The hidden beauty of hitting singles - how modest new product development can quickly pay off
LinkedIn
October 26, 2018
Many small or medium companies (SMEs) were built on a few – sometimes only one – core products. Typically the founders started with a particular market segment that they understood well, and then developed an offering that met a clear need in that segment. Over time, the company expanded its geographical reach, and increased the number of product flavors, without necessarily developing any truly new product. Sometimes they acquired another small company to add an adjacent product line, or to enlarge their geographical footprint.
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Tags: Innovation, IoT, Management
How to get good ideas from your team members
linkedin
June 12, 2017
A culture of innovation needs a flourishing democracy of ideas. This means that in an organization everyone’s ideas should be valued.. and welcomed.
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Tags: Innovation, Business Strategy, Diversity and Inclusion
Are you using advanced analytics to innovate? If not, why not? If you do, how is it going?
LinkedIn
February 08, 2017
Over 50% of manufacturing executives say advanced analytics will drive major changes in how their industry innovates. If you are responsible for R&D, innovation or product management in a manufacturing company anywhere in the world, we want to hear from you too. TAKE THE SURVEY.
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Tags: Innovation, FinTech, Management
10 Ethical Imperatives for Companies
LinkedIn
December 15, 2016
10 Ethical Imperatives for companies
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Tags: Innovation, Business Strategy
What a tangled web we weave...
LinkedIn
October 26, 2016
We just got a biological explanation for why small lies lead to big lies: Our brains get desensitized by every lie we tell.
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Tags: Innovation, FinTech, Business Strategy
Organizing R&D for the Future
MIT Sloan Management Review
March 19, 2013
Executives from around the world agree that research and development is a global effort requiring collaboration. Yet many say their organizations must improve in this area — evolving from the predominantly centralized approach that’s prevalent today — to meet strategic goals. In other words, for today’s R&D organizations, there is a significant gap between knowing what to do and actually doing it.
In a 2012 McKinsey survey on R&D, we surveyed 1,283 executives representing a range of regions, industries, functional specialties, tenures and company sizes. (Note: To adjust for differences in response rates in different countries, the data were weighted by the contribution of each respondent’s nation to global GDP.) A vast majority of the executives surveyed — 80% — believed that the best way organizations can position themselves to meet goals is by establishing satellite units that operate — and collaborate — as a network. But only 63% of respondents said that their R&D organizations already include satellites.
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Tags: Business Strategy, HR, Management
R&D strategies in emerging economies: results from the McKinsey global survey
Research-Technology Management. Vol.54, No.4
July 01, 2011
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Tags: Business Strategy, HR, Management
Making Money: The History and Future of Society's Greatest Technology
De Gruyter
January 21, 2020
How much do you really know about money?
Everyone uses it, but few know how it really works. Most books about money focus on specific aspects. This book breaks through the usual silos to present money as a broad social technology that serves the current needs of society. It reviews the latest developments in financial technology including cryptocurrency, blockchain, and the prospect of a cashless future; and clears up many misconceptions in the process.
Starting with a very brief history, the authors provide insights on how money is made; why money has value and what can change its value; how central banks, treasuries, foreign exchange, lending, and blockchain work; why you may be trading against robots; and privacy and security issues in an increasingly cashless society that will change our lives. While written for a broad audience, this book is also essential reading for students entering courses in the area of business finance, or money and banking.
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Tags: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, FinTech
Profit with a Higher Purpose: A Christian Guide to Business Leadership
CreateSpace
March 08, 2017
How can traditional Christian teachings help business leaders to align their daily business decisions more closely with their faith and thereby contribute to a transformation of the business world into one that is more people-centric than profit-centric? That's what Peet van Biljon and James C Sprouse address in their new book.
Business decisions greatly affect the lives of employees, customers, suppliers, and society at large. In pursuit of profits, businesses may underpay and overwork employees, use unethical sales techniques, sell dangerous products to vulnerable consumers, cut costs so it harms people, and take other questionable actions that while legal, do not conform to Christian values.
It doesn't have to be this way. In this new guide you will learn and be challenged to make better choices based on Biblical values. By placing detailed analyses of core business practices side by side with Biblical texts and guidance, this book identifies many potential areas for improvement.
Whether it is providing a framework to navigate the challenges of automation and globalization, or advocating for fair employee compensation, Profit with a Higher Purpose connects the world of modern business with that of faith.
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Tags: CSR, Future of Work, Health and Wellness
A balanced set of business objectives to achieve corporate social responsibility and structures for educating business leaders
Information Age Publishing
May 09, 2018
Knowing one’s purpose in life is a powerful guiding device for all humans and just as applicable to human institutions, including for-profit corporations. The evidence suggests that corporations succeed over the long run if they are guided by a nobler purpose than making money. It is the responsibility of the board to articulate an appropriate corporate purpose and to ensure that is implemented. Such a higher purpose always needs to be stated in terms of the benefits to various stakeholder groups (that are
all persons with human dignity). This is the basis of all true CSR initiatives. To succeed, however, CSR needs to be fully integrated into core corporate processes and associated KPIs. The tried and tested balanced scorecard approach can easily be adapted for this purpose.
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Tags: CSR