This short piece, part of the regular secret CIO column in InformationWeek, offers some practical advice on resume-writing from a hiring executive's perspective

Is it crazy for promising venture-backed start-ups to commit time and stock to nonprofits even before making money themselves? Former VC Gib Myers doesn't think so.

Meet the new breed of socially responsible CEOs. They share the goals of activist pioneers like Body Shop cofounder Anita Roddick and Ben & Jerry's Ben Cohen -- but are taking radically different approaches to activism.

From late 1998 through the summer of 2000, Wall Street was an out-of-control beast, and IPOs were its sustenance. The Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly investigating a host of questionable issues, including whether investment banks unfairly allotted pre-IPO shares in return for a variety of kickbacks. It is the practice of tie-ins, more than anything else, that has attracted most of the attention from regulators, because tie-ins fall under market manipulation, which the SEC specifically banned in 1997 when it passed Regulation M.

There are several variations of the tie-in, including paying high commissions as a quid pro quo for a higher allotment of IPO shares or placing large trades with banks who are allotting IPO shares. And then there was the practice of promising to buy IPO stocks at fixed minimum prices in the aftermarket.

In this seven-part piece, Red Herring takes you behind the scenes of the IPO allocation process. The series is the result of more than 100 interviews with the people who know what went on: underwriters, traders, hedge and portfolio fund managers, litigators, regulators, and executives from the newly public companies themselves.

IT departments are gradually opening the door to open-source software. Companies are finding that open-source alternatives can be easier to use and more reliable than proprietary products-and major vendors are starting to get the message.

In the corporate environment, "teamwork" is the buzzword of management. But, while management's heart may be in the right place, their methods often miss the mark. Here are a few secrets to team building.

One of the great efficiencies of the Internet Age is being able to connect with business partners online. But while integrating extranet partners can substantially enhance E-commerce, it also carries significant risk. Essentially, you will be exposed to the hiring practices, values, code of conduct, and administrative practices of a partner that could be very different from those of your company.

Take a close look at some audit disasters, and you may agree with the SEC's outgoing chairman, Arthur Levitt: Accounting work and consulting work really shouldn't be under the same roof.

Enterprise application integration isn't a term likely to make businesspeople sit up and take notice. But IT people know just how strategic and necessary EAI technologies can be in delivering on E-business strategies. Enterprise application integration is a godsend for groups charged with evolving and scaling their technology infrastructures and bringing disparate systems together.


While businesspeople may not care about the nuts and bolts of enterprise integration, they certainly should pay attention to EAI's strategic value. Enterprise application integration reduces the pain, time, and cost of implementing new business processes through the linking of back-and front-office systems.

Short article looks at Broadcom's aggressive (but legal) use of accounting - especially with regard to acquisition-related write-offs and exclusions.

The author of The Art of Management: Insights from an Employee's Perspective has compiled eight simple and common sense rules of managing and motivating employees.

Professors Joseph Blasi and Douglas Kruse of Rutgers University have recently completed a new study of the long-term performance of closely-held companies that implemented ESOPs. Key findings of the study show that ESOP companies had better long-term survival rates than comparable non-ESOP firms; had higher employment growth and higher growth in annual sales per employee; and that the introduction of the ESOP resulted in a relative improvement of corporate productivity compared to the non-ESOP firms.

Some time ago the new economy appropriated a term that summed up its irrational exuberance - "first-mover advantage." E-business first movers, it was thought, could gain valuable advantages over the competition by pioneering technologies, being first-to-market, and building brand loyalty. Hindsight may be 20/20, but it's still not clear what hindsight will say about the first movers in e-business. Gathered here are several views from executives, professors, and journalists who have covered the phenomenon full-cycle.

Few business areas need to be measured more extensively, more frequently, and more effectively than logistics. When evaluating criteria for individual metrics, consider this checklist.
1. The validity/reliability of the measure
2. The robustness of the measure
3. The usefulness of the measure
4. The completeness of the measure
5. Cost-effectiveness
6. Compatibility
7. The level of detail
8. Behavioral soundness
9. Administration problems

Founders who go after venture capital can find themselves with bulging coffers -- but without their old job as CEO.

Facing yourself in the mirror may be the hardest endeavor you ever attempt. Whether you are a new manager or have been supervising people for a number of years, it is still important to develop your unique managerial style.

Career Journal of the _Wall Street Journal_ presents the results of its two-year long survey of corporate recruiters' ratings of MBA programs from around the world. According to their survey, three smaller B-schools, Dartmouth's Tuck School, Carnegie Mellon University's Graduate School of Industrial Administration, and Yale University's School of Management, were rated the top three, displacing the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford, and Harvard. In a series of articles about the findings, the _Wall Street Journal_ also discusses the methodology and rankings, as well as information on the top school. Be sure to view the fascinating moderated discussion of the rankings. [Scout Report Annotation]

This article describes the author's experience with the development of the first Yugoslav Internet payment processing system. The system's architecture is very similar to the Three Domain (3D) model that started to emerge later. This success story is worthwhile sharing with a wider audience.

Even while the economy falters, there are still people who are proving that access to information technology can make a real difference. So-called "circuit riders," for example, are high-tech advisors to nonprofits that travel from one organization to another, managing their technology needs. "I believe in technology as a strategic instrument for helping nonprofits develop themselves," says circuit rider Asma Ramadan of Technology Works for Good (www.technologyworks.org), a DC-based nonprofit committed to connecting other nonprofits to the Internet. Circuit riders, who often have previous experience or interest in working with nonprofits, face the challenge of working with groups that have a wide range of technology experience. Some of the riders would like to be fully integrated as nonprofit staff. "Hopefully by then the technology side and the nonprofit side will have converged," said Colin Moffett, who works in health and advocacy issues.

Just when you thought that your company would be rolling in royalty payments, your patent attorneys tell you that you should have disclosed the patent application and it might now be impossible to enforce any resulting patent. How did this happen?

Start with the people who are closest to the customer, then alphabetize, organize, summarize, save time and tempers, finalize, publish, sign and celebrate.

In this interview with Fast Company, web strategist David Siegel says: "Don't redesign your Web site. Redesign your company." A lot of his statements are bold platitudes that derive from his roles as author and public speaker. Some are off-mark in my estimation. Some are accurate re-hash of other prominent ideas (like Don Peppers). And a couple are new twists worth checking out.

Strategic planning is more than playing golf at an exotic resort. Taken seriously, strategic planning and execution can make the difference between being a mediocre "me-too" company and a trailblazing category-killer. Talk about these items:
1. The corporate vision
2. Personal vision
3. Shared vision
4. Mapping current reality
5. Strategic priorities
6. Choice and execution
7. Celebrate your successes

Marketing expert Don Peppers asks -- and four cutting-edge organizations answer -- the four most important questions to help you deliver great service to your customers.

Article starts with an entertaining story of CIO mis-management and then goes on to discuss the problem of lack of management processes and centrally available decision support information to competently manage rapid deployment of change to the mission critical technology infrastructure.