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Steve Meyer, the chief marketing officer at Trilogy, was evaluating the best way to move forward with an innovative, customer value-based pricing approach for its enterprise software solutions. Trilogy had radically transformed its business from a product-centric organization to a customer-centric one, and value-based pricing was a pillar of this transformation. Meyer had to evaluate three pricing approaches: traditional license based, subscription based, and gain sharing. He had to assess which pricing approach Trilogy and Trilogy's clients would prefer and the conditions under which gain-sharing pricing would work. Meyer also had to address several adoption barriers that prevented customers from embracing the gain-sharing pricing approach.

John Williams, senior director of marketing for Microsoft's .NET, was trying to build the .NET brand, a comprehensive family of next-generation connectivity software products. Highlights the challenges of branding and positioning a complex technology offering. The first challenge facing Microsoft was to develop a common definition of .NET, which had been in flux over the prior two years. The second challenge was to choose between an umbrella branding strategy, a sub-branding strategy, and an ingredient branding strategy. The third challenge was to create a value proposition that would appeal to three very different target audiences: business decision makers, IT professionals, and developers.

To be more responsive to customers, companies often break down organizational walls between their units--setting up all manner of cross-business and cross-functional task forces and working groups and promoting a "one-company" culture. But such attempts can backfire by distracting business and functional units and by contaminating their strategies and processes. Fortunately, there's a better way, says the author. Rather than tear down organizational walls, a company can make them permeable to information. It can synchronize all its data on products, filtering the information through linked databases and applications and delivering it in a coordinated, meaningful form to customers. As a result, the organization can present a single, unified face to the customer--one that can change as market conditions warrant--without imposing homogeneity on its people. Such synchronization can lead to stronger customer relationships, more sales, and greater operational efficiency as well as sustain product innovation--goals that have traditionally been difficult to achieve simultaneously.

While many management thinkers proclaim an era of radical uncertainty, authors Sawhney and Parikh assert that the seemingly endless upheavals of the digital age are more predictable than that: today's changes have a common root, and that root lies in the nature of intelligence in networks. Understanding the patterns of intelligence migration can help companies decipher and plan for the inevitable disruptions in today's business environment. Two patterns in network intelligence are reshaping industries and organizations. First, intelligence is decoupling--that is, modern high-speed networks are pushing back-end intelligence and front-end intelligence toward opposite ends of the network, making the ends the two major sources of potential profits. Second, intelligence is becoming more fluid and modular. Small units of intelligence now float freely like molecules in the ether, coalescing into temporary bundles whenever and wherever necessary to solve problems. The authors present four strategies that companies can use to profit from these patterns: arbitrage allows companies to move intelligence to new regions or countries; aggregation combines formerly isolated pieces of infrastructure intelligence; rewiring allows companies to connect islands of intelligence; and reassembly allows businesses to reorganize pieces of intelligence into coherent, personalized packages for customers. By being aware of patterns in network intelligence and by acting rather than reacting, companies can turn chaos into opportunity, say the authors.

A new model for managing distributed innovation, the community of creation is a governance mechanism for managing innovation that lies between the hierarchy-based (closed) mechanism and the market-based (open) mechanism for innovation management. The community-centric model shifts the focus of innovation beyond the boundaries of the firm, to a community of individuals and firms that collaborate to create joint intellectual property. A community of creation requires an identified sponsor, a set of ground rules for participation, and a system for managing intellectual property rights. The community of creation model allows innovation to proceed in a complex environment by striking a balance between order and chaos. This article presents detailed case studies from the computer industry to highlight the differences among the different approaches to innovation management. It also discusses the opportunities and the unresolved issues of the community of creation model for practitioners as well as for academics.

Electronic hubs--Internet-based intermediaries that host electronic marketplaces and mediate transactions among businesses--are generating a lot of interest. Companies like Ariba, Chemdex, and Commerce One have already attained breathtaking stock market capitalizations. Venture capitalists are pouring money into more business-to-business start-ups. Even industrial stalwarts like GM and Ford are making plans to set up their own Web markets. As new entrants with new business models pour into the business-to-business space, it's increasingly difficult to make sense of the landscape. This article provides a blueprint of the e-hub arena. The authors start by looking at the two dimensions of purchasing: what businesses buy--manufacturing inputs or operating inputs --and how they buy--through systematic sourcing or spot sourcing. They classify B2B e-hubs into four categories: MRO hubs, yield managers, exchanges, and catalog hubs, and they discuss each type in detail. Drilling deeper into this B2B matrix, the authors look at how e-hubs create value--through aggregation and matching--and explain when each mechanism works best. They also examine the biases of e-hubs. Although many e-hubs are neutral--they're operated by independent third parties--some favor the buyers or sellers. The authors explain the differences and discuss the pros and cons of each position. The B2B marketplace is changing rapidly. This framework helps buyers, sellers, and market makers navigate the landscape by explaining what the different hubs do and how they add the most value.

Jan Bakke, founder and chairman of Norway-based MRT, was planning the U.S. market entry strategy for CardioScope--its electrocardiograph system. How could MRT get a foothold in the U.S. market against competitors who had been around for 50 years? How could he ensure that MRT would be able to defend itself once it entered the market? What segments should it target, and how should it position itself?

Illinois Superconductor Corp. a technology start-up, came up with an innovative new superconducting filter for use in cellular base stations. It needed to estimate the demand for its filters. The manager came up with a simple chain-ratio-based forecasting model that, while simple and intuitive, was too simplistic. The company had also commissioned a research firm to develop a model-based forecast. The model-based forecast used diffusion modeling, analogy-based forecasting, and conjoint analysis to create a forecast that incorporated customer preferences, diffusion effects, and competitive dynamics.