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Japan is organized in a fundamentally different way from the economies of the rest of the industrialized world. It is a nation girded by cartels and bound by keiretsu, or families of interrelated businesses, which would seem alien and even illegal in the United States. Pure cartels have great power over Japan's markets. Even political parties operate like cartels. U.S. businesses cannot merely wait for the Japanese to accept fair trade policies as determined by governments of the West. They must be alert for opportunities to join keiretsu, use U.S. political muscle, and exploit any openings in Japan's closely knit business network.

Europe's capitalist system may be better suited to meet the demands of a global economy than its American or Japanese counterparts. In the years ahead, every country must face the challenge of incorporating diverse groups under one roof and improving the quality of life for all. Here Europe's history gives its managers a decided advantage. Because their national markets are small, European companies have long been internationally oriented. And unlike their peers in the United States or Japan, European managers are accustomed to working within the bounds of an implicit social compact. A new generation of "Europreneurs," such as Edzard Reuter of Daimler-Benz and Percy Barnevik of ABB, has appeared to meet the challenges of emerging global markets.

While it is easy to recognize leadership in action, defining the essence of leadership is hard because it cannot be reduced to a set of personal attributes or particular activities. Intent on capturing the essence of leadership, Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne turned to lessons that Kim had learned as a youth in the temples of Korea's Kyung Nam province. These lessons dealt with the qualities that define true leaders. Their points were made through stories, not through statistics or research. Thus they provided the inspiration for five parables of leadership.

Behind Nike's catchy slogans and flashy TV commercials is the vision of founder, chairman, and CEO Phil Knight. Knight has taken Nike from a small-time distributor of Japanese track shoes to the top of the athletic shoe and apparel market. He has transformed his technology company into a marketing company whose product is its most important marketing tool. Knight learned how to build brands and understand consumers, and then how to split those brands into sub-brands to help keep the company growing. That approach brought Nike to a broader range of consumers while preserving the customer base. To create an emotional tie with the consumer, Nike started advertising on TV. "Sports is at the heart of American culture," Knight says. "You can't explain much in 60 seconds, but when you show Michael Jordan, you don't have to. It's that simple."

Keeping up with technology is getting more difficult for companies as the pace of innovation quickens. Today innovations are increasingly coming from outside industries--a textile company that develops a new fiber, for example, can revolutionize the building materials industry. By fusing technologies, companies can create new products, markets, and industries, and remain ahead of their competitors. Technology fusion blends several previously separate fields of existing technology. Three fundamental principles can help companies implement a fusion strategy. First, let the market drive R&D, not the other way around, through a process called "demand articulation." Second, develop a strong intelligence gathering capability both as a defense mechanism against competitors and as a source of new ideas. Third, and most important, take part in cross-industry R&D projects.

The boardmembers of Minute Publishing must decide the fate of the company's three-year-old national newspaper, America Today. They can either follow the advice of CEO Neil Harcum, who implores them to continue the paper's publication, or CFO Peter Rawson, who wants to shut down the presses. Both sides have convincing arguments. Harcum has a proven track record of making newspapers profitable. He argues that Minute "cannot allow the beancounters to set policy." Rawson, on the other hand, explains that America Today is losing $100 million a year and has broken Minute's 20-year string of earning gains. In making its decision, Minute's board will also be choosing a new CEO. Harcum is retiring at the end of the year and doesn't want Rawson to take his place.

America, a nation once celebrated for its irrepressible optimism, now appears to be obsessed by "declinism"--the idea that something is fundamentally wrong with the U.S. economy, and until it is fixed, America will neither compete effectively in global markets nor provide an adequate standard of living for its citizens. The real challenge facing American society is not reversing economic decline; it is addressing the social implications of the new economy--in particular, how to reinvent America's double commitment to economic opportunity and social equality. Ironically, too great a preoccupation with decline may keep American society from getting on with the job.

Media critics charge that CEOs with outrageous salaries are running U.S. corporations into the ground. Politicians claim overpaid CEOs are the root cause of the U.S. competitiveness problem. Add a recessionary business climate to the fact that some CEOs earn 130 times more than their lowest paid employees and you have the makings of a populist rebellion. Most U.S. corporations use stock compensation to link company long-term performance to executive salaries. Rather than cut executive pay, corporations should extend incentive-based compensation plans to all employees, thus narrowing the salary gap and establishing pay-for-performance at every level of the organization.

Managers are right to break down the boundaries that make organizations rigid and unresponsive. But once the traditional boundaries of hierarchy, function, and geography disappear, a new set of boundaries becomes important. These new boundaries are psychological rather than tangible and they reflect the dimensions of authority, task identification, politics, and personal identity encountered by all employees in any company.

Manufacturing companies now face the challenge of globally integrating their operations. Multinationals can no longer rely on sheer size and geographic reach to dominate the volatile global arena. By integrating far-flung plants into tightly connected, distributed production systems, companies can seize the opportunity for a new manufacturing scale advantage. In becoming globally integrated, companies must balance the tension between a central authority and independent units. They must also focus specific changes in functions by articulating a vision shared by the entire organization.

Sony's chairman addresses the present deterioration of U.S.-Japan relations and offers his view of how the two countries can patch up their differences and work as partners toward mutual economic success. He argues that the mistrust and fear embodied in "bashers" and protectionists on both sides are holding back a relationship of historic importance. Morita suggests that by moving more manufacturing operations to the United States, Japan can make meaningful contributions to revitalizing the U.S. economy. Japanese capital added to American technology can create new competitive companies that are beneficial to both sides.

Establishing competitive advantage and creating shareholder value both stem from a common economic framework. The stock market values the long-term productivity of companies. It is not necessary to depart from the shareholder-value model to improve a company's competitive position. Maximum returns for current shareholders will materialize only when managers maximize long-term shareholder value and deliver interim results that attest credibly to sustainable competitive advantage.

Globe Metallurgical Inc., a $115 million supplier for specialty metals, is best known as the first small company to win the Baldrige Award in 1988. But there is more to this company than total quality. During the 1980s, Globe transformed itself from a rust-belt has-been on the verge of bankruptcy into a high-technology, high-quality industry leader. The company also underwent a management-led leveraged buyout, embraced flexible work teams, adopted a high value-added niche marketing strategy, and took its business global. Leading the way was Chief Executive Arden C. Sims, who is interviewed here.

Singapore is well on the way to becoming the first fully networked society, in which all homes, schools, businesses, and government agencies will be interconnected to an electronic grid. Through development of a superior infrastructure and world-class transportation and materials-handling facilities, Singapore has created an extremely attractive environment for multinational business on all levels. The ability of any country with few natural advantages to bring itself to the forefront of technological and economic competitiveness holds important lessons for other countries and organizations. However, Singapore's astounding achievement is due in large part to governmental control.

Many people believe that there is some single, overarching approach to business ethics: e.g., serve the shareholders, serve the stakeholders, or follow your conscience. In reality, however, the search for a grand, unifying principle of management morality often leads to frustration and cynicism. The moral dilemmas managers face are, in essence, clashes among very different spheres of responsibility. This article describes each of these spheres and presents a framework for resolving conflicts among them.

Through strategy, a company seeks to sustain its competitive advantage. Yet only recently has the study of strategy begun to examine how long a specific advantage can be sustained. Based on a study of sustainability patterns in a number of industries, this article shows how the competitive pressures associated with product imitation can be predicted by identifying the core capabilities, or isolating mechanisms, that lie at the heart of a company's advantage. A number of these dynamic core capabilities are classified according to how fast they are duplicated. The imitation of capabilities shape many strategic decisions in companies, indeed the distinctive character of companies, and that by thinking in these terms managers enhance their company's cohesiveness and responsiveness as they pursue their strategic mission in global markets.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Do you consider distribution and inventory costs when you design products? Can you keep your customers informed of when their orders will arrive? Do you know what kind of inventory control systems your dealers use? If not, you've succumbed to the pitfalls of inventory management. You're not alone. Manufacturers have been concentrating on quality of incoming materials and outgoing products, but they haven't been paying as much attention to the costs associated with transporting and storing them. Describes 14 pitfalls of supply chain management and some corresponding opportunities. The more complex your network of suppliers, manufacturers, and distributors, the more likely you can gain operational efficiencies by attending to inventory.

As the executive responsible for vision at Mentor Graphics, Gerard Langeler discovered that vision has the power to weaken a strong company. In its early days, Mentor's motto was Build Something People Will Buy. When clear competition emerged from Daisy Systems, Mentor's watchword became Beat Daisy. Both of these visions were pragmatic and immediate, giving Mentor a sense of purpose as it gained momentum. Once Daisy was beaten, however, company vision began to self-inflate. The final escalation came when Mentor Graphics decided to Change the Way the World Designs. The company had stopped making products and was making poetry. Finally, in 1991, Mentor went back to basics.

Discusses a manager's responsibilities in reporting and ending sexual harassment. Jerry Tarkwell discovers that one of his employees is being sexually harassed by a colleague. When he tells the harassed employee that he has reported the incident to the company equal employment opportunity officer, she asks him not to pursue the matter because she is afraid her career might be ruined by an investigation. Tarkwell is torn between his duty to keep the workplace safe from sexual harassment by following company policy, and the victim's wish for privacy. Five experts on sexual harassment offer their views.

Although the number of women managers has grown, they are still usually found in junior positions. Many companies hire women only to ensure mere adequacy and avoid litigation. In addition, most companies ignore child care and other family concerns. At the same time women have demonstrated their competence in the best business schools, their ambitions and energies are stifled by businesses. Top managers must support their female employees by: 1) acknowledging the biological fact of maternity; 2) allowing flexibility; 3) providing training that develops women's leadership potential; and 4) eliminating the barriers that exist for women in the workplace.