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Although IT portfolio management has been a best practice for some time, many companies still generate substandard returns from their IT investments. The authors note that investing the right amounts in the right IT asset classes is only the first step -- IT portfolio management techniques must be complemented by a suite of interlocking business practices and processes collectively labeled "IT savvy." The benefits of establishing such practices add up to a tangible IT savvy premium: The authors point to higher net profits and other performance gains for IT-savvy companies in the year following their investments in key IT asset categories. The article cites a range of organizations -- from 7-Eleven Japan and Amazon.com to Raytheon and Carlson Companies -- in which IT savvy is ingrained, informing many of the companies' business decisions and sharply focusing their IT investments. Starting with a refresher on the IT portfolio approach -- and noting best-practices portfolio players such as UPS, Eli Lilly and Mohegan Sun -- the authors draw on the findings of a multiyear survey to review the different IT assets in which companies invest before discussing the gap in IT investment returns that separates those with IT savvy from those without. They present five hallmarks of IT savvy and offer a series of practical suggestions for how managers can start to match IT savvy with the IT asset mix.

Companies deploying dishonest tactics toward customers, suppliers, distributors and others typically do so to increase short-term profits, and in that regard they might succeed. But the misconduct is likely to fuel social psychological processes within the organization that have the potential for ruinous fiscal outcomes, outweighing short-term gains. There are three types of consequences to organizational dishonesty: reputation degradation, (mis)matches between values of employees and the organization, and increased surveillance. These outcomes can lead to decreases in repeat business and job satisfaction -- and increases in worker turnover, employee theft and other hidden costs. These consequences will, like tumors, spread and eat progressively at the organization's health and vigor. They will also be difficult to identify through typical accounting methods and might lead to corrective efforts that overshoot the true causes of poor productivity and profitability. Without a thorough understanding of the three types of consequences, an organization could try to control one financial hemorrhage (for example, losses from employee theft) by creating another (namely, investments in increasingly expensive security systems).

As multinationals unrelentingly seek new growth to satisfy shareholders, they increasingly hear concerns from many quarters about environmental degradation, labor exploitation, cultural hegemony and local autonomy. What is to be done? Must corporations’ thirst for growth and profits serve only to exacerbate the antiglobalization movement? On the contrary, the authors say, a solution to this dilemma does exist. Companies can generate growth and satisfy social and environmental stakeholders through a “great leap” to the base of the economic pyramid, where 4 billion people aspire to join the market economy for the first time. This is not a question simply of doing the right thing in order to lift people out of poverty & #8212; although that will surely be a result of the leap the authors have in mind. From a senior executive’s point of view, it’s a matter of finding the most exciting growth markets of the future. It is also where the technologies that are needed to address the social and environmental challenges associated with economic growth can best be developed. The authors illustrate their point with examples of companies that are already profitably disrupting such industries as telecommunications, consumer electronics and energy production.

When consumers visit a retail Web site, how do they know that the information describing the products or services they want to buy is accurate and unbiased? How do they know that their order will be fulfilled correctly and on time or that their financial records, purchasing and Web-viewing habits will be protected from prying eyes? The answer is they often don't know. In most cases, consumers base their purchasing decisions largely on trust. As consumers become more savvy about the Internet, the authors contend that they will insist on doing business with Web companies they trust. As a result, trust will become the currency of the Internet. While the Internet enables consumers to research competing companies, products and services, most manufacturers design and deploy their Web sites as if such information were largely unavailable. They promote their products in a biased way -- using high-pressure sales tactics that do little to inspire trust -- while neglecting to provide consumers with the tools they need to make informed purchasing decisions. Some undermine trust by secretly collecting data about their customers' Web usage and selling it to third-party marketing firms. Others lose trust by failing to support their products or deliver them on time. Such sites rarely provide honest comparisons to competing products. Instead, customers must find the information themselves in order to make a sound decision, or they rely on brands they already trust. According to the authors, Web trust is built in a three-stage cumulative process that establishes (1) trust in the Internet and the specific Web site, (2) trust in the information displayed and (3) trust in delivery fulfillment and service. The authors review current trust-building practices used on the Web and propose the use of new, software-enabled advisors that engender trust by engaging customers in a dialogue to discern their needs and provide unbiased recommendations on a range of possible solutions. The authors tested their hypothesis by creating Truck Town, a Web site featuring software-enabled advisors that mimic the behavior of unbiased human experts. The advisors consult with customers on purchasing decisions, providing honest comparisons of competing products. More than 75% of Truck Town's visitors said that they trusted these virtual advisors more than the dealer from whom they last purchased a vehicle. According to the authors, Truck Town shows that virtual advisors can be a cost-effective component in any Internet trust-building program. The companies that earn real profits in the world of Internet marketing will be trust generators selling products that deliver the best value in a complete, unbiased, competitive comparison.

To survive today, firms must become adept at developing products that deliver the quality and functionality that customers demand while generating the desired profits. To ensure that products are sufficiently profitable when launched, many firms subject them to target costing, a profit management technique. The authors studied the mature, highly effective target costing systems of seven Japanese companies and documented their costing procedures. Although practices differ among these firms, the authors identified an underlying generic approach for implementing target costing systems. A highly disciplined process, effective target costing comprises the following facets that the authors discuss in detail: -- Market-driven costing consists of three companywide tasks -- setting the company's long-term sales and profit objectives, structuring product lines to achieve maximum profitability, and establishing a product's target selling price -- and two steps applicable to new products -- setting a target profit margin consistent with the company's long-term profit objectives and computing the product's allowable cost (by subtracting the target profit margin from the target selling price). -- Product-level target costing comprises setting a reasonably achievable product-level target cost, imposing discipline upon the development process to attain the target cost (whenever feasible), and achieving the cost goal without sacrificing functionality and quality (primarily through value engineering and other engineering-based cost reduction techniques). -- Component-level target costing includes decomposing the product-level target cost to the major functions or subassemblies (e.g., in a car, the engine, transmission, cooling system, air conditioning system, and audio system), setting component-level target costs, and managing suppliers (clearly conveying to them the competitive cost pressures facing the lean enterprise). The cardinal rule of the companies studied is: "Never exceed the target cost." They enforce this rule in three ways -- by offsetting design improvements that result in increased costs with savings elsewhere in the design, by not launching products that exceed the target cost, and by carefully managing the transition to manufacturing in order to achieve the target cost.

Are rebounding U.S. corporate profits causing managers to be complacent about the Japanese competitive challenge? Is the world market share of Japanese industry really shrinking? According to this author, it's too soon to count the Japanese out. Using company data, he has tracked changes in world market shares in various industries since the 1960s. The results of his survey suggest that the current U.S. response to the Japanese global challenge is inappropriate and that managers should reexamine their efforts to position their companies in world markets.

How will future traffic on the information superhighway affect each segment of an industry value chain? Will electronic markets provide new areas of opportunity for retailers, producers, and consumers as well? The authors suggest that the NII, or national infrastructure, will give consumers increased access to a vast selection of goods but will cause a restructuring and redistribution of profits among the stakeholders along the chain. There will also be an evolution from single-source sales channels to electronic markets. And electronic markets may lower coordination costs for producers and retailers, lower physical distribution costs, or eliminate retailers and wholesalers entirely, as consumers directly access manufacturers. Consumers' full access to the market will also be an issue that policymakers need to explore.

Private labels or store brands are an important source of profits for retailers and a formidable source of competition for national brand manufacturers. Market share of private labels, however, varies dramatically across categories. The authors propose and test a framework to explain this variation in order to understand the determinants of private label success in the U.S. supermarket industry. They find that private labels perform better in large categories offering high margins. Private labels also do better when competing against fewer national manufacturers who spend less on national advertising. Surprisingly, high quality is much more important than lower cost.

Most managers recognize that good service is a direct result of having effective, productive people in customer contact positions. You need winners at the front lines, not just warm bodies. But most service companies perpetuate a cycle of failure by tolerating high turnover and expecting employee dissatisfaction. Schlesinger and Heskett explore the reasons that so many managers have trouble breaking this cycle. They spotlight a number of companies that are developing winning customer service teams, including one that pays twice the industry average to its front-line employees while its sales and profits have soared. Instead of submitting to the cycle of failure, they argue, managers should take advantage of ways to break it, and get their organizations onto the cycle of success.

The drive for short-term profits need not derail a firm's research and development programs, say the authors. By managing technology effectively, executives can ensure that their company's R&;D program focuses on developing technologies that support its product and marketing strategy. While radically new products may seize the public's imagination, making incremental improvements in existing product lines and adapting old products for new markets are always less risky and often more profitable.