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Conference designer Richard Saul Wurman describes his approach to assembling a memorable and inspirational gathering.

Companies that sell subscription model, "all-you-can-eat," digital content are boosting profits by carefully manipulating consumption.

Because executive pay policies show very little sensitivity to company value, underperformers often are overpaid, whereas top performers are underpaid.

Private equity investors in Asia are fine-tuning the art of the turnaround using three principal strategies.

An average of more than 500,000 businesses failed in the United States during each of the 10 recessions that have occurred since the end of World War II. Yet, scholarly and practitioner understanding of how to prepare for and respond to the challenges of an economic downturn remains extremely limited. This article analyzes and synthesizes the information from academic theory and business experience on managing through an economic recession. To assist firms in successfully navigating economic recessions, we suggest a program that involves positioning by holding positions in multiple markets and geographies, planning by developing a turnaround plan for facing sharply declining sales, promoting by maintaining marketing initiatives, and preparing by acting in anticipation of economic recovery.

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the laws of 11 states that permitted in-state wineries to sell wine directly to customers in those states but prevented out-of-state wineries from doing the same. While the wine decision will help wineries that serve customers via the Internet, its economic implications are much greater for markets such as real estate and automobiles. The court's broad interpretation of the Commerce Clause has the potential to eliminate many of the protectionist practices that states have developed to shield local firms from out-of-state competition, particularly that fostered by the Internet. Consumers will save an estimated $23.7 billion per year if these protectionist practices are eliminated.

Five years following China's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), foreign banks are scheduled to be granted full access to the country's vast local currency in December 2006. The foreign banks' competitive attributes, such as size and international banking experience, have facilitated their entry into China. These efforts, however, have been countered by the improving competitiveness of Chinese banks. Further prompted by high entry and operating costs in Renminbi (Rmb) business, foreign banks have engaged in different strategic responses to these challenges. All things considered, it is envisaged that only a very small number of foreign banks will be able to emerge as big players in the Chinese banking market.

Competencies in organizations can be broadly classified as employee level and organizational level. Because organizational-level competencies are embedded in employee-level competencies, the identification of the latter is important for organizations interested in using competencies to achieve competitive advantage. In this paper, we present a model of employee competencies as a means to organizational competitiveness and discuss various frameworks for identifying employee competencies. In addition to the traditional frameworks, which are more suitable for organizations functioning in a static environment, we offer two alternative frameworks that are useful in identifying competencies in a dynamic organizational environment. Once appropriate employee-level competencies are identified, a competency-based human resources system can be implemented to ensure that employees actually do possess the identified competencies.

Public relations (PR) is an important component of a firm's integrated marketing communications strategy. Once populated by such passive acts as issuing press releases and responding to press inquiries, the field has "come of age" and developed into an active part of the firm's promotional activities. Today's PR employs such techniques as event sponsorship, stunt marketing, charitable activities, and placement (the paid appearance of a firm's products within entertainment content). This paper defines contemporary PR practices and develops rules for successful implementation of these modern approaches to promotion.

Presents a conceptual framework that decomposes the overall acquisition integration process into four sequential and co-evolving processes: formulating the integration logic and performance goals, establishing the integration planning approach, executing operational integration, and executing strategic integration. Managing the strategic dynamics of acquisition integration in fast-changing competitive environments requires attention to all four processes and the feedback loops between them. An analysis of the HP-Compaq merger, however, suggests that creating a strong feedback loop between the operational integration process and the process of formulating the integration logic and performance goals is difficult. At the same time, it is needed to maintain sustained top management attention to the remaining longer term operational integration tasks and to the multiyear strategic activities necessary to meet the dynamic competitive challenges.

The market at the "bottom of the pyramid" represents an important business opportunity, provided that managers understand the challenges of reaching this huge market segment. The difficulties in designing and introducing new products and technologies are generally attributed to a lack of understanding of the local environment in these countries. However, accessing the potential market in the developing world also requires an appropriate business model. Nongovernmental organizations are uniquely positioned to develop some of the most innovative and successful business models in the developing world. For-profit organizations would do well to engage with NGOs to create effective business models to market technologies in the developing world.

Emerging economies such as India have become an increasingly important part of the global business landscape. Until recently, multinational corporations (MNCs) relied on joint ventures (JVs) with local companies to exploit these business opportunities. Lately, however, there has been a marked reduction in the formation of new JVs between MNCs and local companies. Moreover, many earlier JVs also are increasingly being terminated, often with great acrimony. Highlights how "regulatory liberalization" of the business environment in India has played a big role, directly and indirectly, in driving this change. Also demonstrates how three other factors--"resource complementarity (or lack thereof) between partners," the "race to learn" between partners, and "returns to globalization to MNC partners"--are affecting the formation of JVs in an increasingly liberalized environment.

The quest for information and research-based insight is an obsession in the capital markets. There is a veritable industry of analysts, investment bankers, portfolio managers, and investors who seek any informational advantage, which is one reason that academics who study finance have been recruited to work on Wall Street and with money managers. Yet, the potential payoff for using valid evidence is even greater when it comes to managing organizations. At the same time, however, imitation is much slower and less effective in the world of management practices, in part because such practices depend on tacit knowledge and implementation skill, on knowing not just what to do but how to do it. In addition, management practices and logic resist copying because of the power of precedent and ideology. Most managers actually try to act on the best evidence. They follow the business press, buy business books, hire consultants, and attend seminars featuring business experts. Although companies sometimes benefit from these efforts, there is surprisingly little rigorous use or serious appreciation of evidence-based management. Explores these obstacles and offers guidelines to enable managers to practice evidence-based management better.

The true role of performance measurement is to provide a means of management learning, rather than simply a means of management control. It is widely believed performance measures are essential if managers are to track progress and establish whether their organization is moving in the desired direction. In essence, this is the basic philosophy that underpins ideas of management control. However, the power of measurement extends far beyond simply tracking progress to three other areas. First, the act of deciding what to measure helps clarify the organization's strategy. Second, clear measures, underpinned by an explicit theory of how the business works, assist in the process of communicating strategy and achieving organizational alignment. Third, measurement data can be used to generate performance insights. These, in turn, can be used to challenge the tacit or explicit assumptions that are held about how the business operates. Makes explicit the hidden potential of performance measurement by highlighting how measurement systems can contribute to the organization's systems for management learning as well as management control. Also illustrates how more value can be extracted from the data that exist in organizations than has traditionally been recognized.

Ongoing efforts to reduce medical errors and enhance quality of patient care focus primarily on technological innovations. However, important management issues that underlie about two-thirds of adverse events have commanded insufficient attention. Examines two alternative management philosophies--control based and commitment based--premised on opposite sets of assumptions about human motivation, and develops a model linking the overall management philosophy with medical errors and quality of care. The current control-based culture and management systems in health care organizations are inherently inadequate in delivering high-quality patient care and safety. To bring further improvements in clinical outcomes, it is necessary to transform them. Implementing commitment-based management will foster collaboration, communication, coordination, and teamwork--the essential mechanisms for reducing medical errors and rendering high-quality health care.

Whether your goal is to develop new products or services, a new way of marketing to your customers, or to reinvent your entire business model, 'design thinking' holds valuable clues as to how to get there faster and more efficiently. The author explains how to translate inspiration into implementation, providing seven steps to turning design thinking into design doing, By consciously fostering the right kind of emotional environment and following the seven guidelines outlined herein, an organization will be well equipped to follow suit.

Dr. Richard Florida wrote the book on creativity; in fact, he wrote two. In this interview he talks about why creative capital is drawn to certain places, the fate of 'second-tier' cities, and the dangers of our increasingly 'spikey' world, whereby a handful of cities are attracting a disproportionate number of what he has termed 'the creative class'. Florida describes how the creative class is looking for three things in life: a job that excites and challenges them; a place to live that is rich with cultural activities; and an ability to 'be themselves'. Organizations - and regions - who want to attract them, should take note.

There is growing recognition that fostering a culture of innovation is critical to business success. Having optimized operations and finances, firms now recognize that growth through innovation is their best strategy to compete in a world marketplace in which some of the players may have lower-cost resources. Whether you sell consumer electronics or financial services, the frequency with which you must innovate is rapidly increasing. The author describes ten distinct 'innovation personalities' and how they contribute to an organization. In a post-disciplinary world where job descriptors can be constraining, these new roles can empower a new generation of innovators, giving individuals permission to make their own unique contribution to the social ecology and performance of a team. This article is excerpted from The Ten Faces of Innovation: IDEO's Strategies for Beating the Devil's Advocate & Driving Creativity Throughout Your Organization (Doubleday, 2005).

Organizations are increasingly dependent on diverse teams for developing innovative products and improving efficiency, and they will be more efficient if they bring together a diverse set of experts to solve complex problems. Working in diverse teams can be challenging, however: although more perspectives may be beneficial, the very nature of team diversity can make it difficult for team members to communicate, coordinate their work, and perform. To better understand how diversity influences teams, the authors discuss different types of diversity and how they relate to information use, focusing on two types of diversity that are particularly relevant to the performance of complex cognitive tasks: diversity of education and of nationality.

Creative enterprises bring together contributions from of a wide variety of individuals, making the effective management of creativity a key focus for such organizations. Managers face two serious challenges in increasing the creativity of their organizations, says the author: first, the cost of investing in creativity is immediate, while the benefits often won't be apparent for a long time; and second, the demands of day-to-day operations often push creativity aside. It is up to managers to recognize the strategic importance of creativity and keep it front and center. The author provides six strategies for building creative organizations along with tips for both hiring and managing creative people. Along the way he shows that the challenge before us is much broader than encouraging innovation: it lies in cultivating a creative approach and curiosity in life and work, challenging and testing our current mental models, and engaging in active experimentation with new mindsets and approaches.