Service complexity: managing a house of cards (really)
Ivey Business Journal 6/23/2010
by Barry Cross
A Bain & Company study recently indicated that most top-level executives believe their businesses are too complex. The result of this complexity is increased costs and hampered growth as employees struggle to make sense of their service portfolio. Each "product" their organization offers requires training, support, space, marketing, and work, and increases the complexity for front-line staff. Their customers feel the same way. Give fewer choices, but really deliver on service and quality.
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On Wall Street, so much cash, so little time
The New York Times 6/23/2010
by Julie Creswell
Private equity funds generally tie up investors' money for 10 years. But they typically must invest all the money within the first three to five years of the funds' life. For giant buyout funds raised in 2006 and 2007, at the height of the bubble, time is short. While investing in private equity will probably be more lucrative than investing in public markets, "those are far from the gross returns of the mid- to high teens that we saw a few years ago," said Mr. MacArthur, head of global private equity at the consulting firm Bain & Company.
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Bain & Company: mining for gold and investment returns
Net Promoter 6/17/2010
by John Abraham
Christophe De Vusser, partner in Bain & Company's Brussels office,presents on why delighting customers can delight investors too. He gives a view of how to use Net Promoter Score (NPS) to accelerate sales, in the context of private equity firms post-acquisition.
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Survey examines why women aren't climbing the corporate ladder
The Daily Pennsylvanian 6/16/2010
by Valentina Zarya
In the appropriately titled survey "The Great Disappearing Act: Gender Parity in the Workplace," Bain & Company attributes the lack of progress of women in the workplace to: a perception gap between genders on the current state of gender parity; a deep-rooted societal belief that women are better caregivers; and business' lack of sustained commitment to increasing gender parity.
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Economic woes may herald slew of deals
Financial Times 6/14/2010
by Rachel Sanderson
Claudia D'Arpizio, a consultant with Bain & Company, believes mergers and polarization in the luxury industry "may well create fertile conditions for market concentration". As the largest luxury companies take advantage of the weakness of smaller ones in order to increase their market share, the search for capital triggers M&A and IPOs. Continued challenging conditions for lagging brands also create the risk of failures and bankruptcies.
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