We do not know one millionth of one percent about anything," said Thomas Alva Edison who probably wouldn't have appreciated Professor Davenport's observation that the most valuable asset companies have is the knowledge of their employees. More than ever, companies are realizing that their real advantage lies in what they know. But how do you manage knowledge?

Enunciating 10 principles of knowledge management, Professor Davenport establishes a framework which senior company executives can use to govern their approach to knowledge. He also uses the Hewlett-Packard Company, in an accompanying case study, to illustrate how rapidly the knowledge management concept can spread throughout a company even without a top-down mandate.

Note: CEO Refresher articles are no longer free...

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Many US companies already market their products or services internationally. However, today's competitive global business environment demands that all companies, large and small, new and old, give consideration to the strategic option of expanding their markets to other nations. This option can hold the potential for increased competitiveness and step-change increases in revenue and therefore cannot be ignored.

Those companies that have a well-established international presence are able to use their in-house resources, developed from many years of experience, to generate revenue from international markets. However, other, often smaller and more recently formed companies may lack this history and experience. As important, they may also lack resources such as international branch offices, ex-patriot personnel or in-house experts with an understanding of markets and business practices in specific countries.

One approach to filling this gap is to form an alliance relationship with a "partner" company that already has an established presence in a market region outside the US.

Jonathan Byrnes says you should invite your best suppliers to suggest innovative ways to develop new customer-supplier business efficiencies.

Decades of regulatory policy swings and a bewildering array of business models have created a Utilities sector that defies a simple interpretation of performance. Understanding this complex industry requires both historical and forward-looking analyses.

Marketers rely too much on intuition. The key to building brands more scientifically is to combine a forward-looking market segmentation with a better understanding of customers and a brand's identity.

Editor's Note: discusses Pathway modeling as an improvement/alternative to techniques like conjoint analysis...

Your foot is in the door. Here's how to manuever around the first days at your new job -- without falling on your face

Companies can do much to avoid falling victim to sudden national financial emergencies. Although the tally of such events is rising, many businesses remain unprepared for them.

To maximize the return on this massive software investment, plenty of planning is needed, even if you've been using ERP for years.

As business-process outsourcing takes hold, the provider landscape is shifting and so is the way outsourcing decisions are made. CIOs must consider: What's the key value proposition and what differentiates my business from that of competitors?

A service-oriented achitecture (SOA) can enable innovation and ease complexity.

Formulas used by consultants and ratings services that assign single numbers or grades to a company's corporate governance practices don't work, suggest three Wharton professors in a new paper entitled, "Does Corporate Governance Really Matter?" Yes, it matters, the authors say, but what also matters is how performance is measured. Companies and their situations are too diverse to be shoehorned into simple scorecards. As one researcher notes, "The recipe book is big, and there's a different recipe for each company."

"For six years, my research team at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business carried out an extensive investigation of business breakdowns---not just missteps, but major business failures...At almost every one of the 51 companies we investigated, we were able to interview people who could give us firsthand accounts of what happened. In all we conducted 197 interviews of CEOs, former CEOs, other top executives, and midlevel managers.

We discovered that precipitous business failures are caused by four destructive patterns of behavior that set in, without anyone noticing them, well before a business goes under:
- Flawed executive mind-sets that throw off a company's perception of reality
- Delusional attitudes that keep this inaccurate picture of reality in place
- Breakdowns in communication systems that were developed to handle potentially urgent information
- Leadership qualities that keep a company's executives from correcting their course"

When companies retain consultants to help implement strategic initiatives, they often fall into the trap of giving up too much control and overpaying for solutions that don't work. Here's how to strengthen consulting engagements and get your money's worth out of expensive hired muscle.

The team at the top may be the most difficult to manage and lead. Rivalries, strong personalities and different notions of the future make it a tough job indeed. But if the teams are structured right, they can be of immense value to the company.

Employees may not make good owners after all! Faleye,Mehrotra,and Morck study firms where there are large blocks of employee owned shares that ARE VOTED. Their findings may surprise some people: "Relative to otherwise similar firms, labor-controlled publicly traded firms invest less, take fewer risks, grow more slowly, create fewer new jobs, have worse free cash flow problems, and exhibit lower labor and total factor productivity." [FinanceProfessor.com Annotation]

Grow or die - it's a call to arms spreading throughout America's corporations. Growth is appearing at the top of many management meeting agendas. It's prominently featured in glossy annual reports and confidential strategic plans. It's optimistically discussed with investment analysts. Its pros and cons are debated around the water cooler and on e-mail.

This article, excerpted from the book Go for Growth! Five Paths to Profit and Success - Choose the Right One for You and Your Company, looks at the benefits of growth, the new rules for growth, and five ways a business can grow successfully.

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.

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New case studies in Denmark highlight the value which is lost when managers fail to tackle the human challenge of the corporate intranet.

You've invested heavily in technology, but where is the payoff? This excerpt from IT Governance, a new book published by HBS Press, distills keys to creating greater value from IT.

Note: CEO Refresher articles are no longer free...

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Dr. Michael Leiter, director of the Centre for Organizational Research and Development (COR&D) at Acadia University, says that there are things that management can do to help reduce stress in the workplace. He identifies six areas of worklife that need to be in balance in order to help avoid workplace stress and build engagement with work: workload, sense of community, control, reward, values and fairness.

Ripplewood and others are shaking up a traditionally closed market.

Recent scandals at family-held companies such as Parmalat, Hollinger and Adelphia reinforce a common misperception that family firms operate at a disadvantage to other companies. Bain & Company's Robin Buchanan, Cyrus Jilla and Martha Stack explain what sets the best of family firms apart from the rest.

Companies are awash in cash. When will they finally start spending it?

Editor's Note: includes the 2004 Cash Management tables, a cash management scorecard that shows the companies in 37 industries with the least and most excess cash per sales.

Note: TWM articles ARE still available BUT: (1) you must be a member (free for existing members, not free for new members)   (2) you must be logged-in for the link to work. If you get an error page, visit the homepage, login and then try the link again.

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This article classifies customers into three categories: The Lordly Ones, The Logical Ones, and The Friendly Ones. If you can read what sort of customer you are faced with, you may be able to respond to them in an appropriate way - which will make them happier and come back to buy more.

It's good to take risks - if you manage them well.

Financial reporting is under a magnifying glass, but many companies still integrate treasury data from different banks manually, leading to inaccuracies that impede compliance.

Editor's Note: see related articles
"Perfect Treasury For an Imperfect World"
http://www.mbadepot.com/redir.php?ID=3438&db_table=links

"The Bank Cash/Book Cash Disconnect"
http://www.mbadepot.com/redir.php?ID=3367&db_table=links

"The Global Treasury Squeeze"
http://www.mbadepot.com/redir.php?ID=2805&db_table=links

"So Many Countries, So Few GTCs"
http://www.mbadepot.com/redir.php?ID=1556&db_table=links