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Virtually all executives today recognize the need to provide outstanding service to customers. Focusing on the customer, however, is both an imperative and a potential curse. Companies around the world have embraced mass customization in an attempt to avoid pitfalls. But many managers have discovered that mass customization itself can produce unnecessary cost and complexity. They are realizing that they did not examine thoroughly enough what kind of customization their customers would value before they plunged ahead. In this article, the authors provide a framework to help managers determine the type of customization they should pursue.

Companies collect information about customers to target valuable prospects more effectively, tailor their offerings to individual needs, improve customer satisfaction, and identify opportunities for new products or services. But managers' efforts to capture such information may soon be thwarted. The authors believe that consumers are going to take ownership of information about themselves and start demanding value in exchange for it. As a result, negotiating with customers for information will become costly and complex. Consumers will be unlikely to bargain with vendors on their own, however. The authors anticipate that companies they call infomediaries will broker information to businesses on consumers' behalf. In essence, infomediaries will be the catalyst for people to start demanding value in exchange for information about themselves. And most other companies will need to rethink how they obtain information and what they do with it if they want to find new customers and serve them better.

Three decades into the environmental revolution, many companies in the industrialized nations have recognized that they can reduce pollution and increase profits at the same time. But beyond corporate "greening" lies the enormous challenge--and opportunity--to develop a sustainable global economy, one that the planet is capable of supporting indefinitely. Stuart Hart, director of the Corporate Environmental Management Program at the University of Michigan School of Business, explains the imperative of sustainable development and provides a framework for identifying the business opportunities behind sustainability. Hart identifies three stages of environmental strategy: pollution prevention, product stewardship, and the development of clean technology. But companies will not benefit from such efforts unless they draw a road map that can show them how new products and services must evolve and what new competencies they will need.

Costs, market fragmentation, and new media channels that let customers bypass advertisements seem to be in league against the old ways of marketing. Relying on mass media campaigns to build strong brands may be a thing of the past. Several companies in Europe, making a virtue of necessity, have come up with alternative brand-building approaches and are blazing a trail in the post-mass-media age. In England, Nestle's Buitoni brand grew through programs that taught the English how to cook Italian food. The Body Shop garnered loyalty with its support of environmental and social causes. Cadbury funded a theme park tied to its history in the chocolate business. Haagen-Dazs opened posh ice-cream parlors and got itself featured by name on the menus of fine restaurants. Hugo Boss and Swatch backed athletic or cultural events that became associated with their brands.

If you're in the business of service delivery, investment in the training and development of your staff is one of the keys to your company's success. But what's the best way to design and implement your investment? In 1994, Fidelity Institutional Services Co. (FIRSCo) needed to ensure that its rapidly expanding staff maintained the company's high levels of customer satisfaction. The solution, according to Ellyn McColgan, formerly an executive vice president of FIRSCo and now the president of Fidelity Investments Tax-Exempt Services Co., was to reach out to its service associates with a powerful new model for training and development called Service Delivery University. McColgan explains how FIRSCo overcame resistance to this sweeping change in employee education. (Time was one obstacle: each associate receives 80 hours of training per year.) In addition, the author discusses the fine art of measuring the success of a program like SDU. She finds that the company's investment has paid dividends to the staff, to the organization as a whole, and to FIRSCo's customers.

How do we face the prospect that creating a profitable, growing company might require intolerable abuse of the natural world? Monsanto--with its history in the chemicals industry--is an unlikely candidate to be creating cutting-edge environmental solutions, but that is precisely what it is doing. The need for sustainability is transforming the company's thinking about growth. Changes in global environmental conditions will soon create an unprecedented economic discontinuity. To invent new businesses around the concept of environmental sustainability, Robert Shapiro begins with a simple law of physics: A closed system like the earth's cannot support an unlimited increase of material things. It can, however, withstand exponential growth in information. So Monsanto is exploring ways to substitute information for "stuff" and services for products. For example, the company is genetically coding plants to repel or destroy harmful insects. Putting the right information in the plant makes pesticides unnecessary. Information replaces stuff; productivity increases and waste is reduced.

The news that one of the company's senior managers is leaving comes as a complete surprise to Paul Simmonds, CEO of Kinsington Textiles, Inc. (KTI). Ned Carpenter, KTI's vice president of operations for three years, writes in his resignation letter that he is leaving for a better opportunity. Simmonds soon learns that Carpenter's new job is at Daltex, one of KTI's main rivals in the intensely competitive carpet industry. In this fictitious case study, Simmonds, along with the company's counsel and vice president of human resources, must figure out how much and what sort of damage control they need. Five experts offer advice about communicating with KTI's employees, the media, and Carpenter himself, and about protecting the company's confidential information. In 97111 and 97111Z, Kenneth L. Coleman, Stephen A. Greyser, Hal Burlingame, Rob Galford, and Gregory S. Rubin offer advice about communicating with KTI's employees, the media, and Carpenter himself, and about protecting the company's confidential information.

The news that one of the company's senior managers is leaving comes as a complete surprise to Paul Simmonds, CEO of Kinsington Textiles, Inc. (KTI). Ned Carpenter, KTI's vice president of operations for three years, writes in his resignation letter that he is leaving for a better opportunity. Simmonds soon learns that Carpenter's new job is at Daltex, one of KTI's main rivals in the intensely competitive carpet industry. In this fictitious case study, Simmonds, along with the company's counsel and vice president of human resources, must figure out how much and what sort of damage control they need. In 97111 and 97111Z, Kenneth L. Coleman, Stephen A. Greyser, Hal Burlingame, Rob Galford, and Gregory S. Rubin offer advice about communicating with KTI's employees, the media, and Carpenter himself, and about protecting the company's confidential information.

The news that one of the company's senior managers is leaving comes as a complete surprise to Paul Simmonds, CEO of Kinsington Textiles, Inc. (KTI). Ned Carpenter, KTI's vice president of operations for three years, writes in his resignation letter that he is leaving for a better opportunity. Simmonds soon learns that Carpenter's new job is at Daltex, one of KTI's main rivals in the intensely competitive carpet industry. In this fictitious case study, Simmonds, along with the company's counsel and vice president of human resources, must figure out how much and what sort of damage control they need. In 97111 and 97111Z, Kenneth L. Coleman, Stephen A. Greyser, Hal Burlingame, Rob Galford, and Gregory S. Rubin offer advice about communicating with KTI's employees, the media, and Carpenter himself, and about protecting the company's confidential information.

Innovation and the management of intellectual capital are playing an increasingly important role in competition in high-technology industries. To operate in markets where innovation is cumulative, such as in electronics and semiconductors, firms frequently need to engage in extensive licensing and cross-licensing. This need is amplified by recent increases in the strength of patent protection and by the more active licensing stance of intellectual property owners. A high-quality patent portfolio not only reflects the firm's inventive capacity, but may significantly increase its cross-licensing bargaining ability and reduce royalty payments. In addition, it may directly contribute to its product and process innovation.

The conventional wisdom is that companies should never outsource core functions. This study of 34 large companies that outsourced for at least two years demonstrates that outsourcing can be successful even when information systems are viewed as core functions. However, outsourcing negotiations must reflect the role of the company performing the outsourced functions and the nature of the outsourced work. A critical key to success in outsourcing arrangements lies in having tight contracts, even when the outsourcing vendor is viewed as a strategic partner or the IS function is considered to be core. This article offers prescriptions for writing contracts and creating balanced arrangements to enhance outsourcing success.

The Challenger disaster cannot be accounted for by reductionist explanations that direct attention only toward individual actors, nor by theories that focus solely on communication failure or the social psychological dynamics of the infamous eve-of-launch teleconference. The cause of the tragedy was rooted in historic organizational and environmental contingencies that preceded the launch decision. By tracing the connection between top policy decisions and decisions by engineers and managers assigned to do risky work, this analysis contradicts conventional understandings about what happened at NASA. As a consequence, this case contains new lessons for both managers and students of organizations.

An integrated strategy captures the synergies between competitive strategies that seek superior performance in the marketplace and nonmarket strategies that shape the competitive environment. This article extends the conceptual and analytical foundations of integrated strategy to a competitive environment structured by international trade policy. The framework is illustrated by the international trade dispute between the Eastman Kodak Co. and Fuji Photo Film Co. regarding access to the Japanese market for consumer film and photographic paper. The analysis focuses on the synergies between market and nonmarket strategies in which governments act as agents of their companies. The framework incorporates competition between the two companies in their market environment, competition in the nonmarket environment to influence their government's bargaining position, and bargaining between the governments.

Focuses on entrepreneurship--both in setting up a new business and in keeping the entrepreneurial spirit alive in large, established organizations--and on internationalization. Describes how toy manufacturer Hasbro receives a proposal from an American entrepreneur specializing in plastic injection molding for a new toy. Describes the proposal, the toy industry, and Hasbro itself. Should Hasbro accept the proposal for the new toy? Also, how can large companies stay open to ideas coming from the outside?

First Direct has become the model of tele-banking worldwide, despite similar initiatives undertaken by large international banks. The case describes the history of First Direct and the various components of its operations, especially around the central issue of relationship marketing at a distance.

In the late 1970s, Motorola CEO Bob Galvin knew that the electronics industry was growing increasingly competitive. Though Motorola was faring well in the battle, technology was sprinting ahead. In fact, most technical knowledge was obsolete within a five-year time frame. In an attempt to embrace the change, Galvin proposed to his board of directors an extraordinary commitment to the training of Motorola's entire workforce--from executives to shop floor employees. He was met with strong resistance, however, due to the time and financial resources such training would require. Galvin was faced with a dilemma: If he accepted the board's counsel, the company might fall behind as the velocity of technological change increased; if he pushed for the investment in training, he might jeopardize short-term performance and competitive position.

Supplements Motorola (A).

In the early 1990s, Donna Klein, Director of Work/Life programs for Marriott International, surveyed hotel and resort managers and found they increasingly were relied upon to help employees cope with the stresses of their personal lives. Immigration, child custody, spousal abuse--numerous personal issues were requiring up to 50% of managers' time and fueling extremely high turnover among the company's over 100,000 lower-wage workers. Although Marriott offered a traditional dependent care resource and referral service, Klein realized that this service was not particularly useful or appropriate for hourly workers. She understood that hourly employees needed help finding cost-effective ways to solve their personal problems and more one-on-one consultation to help them tap into their local resources. Shocked by the survey results, senior management asked Klein and her associates to devise a solution to address the problem.

Supplements Donna Klein and Marriott International, Inc. (A).

McKay Nursery Co., founded in 1897 in Waterloo, Wisconsin, had a longstanding history of commitment to employees. The close-knit organization was a pioneer in the agricultural industry of several employee-friendly policies. But in the early 1980s, as McKay's owners grew older and senior management neared retirement, the next generation of managers feared for the future of the profitable, debt-free company. Middle manager Griff Mason and his colleagues were concerned McKay might become the target of a hostile takeover, which would move the company out of the community that had supported it for nearly a century. They wondered what they might do to keep the company in Waterloo and continue to retain its employees, nearly half of whom were migrant workers.