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Reports
Unleashing the power of corporate information resources Information is a critical corporate asset—whether it is in the form of internal sales and accounting data or insights into markets and competitors. However, taking advantage of corporate information is increasingly difficult in today's environment of multiple media, mushrooming sources of information, and global or dispersed operations. Often, disparate stores of information around the world are virtually inaccessible to all but a small number of employees. Enterprise portals enter this breach by providing highly convenient, easy-to-use desktop systems for accessing, manipulating, and sharing disparate information from throughout the enterprise as well as from the global Internet. Though companies must overcome major hurdles to implement enterprise portals, an increasing number of organizations are willing to do so because of the technology's potential payoffs: faster and better decision making, more efficient operations, and improved communication with their businesses and with customers, suppliers, and partners. This report examines the options and significant challenges that companies face in implementing the still-emerging set of tools and techniques in corporate portals. Author: Thomas F. Horan. Executive Contacts and Report Recipients will receive this document automatically.
Making your company an employer of choice Today, economic and demographic forces have converged to turn the old management saw "People are our most important asset" into a hard reality. Companies in every industry find that they must expend ever-more energy, attention, and money to attract and retain the people power necessary to fuel their growth. The Industrial Age paradigm that once managed scarcity in land and capital so effectively does not apply when the scarce resource is talent: The key factor in knowledge-based economies is access to brain power. Even the availability of capital has become less of a constraint on productivity than the availability of talented individuals. Suddenly, an employees' market is at hand. The balance of power in many organizations is shifting. This report examines the factors that are driving this shift and identifies the tools and techniques that the trailblazers in this new environment are using to cope with the challenges. Major initiatives include the development of employee-centered management techniques, delivery of continuous development opportunities to employees, and the creation of benefits packages that allow employees to balance their work and personal lives. Author: Diane McGinty Weston. Executive Contacts and Report Recipients will receive this document automatically. Insights
In the race to snag the best talent, Cisco Systems and other top-performing companies have gained a reputation for savvy use of the Internet and information-systems technology. But these employers recognize that technology is primarily an enabler in their recruiting processes: Innovative thinking and a large dose of personal attention are still essential to attract and keep the top talent. Effective recruiting for the next decade will require strong, parallel processes that combine high-technology and high-touch approaches, and marrying these two elements will call for rethinking recruiting processes to make them effective in the current business environment. For example, companies are increasingly asking recruiters to think like salespeople and to learn to "sell" their companies and jobs to prospects. In turn, a clear need exists to create a pipeline of talent that is ready to step into demanding jobs on short notice. Some leaders are finding analogies between supply-chain management and recruitment: Talent is the scarce resource that companies must manage and ration, and a clear need exists to find and cultivate sources of "supply" if businesses are to have the flexibility they need to stay competitive. Author: Diane McGinty Weston. 19 pages. Index Keywords: Human Resources; Information Technology; Labor Force; Strategic Planning; Training.
Proprietary technology platforms to manufacture DNA microarrays, or DNA chips, have become increasingly available in the past 12 months, heightening commercial interest in the technology. Moreover, as barriers to entry fall, competition in the field is heating up. Cost, density, and slide reproducibility and reliability are important differentiators in this competitive environment, but even more important today is the ability to offer end users analytical systems that integrate a spectrum of activities, from sample preparation through analysis. Following fast in the footsteps of industry pioneer Affymetrix, companies are vying to produce low-cost automated systems, primarily by improving on the core manufacturing technology. In the near future, applications in pharmaceutical research are likely to extend beyond today's dominant methodology, gene expression, to include emerging areas such as toxicology screening, genetic-variation analysis, and protein analysis. When applications expand in this way, the informational value that they represent will be dramatically greater than today's technology provides. The market will take off accordingly. Competition to provide affordable and more accessible microarrays is intensifying, luring both established players and new entrants. Ultimately, analysts predict that microarrays will do for biological experimentation what microprocessors did for computing power: open the door to parallelism, miniaturization, and automation. Authors: Andrew Broderick and David J. Roughley. 20 pages. Index Keywords: Biotechnology; Genetic Engineering; Medical Research; Nanotechnology; Product Development.
With the rise of public concern about online privacy issues, the U.S. government has had to consider seriously three major online consumer privacy bills. Recently, high-profile firms have shifted the privacy debate by stepping forward to give their blessing to government legislation, with the hopes of minimizing and influencing what laws come out of Congress. The passage of any of the three major bills under consideration will have huge implications for online and offline businesses. One of the major issues under consideration is whether consumers have the ability to opt out or opt in. Opt-out policies put the burden of protecting privacy on consumers, whereas an opt-in policy would require much more time and effort by firms. However, the question comes down to how much control consumers require to feel secure online. If a consumer backlash is imminent because of lack of control over one's own information, then an opt-in policy may be the most beneficial for businesses to adopt. This study reviews the technological advances and business practices that are alarming individuals. It analyzes and dissects the implications of private-sector initiatives, such as specific civil liberty groups, online seal programs, standard-setting bodies, and self-regulating industry organizations. It also examines the three major bills under consideration in the Senate, evaluating their content and implications for business. Author: Paula Lubreski. 17 pages. Index Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Electronic Commerce; Information Technology; Internet; Technology Trends. Scan
Cisco Systems depends on 37 manufacturing facilities to create its line of products. Of those 37, Cisco owns only 2. The rest are partners whose operations are tightly coupled with Cisco through network technologies. The Internet has dramatically transformed the way successful companies do business, and "business webs" are all the rage in the strategic management press. But multinational corporations don't have the luxury of working with a clean slate, building the company from day one based on partner relationships as Cisco did. Most corporations must face the transformation from the opposite direction: How does one create fast-moving, nimble partner relationships from a huge, integrated corporation having a plethora of legacy systems? Most corporations have begun the process by reorganizing the company, breaking up old business entities into new, customer-facing groupings to push them closer to the market. The process is incredibly difficult, however, especially when compared to the ease with which a small new company can build a fast and flexible network of partners. But business as usual is not an option—large corporations must be able to compete effectively with new companies using new business models. The results of early efforts indicate that a clustering of spin-offs, subsidiaries, and acquisitions—the cluster conglomerate—may be a viable means for large companies to find their own way in the network economy. News The summaries below describe current activities and programs not included in the B-I-P membership but of potential interest to members. New Report from Media Futures The revenue (equipment plus service) stemming from the business of talking on the phone will exceed $1 trillion worldwide during 2000. Moreover, all the growth in voice-services revenue since 1996 has derived from the mobile sector. As this sector has developed, mobile industries have adopted business models that are distinct from those in the computer, Internet, and pay-TV industries. According to Mobile-Data Business Models, a new report from Media Futures, now that wireless industries are expanding the menu of wireless offerings to include Internet, audiovisual entertainment, and transactions, business models must change in response to the demand for new services, competition from alternative providers, and the need to encourage development of high-quality content that can generate traffic on the mobile networks. For more information about Media Futures, telephone: Consumer Financial Decisions Several life events dominate typical consumer life stages: employment status, number of household heads, household formation, and the presence of children. Households tend to pass through the various life stages along a fairly predictable path, barring any trauma. Our ongoing analysis of the life-stage segmentation revealed a gap: households past the formative stages, not yet in the thick of retirement planning, that do not have, have not had, and do not plan to have children. They are Child Free. Child Free: Financially Uninvolved or Financially Underserved?—a new report from Consumer Financial Decisions—examines these households. Financial institutions seeking to serve the roughly 7.5 million Child-Free households need to take into account the differences that this report describes when designing new products, services, and marketing materials. For more information about the Consumer Financial Decisions program, telephone: |
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