Business Leadership
Staying Ahead Of Global, Technology Changes

ONLINE ONLY: Is that the ground shifting under our feet? A.T. Kearney released a study in February 2005 warning executives of high-tech technology companies of changes on the playing field of global competitiveness. The changes relate to both global and historical shifts. New competitors from China, India, and Korea are coming onto the scene, and for the first time, consumer electronics—measured by chip sales—is driving innovation and sales in the computer industry more than IT is.

The Value Of 'Moving Atoms'
By Robert B. Carter, executive VP and CIO at FedEx
The digitization of old processes and the creation of new processes that leverage powerful software, ubiquitous networks, and hardware have turbo-charged and globalized commerce. But the next step in the evolution of commerce will come from the realization that the definition of the term "value" is being rewritten.

Business Management
The Never-Ending Program Management Office
By Chris Curran
By definition, a program has a beginning, a middle, and an end. Unfortunately, many IT companies set up program management offices as ongoing concerns--which misses the point, wastes precious resources, and undermines the CIO's credibility. DiamondCluster CTO Chris Curran talks about what's really necessary.

A Strategic Look At Strategy Execution

In his new book Making Strategy Work Wharton Professor Lawrence Hrebiniak says that many of today's top executives are far better at developing strategy than executing it and overcoming the political and organizational obstacles that stand in their way. Here's how he recommends CIOs overcome the obstacles to execution.

Corporate Culture
Motherhood And Leadership

ONLINE ONLY: You could safely invite both Harvard president Lawrence Summers and author Moe Grzelakowski to the same dinner party, because they agree that men and women are different. In a new book coming out this month, Grzelakowski postulates that motherhood makes a woman a better manager.

Dealing With Breakups And Breakdowns

ONLINE ONLY: Ian Mitroff is a professional pessimist. He believes that in this age of terror, cyberattacks, and fraud, corporate crisis is no longer a question of if, but when. But he also believes that companies can survive disaster if they're properly proactive, and such preparation and knowledge will give them a competitive advantage.

How Management Destroys Employee Enthusiasm

ONLINE ONLY: What happens between the first optimistic day on any job and the epiphany some six months later that the position isn't everything it was cracked up to be? You don’t change, but your perspective does. And what changes your perspective? According to David Sirota, an industrial psychologist whose career started with IBM in 1960, it’s management.

Drawing The Line On Fiefdoms
By Robert Herbold
Turf wars, left unfettered, cause companies more damage than economic downturns, management upheavals, or global business shifts. Here's how one executive fixed his company's problems.

Customer Relationships
Airlines Navigate Cyberspace
By Howard Baldwin
ONLINE ONLY: The airline industry treats its online customers better than most companies, according to a recent survey by the Customer Respect Group. The airlines scored above average, which is important for the financially strapped industry. The travel industry as a whole, however, has some work to do in terms of making data easy to find and responding to queries.

Who Knows The Customer Best?
By Jeffrey F. Rayport
Without appropriate interfaces or touch points to make offerings and operations navigable to customers, a company more closely resembles DOS than Windows, or recalls the Internet before the advent of the World Wide Web. This forces customers to navigate a set of systems and subsystems, labor to penetrate the code of the internal organization, and invest a great deal of effort just to get the product or service they want.

Technology Innovation
Canadian Tire's Engine For Growth
By Patrick Sinnott, senior VP of supply chain
The company's supply chain, like many North American retailers, has undergone transformational changes to respond to growth, technological developments, and the need to improve efficiency. Our approach was to benchmark processes and performance, and then to fundamentally rethink core processes and how we move product.

Global Issues
Shining Light On Privacy Policies
By Rusty Weston and Keith Dawson
Business and consumer customers are both dissatisfied with and wary of offshore call centers, according to a new Managing Offshore and Call Center Magazine study. Managing Offshore editor Rusty Weston and Call Center editor Keith Dawson team up to analyze the implications of the data for global-sourcing companies.

China Eyes IT Services

If Henry Luce were alive, he would undoubtedly label this the Asian Century, just as he deemed the 20th century the American Century. The big driver is China, enticing because of its low-cost labor, which is poised to burst into a consuming middle class tomorrow. It's a bustling economy, with business startups, manufacturing contracts, and even IT outsourcing. Yes, IT services. According to a recently completed survey by McKinsey, China's success could soon mean it'll compete with India in software outsourcing.

ROI Valuation
Customization Goes Into Overdrive
By Beth Cohen, Peter Sorrentino, and Walt DuLaney
To take advantage of microcustomization, a CIO needs to look at the target market, business processes, and IT infrastructure to determine whether existing systems can be used or major investments will be required to implement the strategy. The challenge is educating peers and recruiting supporters for specific opportunities, and leveraging systems, without overselling the immediate impact of the overall microcustomization strategy.