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Category creation is the holy grail in business, but more often than not, the very companies that establish lucrative new markets don't end up being the category kings. Why? Many executives undermine their own ventures standing by misinterpreting and misfiring on strategies considered fundamental to creating new categories. Here, the authors spell out three common mistakes that turn would-be kings into commoners in the categories they create.

The pandemic is forcing many B2B companies to cut costs, but conventional approaches to cost reduction may not serve them well. Instead, leaders should intensify their focus on customers by identifying the small, select group of customer value drivers in their companies. They then should cut costs by reducing value-added waste, managing customer acquisition and retention more effectively, and prioritizing and eliminating strategic initiatives that don't align well with customer value.

A new wave of brain science is upending our understanding of the mind.

In 2020, NEC focused on providing advanced IT, network, and data solutions, including cloud computing, AI and machine learning, Internet-of-Things platforms, and 5G networks as well as communication equipment installations. An award-winning company, NEC ranked fifth in the world in AI-related patents. The case study describes NEC's pathway towards accelerating in-house innovation, and commercializing what its global labs had invented. In 2013, the company established a Business Innovation Unit (BIU) to boost in-house innovation, and tap into the sense of urgency, risk-taking, and promise of rewards that helped drive technology start-ups elsewhere. In 2018, the BIU formed a Silicon Valley subsidiary called NEC X to structure a new "inside-out" accelerator. By 2020, two start-ups had graduated from the program, and others were well underway. Could NEC X become a trailblazer, creating new standards and processes for "inside-out" accelerators?

Many companies have failed at reskilling because they didn't know the specific capabilities their employees needed to develop to fill the talent gap. This article presents research that highlights four competencies IT professionals will need in order to sustain their careers in the digital age. These qualities transcend technical proficiency and embrace interpersonal skills and a drive for continuous learning.

Intel established the Emerging Growth and Incubation (EGI) Group in 2018 with a charter to build a disruptive innovation engine. The EGI Group was seen as essential-even existential-for Intel to expand beyond its core business, find new ways to add significant value to the company, and once again be perceived as an engine of growth. Given Intel's size and the perceived urgency of the need for growth, it was decided that EGI would incubate only businesses with perceived billion-dollar plus potential. By early 2021, the EGI portfolio included 14 ventures in various growth stages with a total valuation greater than $2 billion; revenue had tripled over two years, and one venture was already valued at more than $1 billion. EGI had provided a sandbox for exploration and experimentation, acted as a force multiplier, and had a tremendous impact on Intel's culture. This case documents the process, purpose, and progress of establishing and running the EGI Group.

Whether organizations build or buy AI tools, their use of the technology exposes them to new risks as well as benefits. Boards must be prepared to provide adequate oversight of how AI is developed and deployed.

A new analysis of the pandemic's effect on in-person shopping behaviors has resulted in an actionable framework to help brand owners and retailers understand and address the consumer needs and preferences of five retail customer segments. The authors suggest actions that retailers can take to better target each segment, whether the goal is to recapture former customers or retain new ones gained during the pandemic.

Companies that sell shippable goods have grappled with spikes in demand since COVID-19 hit. Robots seem like an obvious fix, but putting them into production is a complex undertaking. Still, we can learn from the rare successes: Plug-and-play systems offer far greater returns than large-scale, custom installations. They can be rapidly set up to meet surging demand and rapidly reconfigured when needs change.

In his new book, The Hype Machine, MIT Sloan School of Management professor Sinan Aral takes on the greatest communications force of our lifetime: social media. Aral provides an insightful, level-headed, analysis of the power, peril, and potential of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other social platforms for both organizations and society.

Resilient companies go beyond traditional forecasting and risk-assessment exercises when formulating strategy. They actively sense threats and opportunities early on, organize in response, capture value by revising business models and restructuring relationships, and renew the organizational capabilities needed to create and capture value.

Many leadership models are missing a key ingredient: sensemaking, a capability that is an essential tool for navigating change and planning through uncertainty. As our world grows more complex, and in the face of difficult, uncertain circumstances, executives need to recognize sensemaking as a crucial leadership tool and embed sensemaking processes and practices into their organizations.

Most companies treat cybersecurity as an operational issue and are often unprepared for debilitating attacks. Elevating it to a matter for strategic planning can not only improve organizational resilience but also reveal strengths, weaknesses, and new opportunities.

Developing a truly innovative strategy requires you to anticipate your own company's disruption. The Phoenix Encounter Method uses a series of exercises and workshops to imagine your organization's competitive annihilation and then develop a new strategy for disrupting yourself before a competitor can.

This case chronicles the rise of Meituan Dianping, the third largest company in China's hyper competitive e-commerce industry. Best known for its food delivery service, the company was changing the lives of hundreds of millions of consumers and millions of merchant through a suite of smartphone apps. To reach this point, the company had gone through several live or die competitive battles including the so called "Thousand Groupon War". Well positioned to ride the fast-growth wave of China's service e-commerce, there was no room for complacency. Competition was fierce and so was the pressure coming from merchants and consumers spoilt for choice. What strategies should the company implement to sustain long-term growth in the fast-evolving market?

The sharing economy promised independent workers flexibility and decent pay, but it often falls short on both fronts as platform companies put growth and profit targets first. Worker-owned cooperatives provide a model for more equitable digital business.

Customers ultimately want to pay for meaningful outcomes, not the products and services that presumably deliver them. Today, companies can be increasingly accountable for those outcomes with three kinds of technologically enhanced revenue models. Adopt one to better align your company's success with your customers satisfaction.

Simple changes to employee training can improve results. Plus: How to push past an ultimatum, the case for acquiring during a downturn, a vote for generalists, and more.

Companies struggle with innovation because they put all their chips on one innovation paradigm-what Holt calls better mousetraps. This is innovation as conceived by engineers and economists-a race to create the killer value proposition. It wins on functionality, convenience, reliability, price, or user experience. Fortunately, building better mousetraps is not the only way to innovate. In consumer markets, innovation often proceeds according to a logic Holt calls cultural innovation. Better-mousetraps innovation is organized by quantitative ambitions: Outdo your competitors on existing notions of value. Cultural innovation operates according to qualitative ambitions: Change the understanding of what is considered valuable. Holt's research and consulting reveal the strategic principles that allow companies to pursue cultural innovation. In this article he explores those principles using the stories of how the Ford Explorer reinvented the family car and how Blue Buffalo reinvented the ideology of dog food.

Given the continued risks to public health during the COVID-19 pandemic, boosting a company's risk-to-value proposition is both a financial and moral imperative. Companies that establish reputations for having safer locations will be rewarded by risk-averse clients. Leaders should keep in mind that the effectiveness of potential interventions will vary depending on their business's type of location.