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The founder of Toronto-based Able Translations has grown the company since 1990 from a single-man operation that did on-site interpreting to a firm of 100 staff in 2014. The firm provides a range of interpreting and translation services on three continents by more than 3,500 qualified language professionals in more than 100 languages. Although an industry leader, the company faces both strong global competitors and a myriad of microbusinesses and freelancers. Moreover, the language service providers industry is experiencing rapid technological change. The founder wonders whether to pursue international growth of his established translation and interpreting businesses (on-site and telephone) or to focus on its emerging capabilities in software development in the North American market - a strategic choice that will have a profound effect on the future of the firm.

We're never surprised to hear about unethical executives whose lapses eventually ruin their careers and companies. But is the opposite true? Do highly principled leaders and their organizations perform especially well? The answer is yes, according to new research by the leadership consultancy KRW International. CEOs whose employees gave them high marks on four key traits--integrity, responsibility, forgiveness, and compassion--had an average return on assets that was nearly five times as much as what CEOs with low character ratings had. This article describes the research findings and offers recommendations for how leaders can increase their self-awareness and overcome character deficits--for the benefit of their careers, their employees, and, it's now clear, their companies, too. This reprint contains three additional Idea Watch articles. "How Consumers Understand (and Misunderstand) Pricing Cues" describes research into how retailers unwittingly send misleading signals about whether they are high- or low-priced--something they need to understand and manage in order to compete. "Connected Cities Are Economically Healthy Cities" discusses a study showing a correlation between an area's average number of LinkedIn connections per user and its job growth. "Hello? Anyone in HQ Listening?" visually depicts several specific factors responsible for dissatisfaction and high turnover among Asian executives of Western multinationals, suggesting that parent companies needn't take a fatalistic view of this pervasive problem after all.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Organizations often try to accelerate product introduction cycles by prioritizing project delivery. However, many projects have two characteristics that make optimal delivery times elusive: The projects tend to involve uncertainty (for example, they develop a new product function whose feasibility has not yet been established); and the workers have information about the status of their tasks that many don't share. Behavioral issues are as important in project timeliness as diligent planning. This article examines the difficulties of project planning and execution and describes a management innovation at Roto Frank, a German company that produces hardware for industrial and residential windows and doors. Roto, headquartered in Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Germany, has augmented its project control system with a formal help process that encourages workers to seek and provide mutual assistance. The authors found that Roto's help process achieved a measurable improvement in project cycle time without changing formal incentives or other management systems. Its success is based largely on two factors: establishing psychological safety and encouraging cooperative behavior among workers by emphasizing their interdependence. The authors argue that this help process has the potential to accelerate projects in many environments. In developing a project planning and monitoring system that encouraged project workers to reveal private information about their tasks, Roto did not rely on financial incentives. Indeed, the authors note that incentives don't need to be monetary or career focused; they can be social and geared toward building positive relationships. Without fears of being blamed for problems, workers were more inclined to call for help rather than procrastinating or passing latent issues on to the next project worker.

In researching what makes for successful project sponsorship, the authors used a project life cycle model with four stages: (1) initiating -from the preliminary idea through approved charter; (2) planning -from approved charter through approved project plan; (3) executing -from approved project plan through acceptance of major deliverables; and (4) closing -from acceptance of major deliverables through final completion. Project success historically has been defined by the "iron triangle"of cost, schedule and performance. The authors use a broader definition based on three success factors. The first success factor involves impact on the project's customers, which is almost always the most important success measure. The second success factor involves meeting agreements: Was the project completed on time, on budget and to specifications? The third success factor is tied to the future benefits to the company, be they new technology, new products, new markets and/or commercial success. The authors conducted separate studies of each project life-cycle stage, using literature reviews, focus groups, surveys and factor analysis in order to examine sponsor behavior and project success factors. For each stage, they found that two or three behaviors had a significant impact on the project success factors. In the initiating stage, the important behaviors for executive sponsors involve setting performance goals for the project, selecting and mentoring the project manager and establishing priorities. In the project's planning stage, the key sponsor behaviors are ensuring planning and developing relationships with stakeholders.

after all, most companies in an industry are seeking to obtain them. The authors contend that ordinary resources may play an overlooked but important role in successful strategies -and competing with ordinary resources can be a valuable complement to competing with strategic resources. An ordinary resource is a common resource on the market, generally perceived as neutral in terms of performance. Such a resource is considered, at best, as ensuring competitive parity. While ordinary resources are not, in and of themselves, a source of competitive advantage and greater performance, they are generally required for the business to function properly. Examples of ordinary resources include compliance with ISO standards in the automobile industry; stores and salespeople in retailing; and websites and logistics competencies in e-commerce. Unless ordinary resources are leveraged, strategic resources cannot always deliver their full-fledged competitive potential. In particular, the use of ordinary resources enables the duplication of a business model in many business units and/or in many countries. For instance, McDonald's Corp. is the world's largest chain of fast-food restaurants. But the replication of the McDonald's business model is possible specifically because the model leverages relatively ordinary resources, in the form of more than 1.8 million employees worldwide. Most entry-level McDonald's employees are not highly qualified, are part-time workers and can be easily replaced. However, the McDonald's brand can only be leveraged thanks to these ordinary resources. The authors also observe that the emergence of new business models that leverage a vast array of ordinary resources -particularly multisided platform business models -raises questions about the relevance of the traditional strategic focus on scarcity-based approaches and unique resources. For example, Airbnb connects an abundant number of people who want to source out their empty rooms to hirers who are

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. In today's dynamic and competitive world, a project manager's key challenge is coping with frequent unexpected events. Such events can be classified according to their level of predictability as follows: events that were anticipated but whose impacts were much stronger than expected; events that could not have been predicted; and events that could have been predicted but were not. Coping with frequent unexpected events requires an organizational culture that allows the project manager to exercise a great amount of flexibility. The traditional approach to project management emphasizes that project success depends on stability. According to this approach, project success can be achieved by focusing on planning and on controlling and managing risks. Although the popularity of this approach has sharply increased across industries, research covering a wide variety of projects consistently reveals poor performance. The authors collected data from more than 150 successful project managers affiliated with more than 20 organizations and concluded that today's successful project managers cope with unexpected events by a combination of traditional and "agile"approaches to project management. Using business examples drawn from their research at organizations such as Procter & Gamble, NASA and the construction services company Boldt, the authors identified four key roles that successful project managers play: •The first role, developing collaboration, is performed early on during the project. •The second role, integrating planning and review with learning, is performed periodically throughout the project. •The third role, preventing major disruptions, is performed occasionally. •The fourth role, maintaining forward momentum, is performed continuously. Today's managers must be people-oriented, information-oriented and action-oriented.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Many studies have shown the importance of mentoring and coaching in supporting individuals' career and personal growth. However, changes in the career landscape in recent years, including global mobility, an increasingly diverse workforce and shortened job tenures, present managers with new complexities and uncertainties. The notion that one mentor can meet all of an individual's developmental needs is often inconceivable. Instead, the authors argue that there are a number of network support roles beyond that of formal mentor. As individuals change roles, industries or organizations or relocate to different countries, they need to build a "personal board of advisors" that fits their careers and their busy lives. The authors' research suggests that individuals seek career and psychosocial support from multiple people. In their research the authors found that most of the members of people's personal boards of advisors played an active role in supporting the individuals' career and personal development. However, some individuals also mentioned the importance of people who had passed away but continued to motivate and inspire them. The authors identified six types of personal board members: personal guides, personal advisors, full-service mentors, career advisors, career guides and role models.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Many project managers and their executive sponsors are surprised when projects go off track: "Why didn't we see that coming?"Even projects that employ sophisticated techniques for risk management have surprising derailments. However, risk management can only manage known risks, and "unknown unknowns"(often called "unk-unks") are lurking in every project. The authors argue, however, that many unk-unks aren't really unk-unks at all. Rather, they are things no one has bothered to find out. Indeed, the authors point out, there are two kinds of unknowns: unknown unknowns (things we don't know we don't know) and known unknowns (things we know we don't know). Every project has some of both. The techniques of conventional risk management apply only to the known unknowns. However, some unk-unks can be converted into known unknowns through a process of directed recognition. The article provides an overview of the targets, methods and tools of directed recognition -the where, why and how. First, the authors introduce six project domains in and around a project where uncertainty resides (and where recognition should occur). Second, they describe the characteristics that increase uncertainty in projects and explain why they make unk-unks more likely. Finally, they present a set of techniques for converting knowable unk-unks into known unknowns. Although unk-unks are by definition things managers don't realize they are missing, it's possible, the authors say, to look at a project and its context and realize that unk-unks are likely to exist -and why.

business value from analytics is not data management or complex modeling skills. Instead, the number one barrier mentioned by survey respondents involved translating analytics into business actions -in other words, making business decisions based on the results, not producing the results themselves. With more access to useful data, companies are increasingly using sophisticated analytical methods. That, the authors argue, means there's often a gap between an organization's capacity to produce analytical results and its ability to apply them effectively to business issues. Much can be done to make analytics more consumable for managers. At the individual level, data analysts can learn more about the business; in fact, about a third (34%) of the survey respondents reported that their organizations train analytics professionals to understand business issues. Organizations can also systemically improve infrastructure and processes; improved data quality, for example,can make it easier to turn data into competitive advantage. Managers can also take steps to become savvier at understanding analytical results. In fact, managers and executives are working to become more knowledgeable about data and analytics: Many of the survey respondents reported that their organizations develop analytical skills through on-the-job (58%) or formal (23%) training. Almost half the respondents (49%) reported that their organizations train managers to make better use of analytics. Beyond training, other known steps include: identifying trustworthy analytics professionals within the organization, requiring straightforward explanations and asking detailed questions. However, the authors'research indicates that, despite their efforts, managers continue to find it difficult to keep pace with their organization's analysts for two reasons: burgeoning analytics sophistication and competing demands for managerial attention.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. In the 2014 Sustainability Report, new research by MIT Sloan Management Review, The Boston Consulting Group and the UN Global Compact, shows that a growing number of companies are turning to collaborations -with suppliers, NGOs, industry alliances, governments, even competitors -to become more sustainable. Our research found that as sustainability issues become increasingly complex, global in nature and pivotal to success, companies are realizing that they can't make the necessary impact acting alone.. Authors: MIT Sloan Management Review, The Boston Consulting Group and the United Nations Global Compact.

Mindful of his company's long history of sensitivity to the environmental or health effects of the chemicals in its products, the author decided to risk losing sales by reformulating Saran Wrap. SC Johnson had acquired it from Dow in 1998, and the product's superior microwavability and impenetrable barrier to odor made it the market leader for decades. Polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) was responsible for both those unique differentiators. When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, environmental groups, and consumers began to express concern over the use of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), the difference between PVC and PVDC got lost in the discussion. Nevertheless, the company was concerned as well, because it used PVCs in some of its external packaging. It launched a process called Greenlist to help it reevaluate their inclusion. Since then Greenlist has been rigorously updated to sort ingredients according to category and rank them for impact on human and environmental health. The company has removed potentially hazardous products many times--and taken whatever hit accompanied each instance. It could have simply eliminated PVCs from the product packaging and left Saran Wrap as it was. Instead it pledged to stop selling wraps that contained chlorine of any kind, including PVDCs, by 2004. A dedicated research, development, and engineering team was assigned to try to re-create Saran Wrap without PVDCs within a year. But preserving its unique characteristics proved impossible, and this once iconic product became an also-ran.

According to the Family Business Institute, only 30% of family businesses last into the second generation, 12% remain viable into the third, and 3% operate into the fourth generation or beyond. Those that do continue often see their value decline significantly as a result of mismanaged succession. The authors, all associates of the global executive search firm Egon Zehnder, partnered with Family Business Network International to analyze 50 leading family firms. Through interviews with both family and nonfamily executives, they discovered that the most successful of these companies do four things well: (1) They establish good governance practices that separate the family and the business and ensure oversight from a professional board. (2) They are careful not to lose what makes them special--a quality the authors call "family gravity." (3) They assess future leaders on alignment with company values as well as on competencies. (4) They follow a disciplined selection process when considering candidates for the top post, and take care to provide meaningful support during the integration process.

The authors have conducted a two-year study of how new CEOs in large organizations gain access to seasoned counsel and feedback. Although these leaders have usually experienced mentoring earlier in their careers, arrival at the top suddenly narrows the available and appropriate options. To keep raising their game--and having their thinking usefully challenged--CEOs need wise mentoring. They're finding it, the authors learned, by turning to high-profile veteran leaders from outside their companies. But these arrangements have some tricky aspects: Special considerations must go into matching mentor and mentee, structuring their sessions to deliver the intended benefits, and prioritizing the process so that it isn't crowded out by other demands. Total confidentiality is an absolute necessity--as are regular meetings--and storytelling is the mode of knowledge sharing both parties usually prefer. "Most interesting to us," the authors write, "was the psychological boost that mentors' war stories seemed to give new CEOs."

In this edited interview with HBR senior editor Alison Beard, the chess player and Soviet exile discusses strategy, power, and the importance of playing your own game.

On September 6, 2014, a young investor is trying to find a trading strategy to use to make money on Cisco's stock. He wants to know whether the stock is increasing or decreasing in value. He decides to use the moving average strategy to avoid the fluctuations in the stock price caused by different short-term phenomena. When should he buy, sell or do nothing?

Student spreadsheet for W15085.

This case chronicles three major challenges faced by the Niagara Health System, a seven-hospital network in the Niagara region in the province of Ontario, Canada. An interim chief communications officer has joined the Niagara Health System team on secondment to help with communications issues during a C. difficile outbreak. He soon realizes that the public communication issues were not isolated to this outbreak, but rather continued a trend of poor relationships with local media and the public. The case examines the field of hospital communications in Ontario, including trends and best practices, a history of communications struggles at the Niagara Health System, strategy options and considerations to manage the C. difficile outbreak and strategies to improve trust and reputation.

Supplement case for W15088.

Based in Delhi, India, Sherry's Bakery (Sherry's) faced a host of challenges at the four-year point in its operations, with issues related to business expansion and management, cost management and fund procurement. The business had gradually grown from a hobby based on a love of baking into a home-based business that showed lots of potential for growth. The owner needed to devise a marketing and communication plan for her business since she wanted to turn Sherry's into a full-fledged bakery rather than simply operating from her kitchen.