Plotting the structure of industries across markets and geographies reveals a startling and increasing inequality in size and performance among even the largest companies.

What emerges is a “power curve” pattern characterized by a short “head,” comprising a few companies with extremely large incomes, and quickly dropping off to a long “tail” of significantly smaller competitors.

These power curves can be a useful diagnostic tool for understanding the structural dynamics of an industry and a company’s role and options in its evolution.

Many leaders fail to effectively tap in to the knowledge and experience of their team. Executive and leadership coach John M. McKee says this is like working with one hand tied behind the back. In this article, he shares questions any leader can use to improve results and morale.

The numbers don’t lie. Many top corporate managers are faced with the challenge of a post merger integration (PMI) at least once in their career. And empirical studies indicate that one of every two PMI efforts fares poorly.1 These statistics are particularly telling given that mergers and acquisitions have been a staple management instrument for almost a century now and that there has been growing professionalism in corporate M&A efforts over the last decade: practically every transaction is accompanied by due diligence, with the increased involvement of external specialists such as lawyers, auditors, tax consultants and investment bankers. Yet challenges with post merger integration are consistently high and the resultant threat to a company’s performance perhaps higher than it needs to be.

There are no hard and fast rules to ensure that a given merger will result in corporate wedded bliss. But we have found that quantitative analysis — something PMI managers have largely overlooked — can evoke both surprising questions and even more revelatory answers. Certain post merger integration scenarios, which we describe below, can create very difficult starting points for the companies and the managers involved. If a company faces one of the less favorable scenarios, it becomes doubly important to assess the likely causes of difficulty and to address these proactively and thoroughly.

In an empirical examination of one of the world’s largest PMI databases by the authors and the University of Muenster in Germany, a set of risk factors have emerged that are statistically significant — as opposed to just hearsay — in influencing PMI success, as defined by criteria described below. These factors also can be used to help determine the types of “risk profiles” that pertain to a merger, each profile having a unique statistical likelihood even before any integration measures have been implemented. Identifying the risk profiles before closing a deal is thus crucial.

Extrapolating from our quantitative analysis, certain PMI myths emerged that can influence both the effectiveness of the PMI process and the comparative difficulty in realizing the value of the merger – proposed or imminent. Using statistical analysis in an effort to minimize risks and discard outdated notions can help an organization stack their odds in favor of a more successful post merger integration.

McKinsey research identifies six management practices used by companies with high-performing supply chains, including segmenting supply chains to get control of complexity, applying lean tools, and tailoring supply networks to optimize service and costs. The findings have implications for executives in high tech, manufacturing and assembly, pharmaceutical, and retail industries.

The annual review from strategy+business: Clive Crook on The Meltdown, Charles Handy on Leadership, Phil Rosenzweig on Strategy, Ayesha Khanna and Parag Khanna on Globalization, Judith F. Samuelson on Management, Catharine P. Taylor on Marketing, Steven Levy on Technology, and James O’Toole on Biography.

This collection of articles explores many of the common people-related integration challenges organizations are likely to face during an M&A transaction, and offers recommendations to help executive leadership get it right for Day One and beyond. There are five sections:

Section 1: Due Diligence
Section 2: Integration Management
Section 3: Integration
Section 4: Post-Merger Integration
Section 5: Divestiture

This collection of articles explores many of the common people-related integration challenges organizations are likely to face during an M&A transaction, and offers recommendations to help executive leadership get it right for Day One and beyond. There are five sections:

Section 1: Due Diligence
Section 2: Integration Management
Section 3: Integration
Section 4: Post-Merger Integration
Section 5: Divestiture

Consumers are moving outside the purchasing funnel—changing the way they research and buy your products. If your marketing hasn’t changed in response, it should.

We all want and need creativity in our personal lives and at work. But how can we nurture, encourage and use creativity successfully? Patrick Harris offers some suggestions.

Although entrepreneurs provide the majority of jobs in the United States, little is known about what makes them tick. The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur fills in some gaps by providing insights into high-growth founders' motivations, their socio-economic, educational, and familial backgrounds, as well as their views on the factors determining the success of start-ups.

A team of researchers led by Vivek Wadhwa of Duke University, Raj Aggarwal of the University of Akron, Krisztina Holly of the University of Southern California, and Alex Salkever of Duke University surveyed 549 company founders of successful businesses in high-growth industries, including aerospace, defense, computing, electronics, and health care.

A major new study involving some 3,500 executives has highlighted the key skills that innovative and creative entrepreneurs need to develop. The six-year-long research into disruptive innovation by INSEAD professor Hal Gregersen, Jeffrey Dyer of Brigham Young University and Clayton Christensen of Harvard, outlines five 'discovery' skills you need. But, says Gregersen, you don’t have to be ‘great in everything.’

Businesses collect mountains of data and spend vast sums storing and protecting them. Yet excess data carry a steep price tag for storage, maintenance, and protection, and incalculable potential costs in terms of liability. Similarly, most companies guard their intellectual property at great expense. Yet many efforts to safeguard intellection property are ineffectual or even counterproductive – depressing the value of that which they hope to protect.

There are no guarantees when it comes to running a business. But the best entrepreneurs I know follow these guidelines.

The economic slump offers business leaders a chance to more effectively reward talented employees by emphasizing nonfinancial motivators rather than bonuses. A recent McKinsey survey indicates that executives find some nonmonetary rewards motivate employees better than cash bonuses do. See what they are, then let us know what's working in your organization.

The economic crisis has prompted many to call for a greater emphasis on studying the history of business and management. Morgen Witzel looks at the lessons that could be learned and why they are so important.

Should you join the millions of people every year who take the plunge and start their first ventures? Developed by Babson College professor Daniel Isenberg, this 20-question quiz on HBR.org takes just a few minutes to complete and might help you decide.

Companies increasingly rely on a relatively scarce resource to maintain their competitive edge: the people who are able to use statistics; rigorous quantitative or qualitative analysis; and information-modeling techniques to make business decisions. Or, in shorthand, “analytical talent.”

For business leaders, the importance of such people poses several challenges, but in our experience one question stands out: What’s the best way to organize analysts? Executives have to decide whether they should be centralized or decentralized; “charged out” to the rest of the business as consultants or be made available as a free resource; and where and to whom they should report. New Accenture research helps companies determine the optimal way to organize and retain their increasingly valuable analytical talent.

Venkatesh Rao tries to turn the lean startup conversation, anchored by Steve Blank’s book, The Four Steps to the Epiphany, into a self-administered inquisition. He offers a test, a round-up of the lean startup conversation, and a micro-riff on applying this to your life

Over the last 40 years, a gradual shift in the shape of winning and losing has been playing out. The best performing firms have seen their profitability surge. The worst performing are doing worse than ever. In the middle, however, performance is in decline even as the asset base controlled by ever more mediocre firms relegates ever greater quantities of assets to stagnation.

Risk-assessment processes typically expose only the most direct threats facing a company and neglect indirect ones that can have an equal or greater impact.

In recent years, many of the most significant corporate success stories have been because of IT innovations. Despite the gloomy economic mood, success stories like Amazon's Kindle demonstrate that the value of IT innovation has not diminished. In fact, leading executives understand that IT innovation is a major factor for their companies' bottom lines and future growth.

He can close, but how's his interpersonal sensitivity? A guide to screening sales candidates.

Jeffrey Pfeffer serves on a compensation committee and discovers first hand why the pay process is so dysfunctional.

Multinational corporations have a lot of good things going for them. They have built up a rich store of knowledge over the years, allowing their subsidiaries to share ideas and best practices in ways that smaller companies can only dream of. They also exploit their vast global reach and on-the-ground knowledge to sniff out new concepts or products being used by rival companies in other parts of the world. But these processes aren't always as successful as they could be. Felipe Monteiro, a Wharton professor of management whose recent research looks at how and when new knowledge gets the thumbs up within firms, explains why.