Center For Digital Strategies

Health-Care Industry: Heal Thyself

Wall Street Journal

Many would say that controlling costs is the toughest challenge facing the U.S. health-care industry. But safeguarding patient information in a digital world isn't proving to be much easier. More ›

Topics: Healthcare IT & Ops, Inadvertent Data Disclosure

The Impact of Technology Mega-Trends on Corporate IT and Business Models

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

CIOs gathered to discuss the major information technology trends of the next decade, the impact of these trends on organizations and operations, the new business models that will be created and/or required, and what actions companies can (or must!) take in order to be prepared.

Overview (121KB)

Topics: Big Data, Cloud Computing, Consumerization of IT, Mobile, Social Media

A Better Way to Battle Malware

Tim Laseter

M. Eric Johnson
strategy + business

Emulating the methods used to transform production quality could clean up the Internet and might even pay for itself. More ›

Article (347KB)

Topics: Information Security, Internet / Connectivity, Strategy

The Human Element

M. Eric Johnson
Tuck Today

Forget technology. It's people that are keeping information security professionals up at night, says professor Eric Johnson. We are connected. The number of devices accessing the Internet today easily exceeds the world's population and will likely reach 50 billion by the end of the decade. This connectivity has transformed how we do business and the way we live, but it also has a dark side. With trillions of emails, instant messages, and social media posts floating around in cyberspace, information is now harder than ever to protect. More ›

Topics: Culture, Information Security

Human Behavior and Security Culture - America

M. Eric Johnson, Jeff Moag
CISO Information Security Workshop Publication

A workshop for information security executives convened to examine information security risks and challenges posed by human behavior. The workshop included security leaders from Automatic Data Processing, Inc., Bechtel, Cigna, Cisco, Colgate-Palmolive, Eastman Chemical Company, eBay, General Dynamics, Goldman Sachs, L.L. Bean, the MITRE Corporation, Providence Health & Services, Praxair, Staples, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Stream Global Services, Time Inc., and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, as well as academics from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. 

Human Behavior and Security Culture (279K)

Topics: Culture, Data, Information Security

Business Intelligence and Analytics

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

Leaders from ABB, BMW, Deloitte, Hilti, Holcim, Lloyd’s Banking, Nestlé, Misys and Tetra Pak met to share experiences, strategies, and best practices in Business Intelligence and Analytics.

Overview in PDF Format (180K)

Topics: Controls / Metrics, Data, Strategy

Human Behavior and Security Culture - Europe

Jeff Moag

Hans Brechbühl, Tim Paradis
CISO Information Security Workshop Publication

A workshop for European information security executives convened June 20–21, 2011 to examine information security risks and challenges posed by human behavior. The workshop included security leaders from ABB, adidas, Cisco Systems, Clariant, Deloitte, Hilti, Holcim, the NATO Communication and Information Systems Services Agency, Nestlé, Nokia, Siemens, Swiss Re, Tetra Pak, Thomson Reuters, the Swiss Federal Office of Information Technology, Systems and Telecommunication, TÜV Rheinland, and UBS, as well as academics from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and the University of St. Gallen.

Overview (298K)

Topics: Culture, Data, Information Security

The Business of Social: Engagement, Innovation and Collaboration

Tim Paradis
Britt Technology Impact Series Written Overview

Social networking technology is one of the most important communication conduits to arise since the mobile phone. This new means of communication is redefining how consumers reveal the details of their lives and what it means to connect with others. The instant sharing of news and information with these always-on networks is shifting culture: The chatter through platforms like Facebook and Twitter boosts the prominence of personal narratives and makes users’ lives more open for others to see. These digital personal networks are in many ways like having a group of friends, relatives and others in the next room waiting to react to both the profound and the trivial aspects of someone’s life. Enterprises, too, are crowding into the room. They are carving out footholds in social networks as they construct new ways of communicating. Workers are using wikis, corporations are blogging and global brands are looking for Facebook “likes.” While social is pervasive in the lives of consumers, the answers as to how enterprises can succeed in this new world are still emerging. There are big questions about how to best incorporate social tools and how to profit from them.

Overview in PDF Format (1.34MB)

Topics: Social Media

Enabling Innovation

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

In this U.S. roundtable, participants discussed how companies can maximize the chance that their new product and business launches succeed. 

Overview in PDF Format (157K)

Topics: Innovation

Performance by Design: People, Process and Technology

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

CIOs from Bechtel, Hilti, Tetra Pak, BMW, Eastman Chemical, Nestlé and ABB considered the evolution of process thinking and best practices for driving process transformation. Their findings are offered in this overview.

Overview in PDF Format (129K)

Topics: Change, Performance, Technology

Business Intelligence and Analytics

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

 The U.S. Chapter convened for a discussion of innovations and best practices in business intelligence and analytics, as a basis to deliver customer insight, service and operating performance.  We offer the findings from this discussion in this Overview.

Overview in PDF Format (166K)

Topics: Controls / Metrics

Customer Experience and the Customer-Focused Organization

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

CIOs from ABB, BT, BMW, Credit Suisse, DHL, Hilti, Erste Holcim, Nestlé and Novartis joined executives and academics in Vevey, Switzerland to discuss the role of IT in relation to customer experience in today's marketplace. The key learnings gleaned at this discussion are offered in this overview. 

Overview in PDF Format (144K)

Topics: Customer, Organization

Mobile Strategy, Technology, Entertainment and Innovation

Britt Technology Impact Series Written Overview

The world’s love affair with mobile devices and services is growing at an incredible pace. Although experts have been predicting a mobile revolution for years, it is only now becoming real with the emergence of new devices and technologies capable of providing more engaging, media-rich experiences virtually anytime and anywhere.

Overview in PDF Format (1.32MB)

Topics: Innovation, Mobile

Technology, Transformation, and Collaborative Leadership

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

Experience the findings from this roundtable. CIOs and other senior execs from Blockbuster, Chevron, DISA, Eastman Chemical, Eaton, Thomson Reuters, Time Warner Cable, Sysco and Waste Managment were joined by academics from Tuck and the University of Texas at Austin for this day long discussion. 

Overview in PDF Format (366K)

Topics: Leadership, Technology

Global Supply Chain Management: Shifting Strategies

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

The U.S. and European Chapters convened to discuss challenges and new strategies in global supply chain management, given the financial and economic volatility being felt around the world. This overview offers the key findings from the discussion.

Overview in PDF Format (283K)

Topics: Change, Globalization, Strategy, Supply Chain

Reframing Your Business Equation

M. Eric Johnson, Laseter, Tim
Strategy + Business

Companies and industries are often driven by implicit formulas. Questioning their validity can lead to breakthroughs. 

PDF Format (109K)

Topics: Change, Operations, Strategy

Assessing Risk in Turbulent Times

M. Eric Johnson, Moag, Jeff
Workshop for Information Security Executives

This workshop for information security executives was hosted by the Institute for Information Infrastructure Protection (I3P) and the Tuck School of Business’s Center for Digital Strategies, both at Dartmouth College.

Overview in PDF Format (359K)

Topics: Controls / Metrics, Information Security, Information Technology, Organization, Strategy

Leading the IT Organization of the Future (Europe)

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

CIOs were joined by key direct reports for this discussion on the future and the trends including the recession. The findings from their day-long discussion are offered in this written overview.

Overview in PDF Format (328K)

Topics: Information Technology, Leadership

VIDEO: Winning the Battle for People, Platforms & Profits

Britt Technology Impact Series Written Overview

Americans are passionate about watching video content in all forms whether it’s a blockbuster film, dramatic series, documentary, sitcom, or funny clip on YouTube.com. So, when it comes to the business of video, who is winning the battle for people, platforms and profits?

Overview in PDF Format (2.55MB)

Topics: Video

Leading the IT Organization of the Future (U.S.)

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

The day-long discussion focused on the IT organization of the future and the trends, including the current recession, that are influencing its likely development. Key learnings are offered in this written overview.

Overview in PDF Format (312K)

Topics: Information Technology, Leadership

How to Make Dealerships Strong

M. Eric Johnson, Robert Batt
Wall Street Journal

Companies can pull out of downturns, strengthen their competitive advantage and position themselves for growth with three simple steps that we have identified through three years of interviews and field research.  More ›

Topics: Corporate Communications

Global Talent and the Next Generation Workforce

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

CIOs and other senior execs from 3M, Bechtel, DISA, Eastman, Eaton, GM, ING, and Save the Children were joined by academics from Tuck, Duke, and Rutgers for this roundtable. Experience their findings and learnings in this written overview.

Overview in PDF Format (118K)

Topics: Emerging Markets, Globalization, Human Resources

M&A and Divestitures: Integration and Disintegration

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

Members of the U.S. and European Roundtable Chapters met separately to discuss key drivers of M&A or divestiture activity in the last couple years. Each chapter looked at the different approaches to integration depending on the type of acquisition, and considerations for disentanglement in a divestiture. Experience their findings in these written overviews.

U.S. Chapter Discussion in PDF Format (230K)
European Chapter Discussion in PDF Format (176K)

Topics: Emerging Markets, Human Resources, Mergers & Acquisitions, Strategy

Competitive Strategy

Quintus Jett

, David F. Pyke, M. Eric Johnson
Minority Business Entrepreneur

Global outsourcing has no doubt changed the game. The increased use of low-cost, foreign suppliers is a major shift in business. This article shows minority and women business owners how helping buyers overcome the fear factors of outsourcing can be an opportunity for value creation. 

Article in PDF Format (118K)

Topics: Strategy

Security through Information Risk Management

A Workshop for Information Security Executives, 2007

Protecting against economically-driven threats requires building security into the culture so that everyone can recognize the risks. This article looks at the role of CISOs and directors of information security in building a secure organization. 

Overview in PDF Format (308K)

Topics: Information Security, Risk

Using and Stewarding Customer Data

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

How has the view of the use of customer data changed in the last few years? This written overview looks at strategies for meeting and exceeding customer expectations with data use. 

Overview in PDF Format (215K)

Topics: Customer, Data, Governance, Information Security, Privacy

Mastering the Supply Chain

, David F. Pyke, Quintus Jett, M. Eric Johnson
Minority Business Entrepreneur

Supply chain management is the new critical competence for minority- and woman-owned businesses. This article set out to develop a road map for the mastery of the supply chain. 

Article in PDF Format (900K)

Topics: Supply Chain

Web 2.0 and the Corporation

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

How will Web 2.0 enable global collaboration and influence marketing and consumer engagement? Experience the written overview as it looks at Web 2.0s impact on corporate communications and human resources, and the governance challenges for corporations. 

Overview in PDF Format (125K)

Topics: Controls / Metrics, Corporate Communications, Customer, Information Technology, Marketing, Risk, Technology

Delight or Despair

M. Eric Johnson
MIT Sloan Management Review

The ability to harness customer data is proving to be a significant source of competitive advantage for service industries. Customers will readily share information when they see firms using data to enhance their experiences. But data-driven interactions can easily cross the line from customer delight into customer despair. Oftentimes this despair is caused by one of three common pitfalls. 

Article in PDF Format (572K)

Topics: Customer, Data

Developing Railroad Security

Charles H. White, Jr. (T'68)
Institute for Supply Management

Rail traffic is increasingly a target of choice for organized and careful terrorists. Read about what could be done.

Article in PDF Format (101K)

Topics: Operations, Strategy

The Agile and Resilient Enterprise

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

The Roundtable on Digital Strategies convened for a discussion on building agility and resilience in anticipation of unexpected business disruptions. How are companiesapproaching risk assessment, planning, preparedness and disaster response? What can be done to build resilience into enterprises’ DNA? The sessions included academics and business leaders from Bechtel, Canadian Pacific Railway, Eaton, The Georgia Institute of Technology, Hasbro, IBM, ING, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, SYSCO, and the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. Experience their findings and learnings in this written overview.

Overview in PDF Format (240K)

Topics: Change, Corporate Communications, Entrepreneurship, Globalization, Information Technology, Leadership, Organization, Risk, Strategy

Minority Business Enterprises Mastering the Supply Chain

M. Eric Johnson, Professor David F. Pyke
MED Week Conference Paper

This paper sets forth the business case for how Minority Business Owner's can grow their companies, and cope with the challenges of national and global competition, through their participation and mastery of supply chain strategies.This project was funded by a grant from the US Small Business Administration.

Article in PDF Format (361K)

Topics: Operations, Organization, Strategy

Conducting Business in Emerging Markets

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

Experience the findings and learnings of this roundtable in the written overview. Members focused on effective strategies for developing and leveraging a presence in emerging markets, successful solutions for the inherent organizational issues encountered, and potential efficiencies to be gained from shared services centers of all stripes. While the discussion was on emerging markets as a whole, there was particular focus on Central & Eastern Europe given the location. The sessions included academics and business leaders from A.T. Kearney, Cargill, Cisco Systems, DHL, Egon Zehnder, Erste Bank Group, General Motors, Hasbro, Henkel, IBM, University of Michigan, and the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Overview in PDF Format (296K)

Topics: Emerging Markets, Globalization, Human Resources, Information Technology, International, Operations, Organization, Strategy

Product Design Collaboration

M. Eric Johnson

Outsourcing has transformed supply chain dynamics in the apparel industry. Adversarial relationships were unsustainable, and collaboration was the only way to maintain profitability.

Article in PDF Format (24K)

Topics: Collaboration, Outsourcing, Product Development, Strategy, Supply Chain

The CIO as Strategic Business Partner

Executive Workshop Publication

The Center for Digital Strategies, Brimstone Consulting, and Tuck Executive Education convened a group of leading CIOs for a discussion on the changing role of information technology (IT) and opportunities for CIOs to drive change and business results within their companies. Questions considered were: As the IT spotlight broadens beyond cost-cutting to innovation, what can CIOs do to reposition their organizations as true business partners within their enterprise? What key capabilities do they need to build? What leadership and change management best practices can they leverage? Experience the findings here. 

Overview in PDF Format (151K)

Topics: Human Resources, Strategy

Nurturing and Executing Innovation

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

The Roundtable on Digital Strategies met for an all-day discussion about the challenges of innovation; experience their findings in this written overview. The group of senior executives represented a wide variety of industries and included a select group of business school professors, Together they debated various aspects of the innovation challenge, including generating ideas, selecting the best, and the pitfalls between a great idea and fruition.

Overview in PDF Format (112K)

Topics: Culture, Customer, Innovation, Organization, Process, Strategy

Security Beyond the Ports

Charles H. White, Jr. (T'68)
The Journal of Commerce

This article discusses the controversial P&O-DP World deal and considers how America’s global supply chains do not begin and end at the ports, and how neither should our security focus.

Article in PDF Format (24K)

Topics: Information Security, Supply Chain

Embedding Information Security Risk Management into the Extended Enterprise

Executive Workshop Publication

This Workshop on Developing a Secure Organization convened to discuss how companies are embedding information security risk management into the extended enterprise. In today’s outsourcedenterprises, effective risk management is quickly becoming a source of competitive advantage. The technology community has made much progress in the past five years improving the technical aspectsof security. Yet moving the needle on information security is a team activity, requiring participation by everyone in the corporation. The hardest remaining issues involve people and organizations. Inthis workshop, CISOs2 from Fortune 500 firms gathered to debate the challenges of organizing for security.

Overview in PDF Format (194K)

Topics: Extended Enterprise, Information Security, Information Technology, Risk

Strategic Partnering: Managing Joint Ventures and Alliances

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

This Roundtable on Digital Strategies considered how companies are managing strategic partnerships. In a global environment where partnerships are often crucial to business success, what does it take to do joint ventures and alliances well? What are the best practices in building partnerships in both developed and developing markets? Experience their findings in this overview. 

Overview in PDF Format (120K)

Topics: Asia, Collaboration, Emerging Markets, Globalization, Leadership, Mergers & Acquisitions, Process, Strategy

Economically Complex Cyberattacks

Scott Borg
IEEE Security and Privacy

Most people working in cybersecurity recognize that the interconnections and complexities of our economy can have a huge effect on the destructiveness of cyberattacks. They refer casually to “network effects,” “spillover effects,” or “knock-on effects.” Yet there is little understanding of how such effects actually work, what conditions are necessary to create them, or how to quantify their consequences.

Article in PDF Format (67K)

Topics: Data, Information Security

Leveraging the Enterprise through Process Transformation

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

This Roundtable on Digital Strategies convened for discussion on how companies are leveraging opportunities for process transformation through the use of technology and strategy. Experience their findings and learnings in this written overview.

Overview in PDF Format (129K)

Topics: Change, Governance, Operations, Organization, Process, Strategy

A Broader Context for Information Security

M. Eric Johnson
Financial Times

This article looks at the goal of effective risk management for information technology, which is not the elimination of security failures, but rather reducing their cost while empowering the business to take appropriate risks. 

Article in PDF Format (73K)

Topics: Information Security, Information Technology, Risk

Fueling Business Strategy through IT/Finance Alignment

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

This discussion focused on how CFOs and CIOs can work together to create business value, and on the challenges and opportunities that Finance and IT face together. Experience their findings and learnings in this written overview.

Overview in PDF Format (180K)

Topics: Collaboration, Finance, Governance, Information Technology, Process, Risk, Strategy

Gaining Competitive Advantage through Human Resource Management

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

The Roundtable on Digital Strategies discussed approaches to leveraging human resources strategies, capabilities and systems for competitive advantage in global organizations.

Overview in PDF Format (27K)

Topics: Human Resources, Knowledge Management

Harnessing the Power of Partnerships

M. Eric Johnson
Financial Times

Collaborative relationships are helping companies to avoid the supply chain failures that so often undermine successful innovation. 

Article in PDF Format (39K)

Topics: Collaboration, Supply Chain

Managing the Organizational Impact of Global Operations

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

This Roundtable discussion focused on approaches to building and managing highly competitive global organizations and their business processes. Experience their findings and learnings in this written overview.

Overview in PDF Format (25K)

Topics: Change, Globalization, Innovation, Leadership, Operations, Process

Elusive Integration: Linking Sales and Operations Planning

M. Eric Johnson
ASCET, Volume 7

Effective sales and operations planning requires intensified levels of collaboration, trust and data integration. Fostering a commitment to relationship building, shared incentives and accountability can help.

Article in PDF Format (78K)

Topics: Data, Operations, Sales, Trust

IT Security in the Extended Enterprise

David F. Pyke

M. Eric Johnson
ASCET, Volume 6

Digital technologies can help to better share critical information, optimizing profit of both marketing and supply chain management leading to exciting new opportunities.

Article in PDF Format (14K)

Topics: Marketing, Organization, Supply Chain

Security and Privacy: At Odds with Speed and Collaboration?

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

This roundtable discussion focused on the impact of increased security and privacy of information on businesses, and organizational changes that would serve to ameliorate the impact. Experience their findings and learnings in this written overview.

Overview in PDF Format (27K)

Topics: Collaboration, Culture, Information Security, Information Technology, Privacy, Risk

Best Practices for Service Organisations

Hans Brechbühl
Business Strategy Review

Increasingly, consumers want to save time in every facet of their lives. So when they buy a product,  they want their local electronic, clothing or other retailer to offer complete solutions that include services ranging from installing products to no-questions-asked return departments with short queues. Consumers are looking for a comprehensive purchasing, use and support experience that is pleasant and meets a need or solves a problem quickly and efficiently.

Article in PDF Format (73K)

Topics: Organization, Services, Strategy

Making the Link Between Sales and Operations Planning

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

This discussion focused on approaches to strengthening the link between sales and operations planning, both internally within large organizations and along the value chain. Experience the learnings from the discussion in this written overview.

Overview in PDF Format (19K)

Topics: Collaboration, Operations, Process, Sales, Supply Chain, Trust

Digitally Enabled Services Strategies

M. Eric Johnson
Information Management & Consulting, Volume 18

Executives in a wide range of industries are betting on services as the single largest revenue and profit growth opportunity in the coming years. Yet in many product organizations, the focus of activities such as product configuration and support services, supply chain services, and after-sales services has been simply cost avoidance. Transforming traditional product-focused organizations into service-oriented growth engines, requires changes in both strategy and culture.

Article in PDF Format (80K)

Topics: Culture, Services, Strategy

Enabling a Customer-Focused Organization

This roundtable discussion focused on the shift toward customercentric organizations, the steps necessary to implement this shift, and the circumstances under which it is profitable. Experience the findings and learnings in this written overview.

Overview in PDF Format (19K)

Topics: Collaboration, Customer, Data, Organization

Digitally Enabled Service Strategies

M. Eric Johnson
ASCET, Volume 5

Digitally enabled service strategies can be used to protect revenue and reduce cost in different competitive situations, or to create entirely new business models.

Article in PDF Format (80K)

Topics: Operations, Services, Strategy, Technology

Collaborative Product Generation

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

Growing cost pressures, the demand for rapid product delivery, and the need to enlarge traditional markets or enter new ones are major forces affecting companies across all industries. Businesses are finding that it’s often easier, faster, and more cost effective to meet these demands and enter new markets when they generate products in collaboration with partners. This roundtable sought to better understand the ways that collaboration can impact product generation and the nature of such collaborative relationships; experience their learnings in this written overview.

Overview in PDF Format (148K)

Topics: Collaboration, Customer, Innovation, Product Development

Service and Support: from Cost Reduction to Revenue Generation

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

Manufacturers and retailers are increasingly moving into services. This offers new opportunities for growth and profit, but also presents interesting challenges. This roundtable convened to explore exactly what is involved in the transition from being product-oriented to being service-oriented. Experience their findings in this written overview.

Overview in PDF Format (29K)

Topics: Culture, Customer, Operations, Services

Channel Management Strategies: Digital Partnering

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

Competition today is increasingly competition between entire value chains. The very survival of a company will often depend on things that come under the heading of “channel management strategies.” This means that CIOs and the other people concerned with coordinating value chains are now often at the center of the most crucial strategic issues that companies face. Participants at this roundtable discussed channel management and digital partnering and their determinations are offered in this written overview.

Overview in PDF Format (22K)

Topics: Collaboration, Data, Process, Strategy

Linking the Demand and Supply Chains

Hans Brechbühl
La Nouvel Hebdo

Not too long ago, companies in nearly all sectors of the U.S. economy were faced with excess inventory and capacity. Whether that inventory and capacity is internal or held by supply chain partners, opportunities to use those resources to generate revenue are often overlooked. The challenge for executives is to find strategies for transforming those idle resources into revenue and profit.

Article in PDF Format (12K)

Topics: Collaboration, Organization, Supply Chain

Culture and the Internet Bubble

Hans Brechbühl
Le Nouvel Hebdo

There is a debate in the United States right now about who is responsible for the “Internet bubble” and the subsequent sobering fallout. The irrational exuberance of the second half of the 1990s has given way to an equally ferocious “battle of the aftermath”. Entrepreneurs blame venture capitalists, venture capitalists blame the trend to rapid IPOs and the investment bankers, and I-bankers blame market pressure and irrational consumer and investor response.

Article in PDF Format (10K)

Topics: Culture, Finance, International, Internet / Connectivity, Technology

Real Time Profit Optimization

Roundtable on Digital Strategies Publication

Most businesses could immediately cut costs and increase profits by improving their supply chain coordination and connecting it more closely to their marketing. Yet the difficulties many companies experienced recently in adjusting rapidly enough to the economic slowdown showed that this is more of a challenge than many had thought. To help businesses move on to a new level of supply and demand coordination, participants convened and arrived at the conclusions offered in this written overview.

Overview in PDF Format (148K)

Topics: Collaboration, Data, Internet / Connectivity, Outsourcing, Supply Chain

The Application of Technology to Marketing; A Twenty Year Perspective

Randy Bean
New Vantage Partners

Randy Bean is principal and co-founder of NewVantage Partners. He is a twenty-year marketing technology veteran. During that time, Bean was a senior executive with Harte-Hanks for many years, as well as a founder of Wheelhouse. Bean has lectured on the application of technology to marketing at the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Article in PDF Format (11K)

Topics: Customer, Marketing

Migrating Asia’s Manufacturing Online

Hans Brechbühl
Business Week's CEO Forum

Asian manufacturers have traditionally maintained an edge as a source of low-cost manufactured goods. Their competitive advantage has come in the form of either inexpensive labor or very efficient production lines. As more low-labor-cost countries become easier to access and the internet enables competitors to streamline operations, these advantages are not enough to compete in the 21st century.

Article in PDF Format (73K)

Topics: Asia, Information Technology, Internet / Connectivity, Manufacturing

Size Still Matters

Chris Trimble
Global Connection

Technology zealots argue that thanks to ubiquitous networks, business processes—even those that cross company boundaries—can be streamlined as never before. As a result, corporations will perform only the tasks at which they are superlative; everything else will be handled by a complex web of business partners.

Article in PDF Format (38K)

Topics: Organization, Technology

Better Technology, Same Old Humans

Chris Trimble
Global Connection

Perhaps the only thing more volatile than the Nasdaq itself is the hype surrounding it. Six months ago,Cisco Systems was lionized as the exemplar of everything that was right with the new economy. Today Cisco suffers from plunging sales and ballooning inventories, and is offered by many as proof that the Internet, in fact, changes nothing. As usual, the truth lies somewhere in between.

Article in PDF Format (35K)

Topics: Information Technology, Technology

The Imminent About-Face in e-Business Priorities

Chris Trimble
Global Connection

As the Nasdaq falls, the spotlight shifts. The flashy imagery of the upstart dotcom is giving way to a sober focus on e-business, and the ways in which large, venerable, oldeconomy institutions can take maximum advantage of Internetworking technologies.

Article in PDF Format (35K)

Topics: Commerce, Information Technology, Internet / Connectivity, Services

E-Fulfillment: It’s Harder Thank It Looks

David F. Pyke

M. Eric Johnson, Phil Desmond
Supply Chain Management Review

The beginning of the e-tailing boom was all about flash. Now the hard realities, like the need for order fulfillment, have set in. Can e-tailers develop a fulfillment capability that satisfies customers while keeping costs under control? The answer is yes, but only if they pay careful attention to the supply chain fundamentals. The furniture industry offers an instructive example with lessons for all.

Article in PDF Format (49K)

Topics: Commerce, Internet / Connectivity, Supply Chain

Supply Chain Synchronizing Through Web-Centric Product Content Management

M. Eric Johnson
ASCET, Volume 2

In the drive to improve supply chain performance, managers in diverse industries have achieved substantial gains by sharing information. Much of the excitement has focused on making inventory and product movement data transparent throughout the supply chain. More recently, companies have also found that sharing information related to market intelligence and promotional plans can dramatically improve forecasting, smoothing the replenishment process.

Article in PDF Format (37K)

Topics: Change, Data, Operations, Supply Chain