Search

An exploratory study of 57 bankrupt firms and 57 matched survivors compared senior managers' letters to shareholders during demand-decline crises to discover which environmental aspects they pay attention to. Managers of surviving firms pay more attention to the critical aspects of their external environment than do failing managers. Includes 75 references. (MLH)

The five steps are to define the scope, examine the political aspects, focus on discovery-driven planning, develop an appropriate exit strategy, and anticipate unexpected consequences.

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2009.00888.x Byline: Alessandro Minichilli (1), Guido Corbetta (1), Ian C. MacMillan (2) Abstract: abstract This article examines the affect of family management on performance of the company. We examine how familiness can provide further insights beyond the classical demographic measures of top management teams (TMTs) in explaining variations in firms' financial performance. We combine arguments on the 'bright' and 'dark' side of family involvement in the firm; we complement positive predictions on family involvement with negative predictions and develop family firm-specific measures of TMTs' familiness. Results indicate that while the presence of a family CEO is beneficial for firm performance, the coexistence of 'factions' in family and non-family managers within the TMT has the potential to create schisms among the subgroups and consequently hurt firm performance. We find support for a hypothesized U-shaped relationship between the ratio of family members in the TMT and firm performance. Additional evidence related to interactions between firm listing and CEO type on firm performance is then presented and discussed. Author Affiliation: (1)Bocconi University; (2)University of Pennsylvania Article note: Alessandro Minichilli, Management Department, Bocconi University, Via Roentgen 1, 20136 - Milan, Italy (alessandro.minichilli@unibocconi.it).

The article emphasizes the importance of customer relations to business success, and examines how to avoid losing to competitors due to unmet customer needs. The role of a strategically aligned customer information base in achieving this goal is discussed.

Guidelines include identifying core customer segments, extending beyond the core in capabilities and in segments, and stretching the newly extended capabilities and segments.

Five strategies are presented to foster new business growth. These involve identifying the company's fundamental product or service, changing how customer needs are met, determining advantages to changing products and services, capitalizing on industry shifts, and creating a completely different offering.

Discussion focuses on the integration of real options with discounted cash flow processes. Topics include adjusting for cost, total project value components, and specific complications in using financial option tools. A formula is also included for option zone valuing.

This article examines how Philip Morris outmaneuvered R.J. Reynolds beginning in 1993 to gain a major share of Eastern Europe's market. The strategy is now being used by many multinational companies in the business equivalent of a game of chess.

Open up your thinking to your customer's entire experience with your product or service. Most profitable strategies are built on differentiation: offering customers something they value that competitors don't have. [...]