Articles

Chinese companies are increasingly investing in companies overseas. But to reach advantageous agreements with Chinese direct investors, Western managers need to prepare themselves for differences in negotiating style.

Identifying the optimal prices for products was once a time-consuming process. That’s changing as businesses start to take advantage of advances in machine learning, increases in computing speed, and greater availability of data.

Companies with rigorous compliance programs hope such programs will curtail employee wrongdoing. But to prevent employee misconduct, companies also need to understand how employees reach unethical decisions — and what affects their decision-making processes.

To reach its full potential, the popular innovation methodology must be more closely aligned with the realities and social dynamics of established businesses.

What distinguishes companies that have built advanced digital capabilities? The ability to collaborate. Research finds that a focus on collaboration — both with and without technology, both within organizations and with external partners and stakeholders — is central to how digitally advanced companies create business value and establish competitive advantage over less advanced rivals.

Large-scale, long-term projects are notoriously difficult to manage. But recent research on megaprojects — defined as projects costing more than $1 billion — reveals five lessons that can help executives manage any big, complex project more effectively.

Plummeting data acquisition costs have been a big part of the surge in business analytics. We have much richer samples of data to use for insight. But more data doesn’t inherently remove sampling bias; in fact, it may make it worse.

Customers’ or suppliers’ descriptions of what they need may provide design elements for your next new product. Companies should listen carefully and identify whether need statements have opportunities for innovation embedded in them.

Many executives don’t understand how to craft a compelling vision for change that will gain widespread commitment within their organization. Leaders should start by asking themselves: What will people see, hear, and feel once the changes have been achieved?

To gain competitive advantage from supply chain analytics, many companies need to reduce the time it takes to act on the insights those analytics generate.