Power of leadership economics
by Ashish Singh and Chris Zook
In these times of economic uncertainty, positions of leadership are particularly powerful. Leadership economics means finding an area of unique strength to build on—a set of customer situations, channels, locations, or products where you have some competitive advantage. Companies can use this power to quickly build a leading market presence in an area close to their core.
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Management Tools for turbulent times
by Darrell Rigby and Barbara Bilodeau
Since 1993, Bain & Company's global Management Tools and Trends surveys have been an excellent gauge of the business climate. That remains true today. In an extraordinary time, the 2009 questionnaire produced a telling set of findings. Benchmarking, a cost-cutting tool, was the most heavily used among the 25 tools surveyed. Outsourcing, another way to reduce costs, jumped to No. 4, while Business Process Reengineering remained on the Top Ten list. As another indication of where executives feel their companies are headed, the vast majority-88 percent-of those who downsized in 2008 plan more cuts in 2009. And only 24 percent of executives believe that today's market leaders will still lead in five years.
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Years represented above show tool rankings from the first year, the midpoint of our studies, and the two most recent years of the survey results