

Before you adopt a new management idea, figure out if it’s right for you.

In many countries, diversified business groups substitute for the institutions that support effective markets in capital, labor, and goods and services. Their capacity for doing this must be strengthened through restructuring, not destroyed through dismantling.

Based on a database of over 2,500 companies.

Research on downsizing, gender, and race.

Most companies view the handling of product returns as a costly nuisance. But some savvy businesses are making the process profitable.

Lessons on navigating turning points from surveys of 846 senior leaders and 840 employees involved in transformation programs.

Regions where social ties are tight may be the worst places for creative operations.

Andrew Jordan sat at his desk, absentmindedly watching a barge chug slowly upstream on the Thames. The dinner meeting he had scheduled with a select group of senior managers at Universal Products Company, Ltd. would begin in an hour. For three years, it had seemed enough to focus on the business problems of UPC’s Connectors […]

When the two work in concert, they can create a powerful advantage.

Leaders, don't overlook your employees' emotional journey.

Few deal makers have been at it as long, and at such a high level, as Lazard’s CEO. Here’s how he unlocks value in people, companies, and industries.

Conventional wisdom says that layoffs are a necessary evil during economic downturns, but new research shows that shareholders tend to punish companies...

The approach is as old as borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. If one of your divisions is not growing as quickly as it ought to, you take cash from a healthy, stable unit to fund the growth. Often this strategy works, but many times it doesn’t. The reason it may not work, the authors […]

While management skills can improve service systems, a manager is better off if he or she first has a clear understanding of the operating characteristics that set one service system apart from another. This author offers one view of services, which, if followed, results in a “rational approach to the rationalization” of services. His view, […]

Mueller Chemical Company's biggest customer, Ameriton, demanded that MCC install a total quality management system five years ago. Now, in this fictional...

Most CEOs who specialize in turning around struggling companies focus on costs. But for Fred Hassan, chairman and CEO of Schering-Plough, the primary...

It can provide guidance, supervision, and governance — while leaving the most critical decisions to humans.

Back in 1998, Marks & Spencer (M&S) was the first British retailer to reach a profit of 1 billion pounds. Just a few years later, profits were down to...

The company’s founder opens up.

In turbulent markets, businesses and opportunities are constantly falling out of alignment. New technologies and emerging markets create fresh opportunities....