Fast/Forward


Book Description

A guide to the adhocracy form of business management and how it can foster a company’s success. The leading companies of the past twenty years have all harnessed the power of information to gain competitive advantage. But as access to big data becomes ubiquitous, it can no longer guarantee a leg up. Fast/Forward makes the case that we are entering a new era in which firms that understand the limits of 1s and 0s will take the lead. Whereas the industrial age saw the rise of bureaucracy, and the information age has been described as a meritocracy, we are witnessing the rise of adhocracy. In uncertain, rapidly-changing times, adhocracic organizations scan the horizon for winning opportunities. Then, instead of questing after more analysis, they respond with agility by making smart, intuitive decisions. Combining decisive action with emotional conviction, future-facing firms seize the day. Fast/Forward paints the big picture of a new approach to strategy and provides the necessary playbook to make your company fit for the future. Praise for Fast/Forward “Fast/Forward makes a compelling case for spontaneity, speed, and a willingness to lead with intuition. More importantly, it speaks to the leadership qualities required to implement its suggestions—providing practical ways to cultivate to those qualities.” —Jeffrey Pfeffer, Stanford University, author of Power: Why Some People Have It—and Others Don’t “[Birkinshaw and Ridderstråle] are on the right track: In an ever-faster, globalized world, companies not only need a compelling strategy, but also an adaptive and caring performance culture. To unleash their full ingenuity, we have to empower our colleagues to act like owners.” —Joe Kaeser, President and CEO, Siemens AG “Big data is oversold as the most important facet of competitive advantage. Rather, breakthrough leaps of faith are necessary to achieve extraordinary results. Fast-Forward is full of practical advice about how to capitalize on this simple idea in order to forge your corporate future.” —Anita McGahan, Rotman School of Management, author of How Industries Evolve




The Future of Competitive Strategy


Book Description

How legacy firms can combine their traditional strengths with the power of data and digital ecosystems to forge a new competitive strategy for the digital era. How can legacy firms remain relevant in the digital era? In The Future of Competitive Strategy, strategic management expert Mohan Subramaniam explains how firms can leverage both their traditional strengths and the modern-day power of data and digital ecosystems to forge a new competitive strategy. Drawing on the experiences of a range of companies, including Caterpillar, Sleep Number, and Whirlpool, he explains how firms can benefit from data’s enlarged role in modern business, develop digital ecosystems tailored to their unique business needs, and use new frameworks to harness the power of data for competitive advantage. Subramaniam presents digital ecosystems as a combination of production and consumption ecosystems, which can be used by legacy firms to unlock the value of data at various levels—from improving operational efficiencies to creating new data-driven services and transforming traditional products into digital platforms. He explores the ways sensors and the Internet of Things provide new kinds of customer data; presents the concept of digital competitors—other firms that have access to similar data; discusses the new digital capabilities that firms need to develop; and addresses privacy and security issues associated with data sharing. Who needs this book? Any firm that wants to revitalize traditional business models, offer a richer customer experience, and expand its competitive arena into new digital ecosystems.




The Big Four


Book Description

"Messrs. Gow and Kells have made an invaluable contribution, writing in an amused tone that nevertheless acknowledges the firms' immense power and the seriousness of their neglect of traditional responsibilities. 'The Big Four' will appeal to all those interested in the future of the profession--and of capitalism itself." —Jane Gleeson-White, Wall Street Journal With staffs that are collectively larger than the Russian army and combined revenues of over $130 billion a year, the Big Four accounting firms—Deloitte, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, and KPMG—are a keystone of global commerce. But leading scholar Ian Gow and award-winning author Stuart Kells warn that a house of cards may be about to fall. Stretching back to the Medicis in Renaissance Florence, this book is a fascinating story of wealth, power, and luck. The founders of the Big Four lived surprisingly colorful lives. Samuel Price, for example, married his own niece. Between the world wars, Nicholas Waterhouse collected postage stamps while also hosting decadent parties in his fashionable London home. All four firms have endured major calamities in recent decades. There have been hundreds of court cases and legal prosecutions for failed audits, tax scandals, and breaches of independence. The firms have come so close to “extinction level events” that regulators have required them to prepare “living wills.” And today, the Big Four face an uncertain future—thanks to their push into China, their vulnerability to digital disruption and competition, and the hazards of providing traditional services in a new era of transparency. This account of the past, present, and likely future of the Big Four is essential reading for anyone perplexed or fascinated by professional services, working or considering working in the industry, or simply curious about the fate of the global economy.




The Profit Paradox


Book Description

A pioneering account of the surging global tide of market power—and how it stifles workers around the world In an era of technological progress and easy communication, it might seem reasonable to assume that the world’s working people have never had it so good. But wages are stagnant and prices are rising, so that everything from a bottle of beer to a prosthetic hip costs more. Economist Jan Eeckhout shows how this is due to a small number of companies exploiting an unbridled rise in market power—the ability to set prices higher than they could in a properly functioning competitive marketplace. Drawing on his own groundbreaking research and telling the stories of common workers throughout, he demonstrates how market power has suffocated the world of work, and how, without better mechanisms to ensure competition, it could lead to disastrous market corrections and political turmoil. The Profit Paradox describes how, over the past forty years, a handful of companies have reaped most of the rewards of technological advancements—acquiring rivals, securing huge profits, and creating brutally unequal outcomes for workers. Instead of passing on the benefits of better technologies to consumers through lower prices, these “superstar” companies leverage new technologies to charge even higher prices. The consequences are already immense, from unnecessarily high prices for virtually everything, to fewer startups that can compete, to rising inequality and stagnating wages for most workers, to severely limited social mobility. A provocative investigation into how market power hurts average working people, The Profit Paradox also offers concrete solutions for fixing the problem and restoring a healthy economy.




Resources, Firms, and Strategies


Book Description

Strategic management has been increasingly characterized by an emphasis on core competences. Firms are advised to divest unrelated businesses and return to core business. Moreover, competitive advantage is now increasingly seen as a matter of efficiently deploying scarce knowledge resources to product markets. Much of this change in emphasis has occurred because of the emergence of a unified and rigorous approach to strategy, often called the resource-based approach. This Reader brings together extracts from the seminal articles that created this dominant perspective in strategic management. It includes the pioneering work of Selznick, Penrose, and Chandler and more recent writing by Wenerfelt, Barney, Teece, and Prahalad and Hamel.




Why Companies Fail


Book Description

From Debra Ann Hatten - The Christian Science Monitor (Eastern edition) This book, written for the nonfinancial reader, records conventional reasons for business failure: cash-flow problems, taking on too much debt, and starting out with too little capital. But it continues where other books may stop, pointing out to those who are nearly bankrupt how to avoid bankruptcy. It describes reorganization techniques that have pulled companies out of the holein recent years--such as refocusing market niches and converting debt into stock. The book uses minicases to illustrate these methods. The author also gives potential investors a score card to select potential turnaround companies when picking up the high-risk, high-yield bonds (not stocks) of near-bankrupt or bankrupt companies.




Resiliency Models and Addressing Future Risks for Family Firms in the Tourism Industry


Book Description

Family-owned and family-run firms, which are mostly small and medium-sized enterprises, are important when it comes to tourist destinations. It is therefore essential to understand how family firms address future risks and the challenges they face as part of the tourism industry. Since family businesses play such an important role for the entire tourism industry, it is worthwhile to analyze this business type when it comes to organizational resilience. Further, the development of practical solutions from field or case studies are beneficial for creating valuable learning effects for both firms and destinations alike. The examination of one risk scenario and its successful or missing management might be beneficial to create useful learning effects for the future. Therefore, it is essential to understand contemporary issues and future challenges of family firms in the hospitality/service industry and to examine different perspectives at an individual, firm, and destination management level. Resiliency Models and Addressing Future Risks for Family Firms in the Tourism Industry provides an in-depth examination of tourism family firms, since these firms are essential for supplying solutions for challenges such as dealing with uncertainty, becoming or remaining resilient, and creating sustainable tourism destinations. The chapters address the challenges of sustainability and resilience in an uncertain world and connects knowledge from family business research to tourism research, focusing on hospitality. Highlighted topics include organization ambidexterity, pandemic risk, firm management and leadership, and technology use in firm operations. This book is essential for family firms, hotel management, entrepreneurs, restaurateurs, tourism professionals, academicians, researchers, and students seeking the most advanced research on family firm’s resilience and risk management within the tourism industry.




Implementing Value Pricing


Book Description

Praise for IMPLEMENTING VALUE PRICING A Radical Business Model for Professional Firms "Ron Baker is the most prolific and best writer when it comes to pricing services. This is a must-read for executives and partners in small to large firms. Ron provides the basics, the advanced ideas, the workbooks, the case studies everything. This is a must-have and a terrific book." Reed K. Holden founder and CEO, Holden Advisors, Corp., Associate Professor, Columbia University www.holdenadvisors.com "We've known through Ron Baker's earlier books that he's not just an extraordinary thinker and truly brilliant writer he's a mover and a shaker on a mission. This is the End of Time! Brilliant." Paul Dunn Chairman, B1G1® www.b1g1.com "Implementing Value Pricing is a powerful blend of theory, strategy, and tactics. Ron Baker's most recent offering is ambitious in scope, exploring topics that include economic theory, customer orientation, value identification, service positioning, and pricing strategy. He weaves all of them together seamlessly, and includes numerous examples to illustrate his primary points. I have applied the knowledge I've gained from his body of work, and the benefits to me and to my customers have been immediate, significant, and ongoing." Brent Uren Principal, Valuation & Business Modeling Ernst & Young® www.ey.com "Ron Baker is a revolutionary. He is on a radical crusade to align the interests of service providers with those of their customers by having lawyers, accountants, and consultants charge based on the value they provide, rather than the effort it takes. Implementing Value Pricing is a manifesto that establishes a clear case for the revolution. It provides detailed guidance that includes not only strategies and tactics, but key predictive indicators for success. It is richly illustrated by the successes of firms that have embraced value-based pricing to make their services not only more cost-effective for their customers, but more profitable as well. The hallmark of a manifesto is an unyielding sense of purpose and a call to action. Let the revolution begin." Robert G. Cross, Chairman and CEO, Revenue Analytics, Inc. Author, Revenue Management: Hard-Core Tactics for Market Domination




Managing Allowance Prices in a Cap-and-trade Program


Book Description

Scientists generally conclude that rising concentrations of greenhouse gases are warming the Earth's climate. Concern about the damage that might result has led policymakers and analysts to consider policies designed to restrict emissions of those gases. One type of policy, a cap-and-trade program, could minimize the cost of achieving a limit, or cap, on emissions by allowing market forces to determine where, how, and to some extent when the cuts in emissions necessary to achieve the cap would be made. This Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study--prepared at the request of the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources--examines the potential effects of features that would help manage allowance prices, and thus the cost of complying with a cap-and-trade program, by altering the number of allowances available to firms at various prices--Preface.




Competing on the Edge


Book Description

In their startling new book, authors Brown and Eisenhardt contend that to prosper in today's fiercely competitive business environments, a new paradigm--competing on the edge--must be implemented as a new survival strategy. This book focuses on specific management dilemmas and illustrates solutions that work when the name of the game is change.