Let us help you fight information overload. We read countless sources of free business articles and provided annotated links to the ones that are worth reading.
International bank regulators are currently drafting a new version of the historic 1988 Basel Capital Accord, which set minimum capital requirements for banks around the world. Far from being an esoteric banking issue, the new rules will have far-reaching implications for banks and borrowers alike. As currently written, however, proposals for the new accord threaten to put an undue and unintended capital burden on banks and won't encourage them to pursue more sophisticated credit-risk-management practices.
The take-away
Although the new proposals represent a step in the right direction, important modifications are still needed. This article suggests four key ones.
Source(s):
Author(s):
Posted:
# Views:
The McKinsey Quarterly
David Bear, Kevin S. Buehler, Gunnar Pritsch
2001-12-31
19
Only a few years ago, B2B exchanges were expected to completely alter conventional buyer-supplier relationships. The reality has been otherwise. Only 10% of the 1,000 B2B exchanges launched in the past 18 months are reportedly still in operation. Meanwhile, the important B2B action seems to have shifted to industry-wide exchanges run by incumbent firms, such as Covisint in the auto industry and Transora in the consumer products sector. In a new research study, Wharton management professor John Paul MacDuffie and colleague Susan Helper explore this evolution
Some enterprises have been able to leverage their year 2000 efforts—particularly BCP and year 2000 command centers—to respond to disaster threats. Most enterprises, however, developed plans merely to satisfy audit requirements, and suspended their contingency planning efforts shortly after 1 January 2000. As a result, their plans could not be applied to the 11 September 2001 disaster because enterprises, processes and personnel change over time, and plans must be tested to cover new conditions. Nonetheless, enterprises can frequently leverage the processes used in addressing the year 2000 crisis to respond to new disasters. For this reason, we have adapted some archival Gartner research on BCP for this issue.
Wall Street analysts relentlessly cheered the dot-com mania that pushed technology stocks to stunning gains in 1999. But even after those stocks went into a tailspin in 2000, few analysts urged investors to sell. Such behavior has drawn the attention of both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Congress, which held hearings on the subject in mid-June.
Shape or adapt? For years, executives have regarded the question as perhaps their most fundamental strategic choice. Is it better for a company's competitive position to try to influence, or even determine, the outcome of crucial and currently uncertain elements of an industry's structure and conduct? Or is the wiser course to scope out defensible positions within an industry's existing structure and then to move with speed and agility to recognize and capture new opportunities when the market changes? ...In extremely uncertain environments, shaping strategies may deliver higher returns, with lower risk, than they do in less uncertain times.
Source(s):
Author(s):
Posted:
# Views:
The McKinsey Quarterly
Hugh Courtney
2001-12-27
75
Note: Business 2.0 is now part of CNNmoney and some older articles are no longer available
"'Consumers are expecting companies to act socially responsible,' [Carol] Cone says. 'Companies have to connect in a new way to consumers, in a way that is emotional, that is sustainable, that is credible.' Cone argues that companies need to provide a warm, more 'human' feeling. 'In order to connect with their stakeholders, employees, or consumers, they're going to have to embrace a cause or a series of causes,' she predicts . . . Cone feels that donating a percentage of revenue to charity is insufficient to impress consumers in the long run. 'That's not enough,' Cone insists. 'Because you know what? Every site is going to have that.' Instead, she says, companies need to go beyond short-term, sales-driven cause marketing to 'cause branding,' a strategic, stakeholder-based approach to integrating social issues into business strategy, brand equity, and organizational identity. 'Cause branding is creating a signature, ownable, sustainable program. It's much, much deeper than a quick click,' she says."
"Especially in environmental matters, the link between socially responsible practices and shareholder returns is becoming evident. That's because a company's ability to deal successfully with environmental issues can be a credible measure of management quality, which is notoriously tricky to gauge, contends Frank Dixon, managing director with Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, New York. Management teams that excel in handling environmental issues, which come with a morass of technical, market, and regulatory problems, are likely to do a good job overall, says Dixon. In fact, Innovest's research has shown that stocks of companies with above-average environmental performance outperform their competitors by three to 25 percentage points annually. Dixon explains, 'The concept of fiduciary responsibility is beginning to change, to consider that environmental and social factors are relevant to the bottom line.'"
Note: Older EBF articles are not currently online. I'm not sure if this is temporary or permanent. If you click you will be taken to the Archive.org site to find an archived copy.
Popular voices against international capitalism have become increasingly strident. The other side of the case – notably the positive social and economic impact of globalisation – deserves to be heard.
Source(s):
Author(s):
Posted:
# Views:
European Business Forum (EBF)
Jean-Jacques Lambin
2001-12-25
98
Note: Darwin Magazine is now dead. Some articles are moving to CIO. I will try to update the links when I have time...
Behind the scenes of e-business there's a complex process that is vital to the success of a company. This article talks about the important elements of e-commerce infrastructure--from the ABCs of URLs to asking the right questions.
Editor's Note: This article is very elementary so if you already have the basics covered don't bother...
Source(s):
Author(s):
Posted:
# Views:
Darwin Magazine
Christopher Lindquist
2001-12-25
64
Steve Jobs, Paul Allaire, Henry Schacht, Lawrence Bossidy, Kenneth Lay and Ted Waitt all, for one reason or another, left the top jobs at their companies only to return later when the companies ran into difficult times. Does it work to bring back former CEOs in such circumstances? What are the risks? And what does it say about the companies' boards?
Performance appraisals used to be a way to reward employees. Now so-called forced rankings are being used to lay them off. But will you be sued if you use them?
Developing a local-currency bond market tops the agenda of many emerging economies intent on financial reform. The reasons are clear: a deep and liquid bond market provides an alternative to bank credit and thus helps to create a more competitive financial sector and to lower the cost of borrowing. And bonds tend to have longer maturities than bank loans in these economies, thereby reducing the need for offshore borrowing, along with its attendant currency risk. But how should governments set about developing a bond market where none exists? Thailand, which has built one quite rapidly, points the way.
Source(s):
Author(s):
Posted:
# Views:
The McKinsey Quarterly
Tobias Hoschka
2001-12-23
10
The Wall Street giant is making a major bet on Internet-based telephony as a way to improve service and enhance flexibility. Here's a case study on the promise and pitfalls of technology-driven innovation.
At a time when most entrepreneurs will jump like trained poodles to be rewarded by venture capitalists, Reed Taussig refuses to say, "How high?" He has created his own set of rules for VCs who want to work with him.
India's gross domestic product is growing by an impressive 6 percent a year. But research by the McKinsey Global Institute has uncovered three barriers preventing the country's GDP from growing even faster: myriad regulations governing products and markets, distortions in the market for land, and widespread government ownership of business. Thirteen policy measures could remove these barriers, allowing the economy to grow by 10 percent a year. Although higher productivity would mean fewer jobs in some enterprises, many more jobs would be created in the economy as a whole. Net employment would increase.
The take-away
India's economy could be the fastest growing in the world - and the country's citizens twice as well off - if its policy makers embraced a deeper, faster process of economic reform.
Source(s):
Author(s):
Posted:
# Views:
The McKinsey Quarterly
Amadeo M. Di Lodovico, William W. Lewis, Vincent Palmade, Shirish Sankhe
2001-12-21
31
For most Western observers, state-owned companies are wasteful white elephants while private enterprise sets the standard for efficiency. A look at China's large public sector giants, however, tells a different story, according to Wharton management professor Marshall Meyer. Even China's entry into the World Trade Organization later this year or early in 2002 will not eradicate state ownership of major Chinese companies. Meyer shares the insights he has gained from research and visits with senior managers in more than 20 Chinese firms.
Note: CEO Refresher articles are no longer free...
Short article discusses 3 sales presentation tips and 3 common mistakes. You probably know these already but sometimes it's good to go back to basics.
