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Old methods of decision making, such as incrementalism and "rational" decision making don't meet the needs of a world with too much information and too little time. A new model allows one to make decisions with partial information and to adapt to new information as it becomes available. Adaptive or "humble" decision making involves two sets of judgments: broad, basic choices about an organization's goals and policies; and small, experimental decisions based on in-depth examination of a focused subset of facts and choices. Managers can use humble decision making to increase the flexibility and adaptability of their decisions.

A customer satisfaction guarantee is meaningless if customers must jump through hoops whenever they complain. To satisfy them, it is necessary to make immediate amends--by giving employees both the obligation and the authority to honor a guarantee on their own and on the spot. In restaurants this may mean giving away drinks and food or picking up a check. Although this initially incurs high costs, each time something is given away a problem that can be fixed is identified. Finding and correcting the ultimate cause of each system failure leads to fewer complaints, higher sales, and lower costs.

Executives who don't usually interview candidates for management positions can benefit from first writing a job description specific enough to cover the position's details but general enough to cover its managerial aspects. This exercise forms the basis of a written interview guide which helps the interviewer elicit the most pertinent and useful information in each interview. Focusing on applicants' past performance and framing questions in a way that calls for revealing answers is the best approach. Revelations about past behavior are in any case the best indicator of future performance.

A few years ago, Northern Telecom, Inc. (NTI) set up a council of division heads and headquarters managers to devise a manufacturing plan for the 1990s. It began by listing things NTI had to do--surprisingly, all items had to do with meeting customer needs faster. New pay incentives, profit-and-loss statements, and training sessions supported the new direction. NTI's experience shows that time-based strategy is achievable and rewarding; the receiving cycle is shorter, inventories and defects are down, and customer satisfaction is fast approaching the 1990 goal.

Growing a global organization is like growing a garden: there must be a proper fit between organization and environment. Achieving that fit means starting by decomposing the corporate center. Global companies need several regional headquarters. They must also make sure their far-flung managers have a shared identity, which comes from instilling a shared set of values. Global competitors invest in markets for the long haul. The shortsightedness of governments or the short-term setbacks of a downturn shouldn't prevent a company from considering the whole world a garden, ready for cultivation.

Successful general managers stress fundamentals. Whatever their leadership style, they invariably focus their efforts on the six tasks that lay the foundation for effective performance: shaping the work environment, setting strategy, allocating resources, developing managers, building the organization, and overseeing operations. Together these tasks are the key to setting priorities and making the right things happen.

The notion of "corporate culture" has received widespread attention in the past several years. But what is meant by the term and why should managers be concerned with it? Culture can be thought of as a mechanism for social control. As such, culture is important for both the implementation of strategy and as a mechanism for generating commitment among organizational members. Based on a comparison of strong culture organizations, ranging from cults and religious organizations to strong culture firms, this article argues that culture and commitment result from: systems of participation that rely on processes of incremental commitment; management as symbolic action that helps employees interpret their reasons for working; strong and consistent cues from fellow workers that focus attention and shape attitudes and behavior; and comprehensive reward systems that use recognition and approval. These techniques characterize "strong culture" organizations.

A new trademark law took effect January 1, 1989, that clarifies the basis for taking competitors to federal court for making reckless claims in comparative advertising. Comparative advertisers can make themselves less vulnerable to attack by not running ads that make false claims, that contradict the facts, or that use the truth to mislead, among other things.

In this case study, presented in the form of electronic mail messages sent within Middleton Mutual, the CIO is trying to introduce the company to expert systems. But the new systems would cost about $1 million, and the capital expenditure committee is leaning against the idea. Irma Wyman, vice president of corporate information management for Honeywell, Inc.; Thomas L. Pettibone, vice president, information systems, for New York Life Insurance Co.; John D. Loewenberg, senior vice president, corporate information systems, Aetna Life & Casualty; and Diogo Teixeira, systems consultant at McKinsey & Co. discuss the case.

As "1992" approaches, Europeans must compete in world markets or see their businesses fail. Wisse Dekker looks at the forces that have led Europeans to realize that it is companies, not countries, which must compete. He foresees widespread industry shakeouts and heightened competition for all companies. Dekker does not envision a European "fortress" closed to Japanese and U.S. companies, but believes that reciprocity should be the guiding principle in trade negotiations and that value added and the transfer of technology should be paramount in evaluating investments.

For a long time VideoStar Connections, Inc. had supplied Digital Equipment Corp. with temporary satellite networks for private TV programs. When a Digital contract for a permanent TV installation went to a new competitor, VideoStar was forced to take a fresh look at its business. Self-examination revealed the importance of the customer's perception of the business, the product, and its own needs. VideoStar's response was to determine what business to aim for, to summon help from customers and suppliers, and to build long-term relationships through its sales force to garner operational support and maintenance contracts.

American Hospital Supply's order-entry system represents a trend toward "electronic markets," networks that allow customers to compare and order from competing suppliers. By cutting transaction costs, electronic markets make it cheaper to buy than to make many products and will lead to more market activity and fewer vertically integrated companies. Customers like the efficiency and convenience of electronic sales channels but want to choose among different vendors. Business can take advantage of the trend by creating electronic markets - alone or as part of an industry group.

In today's borderless economy managers must see and think globally. Increasingly, managers and consumers all over the world speak a common language, and people everywhere can see what choices and preferences are in other countries. Companies must learn to become insiders in each market of the Triad--North America, Europe, and Japan. A headquarters mentality often prevents this; managers want to apply a home-country solution to a foreign situation or intervene in the management of the foreign market. This is reinforced by entrenched systems, structures, and behaviors. The key is to develop an equidistant view of all customers.

This book review of Robert Axelrod's The Evolution of Cooperation and Robert H. Frank's Passions Within Reason questions whether "self-interest" is really the definition of ethical behavior, as past thinkers such as Adam Smith and Charles Darwin would have us believe.

New product development is essential to revitalize companies. The process cannot succeed unless everyone contributes--general managers, marketers, engineers, designers, and manufacturing executives. A novel approach to facilitate this cooperation is the "new product development map," which gives managers a better sense of where to go by sharpening the picture of where they've been. A fictitious product line, Coolidge Corporation's vacuum cleaners, is used to show how to construct a map and develop discussion around it.

Western observers of global business, impressed with how much Asian cultures differ from those of North America and Europe, tend to think of Japan, China, and Korea as practicing much the same forms of business relationships. But although East Asian cultures have in common an emphasis on personal relationships as the foundation of business practices, the forms and values of these relationships differ markedly among the Japanese, Chinese, and Koreans. For the Japanese, the important concept is wa, or the emphasis on group loyalty, harmony, and consensus; emotional support and a long-term perspective are important. The Chinese, on the other hand, think in terms of guanxi, the special arrangements of favor-sharing that an individual has with other individuals; personal loyalties within such arrangements are more important than loyalty to an organization. Koreans emphasize inhwa, which relates to harmony between unequals and derives from the Confucian ideal of loyalty to parents, elders, and authority figures. Non-Asians hoping to do business effectively in East Asia need to understand how these concepts all translate into quite different norms of business practice.

Catching problems early is important to managers, and the best way to find out about developing headaches is to have subordinates tell you. This depends on candor and trust, but both have strict natural limits. Managers must carefully nurture trust and be aware of the six areas critical to its development: communication, support, respect, fairness, predictability, and competence. But managers must also watch for telltale signs of trouble. Managers must develop a communication network based on properly using, spreading, and creating information.

Selling industrial goods has become more complicated in recent years. It is more likely to be the domain of teams that handle large accounts by coordinating their efforts across product lines. Even without formal teams, greater coordination is often required to land the sale and keep the customer. Three concerns have the most serious effect on coordination with an account-sharing strategy: compensation systems, goal setting, and staffing and training.

A major obstacle to the implementation of information technology is the lack of understanding between company technical experts and senior managers. One way to blend both perspectives is to establish a task force that solicits input from management and creates a set of principles to guide subsequent investments in IT. By drawing on 10 to 15 statements that reflect management's basic beliefs about how the company should use IT, the task force translates the language of corporate strategy into computerese. These statements, or principles, can help speed up the decision-making process and ensure that every IT investment helps the company achieve its strategic goals.

Although construction is one of the riskiest things any company will do, upper management often ignores the risk or treats it as if it's uncontrollable. Construction risk, however, can be analyzed and managed by using seven steps. Analyzing risk is largely a matter of assessing the complexity of the building, the site, the financing, the schedule, and the special uses and problems of the project. This analysis then drives the choice of contract and contractor.