Decision making and problem solving

A research roundup

What are my goals? Do I have the right strategy? Can I execute the strategy?

To meet the challenges of a complex world, strategic planners need to understand the differences between the four elements of VUCA--volatility, uncertainty,...

Snowden and Boone have formed a new perspective on leadership and decision making that's based on complexity science. The result is the Cynefin framework,...

The critical path method (CPM), one of a variety of quantitative tools for business decision-making, is a simple technique for analyzing, planning, and...

Why do people start businesses? For the money and the chance to control their own companies, certainly. But new research from Harvard Business School...

The information revolution is sweeping through our economy. No company can escape its effects. Dramatic reductions in the cost of obtaining, processing, and transmitting information are changing the way we do business. Most general managers know that the revolution is under way, and few dispute its importance. As more and more of their time and […]

Three ways perfectionists self-sabotage.

The management of a company that I shall call Stygian Chemical Industries, Ltd., must decide whether to build a small plant or a large one to manufacture a new product with an expected market life of ten years. The decision hinges on what size the market for the product will be. Possibly demand will be […]

Six practices to sharpen your inquiry.

Judgment--the ability to combine personal qualities with relevant knowledge and experience to form opinions and make decisions--is "the core of exemplary...

Disruption isn’t the only approach.

Research shows that enterprises fail at execution because they go straight to structural reorganization and neglect the most powerful drivers of effectivenessa€”decision rights and information flow.

In many industries the balance of power has shifted from buyers to suppliers. Companies that have gotten into a weak position need to tackle the problem...

Many leaders I work with struggle with strategy. They know it’s important to have strategies in order to align decision making in their businesses. They understand that they can’t observe and control everything in their organizations (much as many of them would like to). They earnestly want to develop good strategies and they get the […]

Effective executives do not make a great many decisions. They concentrate on what is important. They try to make the few important decisions on the highest level of conceptual understanding. They try to find the constants in a situation, to think through what is strategic and generic rather than to “solve problems.” They are, therefore, […]

Step one: Don’t be ashamed of your fear.

Corporate executives must constantly look backward, attending to the products and processes of the past, while also gazing forward, preparing for the...

But simple doesn't mean easy.

The influence of history on an organization is a powerful but often overlooked force. Managers, in their haste to build companies, frequently fail to...

When Jim Weddle took over as Managing Partner of Edward Jones in January 2006, the brokerage firm was at a critical juncture. The firm's distinctive strategy...

The media frequently report on the high cost of various health-related treatments. As there is a limit to the resources available to public and private...

The strong, public advocacy of a highly successful African American CEO has the potential to negatively impact his company. The CEO is deciding if he...

AquaSafi Purification Systems Pvt. Ltd. (AquaSafi) was a social enterprise that aimed to provide clean water to people in the developing world. The organization...

Megan Méza is a half-Mexican female entrepreneur who quit her high-paying job in marketing to launch Bandida, a cold-brew horchata beverage brand. As...

This case is designed to support a discussion of how to apply an economic evaluation of the appropriate level of control of an externality to a real problem...

An entrepreneur has a venture idea that he believes can be successful. After his family's farm was sold to a company, the entrepreneur was contacted by...

In 2016, the owner of a small community bakery in Strathroy, Ontario, was planning the future of her business, since the lease on the store would expire...

Presents the 7-S framework. This framework offers managers a tool for diagnosing problems in their organizations and for proposing corrective courses...

WaveRider Communications, Inc., a Toronto-based company, had a mission to become the leader in global wireless technology by developing, selling, and...

Describes a dilemma faced by Citibank's country manager for Indonesia. His superiors have asked him to raise his profit goal for 1984. But to produce...

A unit manager on a field computer installation job is faced with recurring conflict between a programmer and his immediate supervisor.

This case chronicles a change process to counteract the epidemic of HIV/AIDS on a coal mine in South Africa that impacts the sustainability of the organization....

In May 2016, a business student from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, was considering expanding his print advertising business, which he had been operating out...

Lower middle-level manager is faced with the need to bring about a change in the call patterns of the sales force selling her product. Based on an earlier...

On March 27, 2000, Jamie Dimon was hired as CEO to turn around Bank One. Describes the issues he faces, as he prepares to present an action plan to the...

The owner/operator of an ice cream store has an opportunity to expand his product line to include soft-serve ice cream. He needs to analyze the costs...

Examines various approaches to measuring investment performance. The approaches include the use of risk exposure and the Sharpe and Information Ratios....

The popularity of hedge funds grew in the volatile markets surrounding the technology bubble. Hedge funds take both long and short investment positions...

A research roundup

What are my goals? Do I have the right strategy? Can I execute the strategy?

To meet the challenges of a complex world, strategic planners need to understand the differences between the four elements of VUCA--volatility, uncertainty,...

Snowden and Boone have formed a new perspective on leadership and decision making that's based on complexity science. The result is the Cynefin framework,...

The critical path method (CPM), one of a variety of quantitative tools for business decision-making, is a simple technique for analyzing, planning, and...

Why do people start businesses? For the money and the chance to control their own companies, certainly. But new research from Harvard Business School...

The information revolution is sweeping through our economy. No company can escape its effects. Dramatic reductions in the cost of obtaining, processing, and transmitting information are changing the way we do business. Most general managers know that the revolution is under way, and few dispute its importance. As more and more of their time and […]

Three ways perfectionists self-sabotage.

The management of a company that I shall call Stygian Chemical Industries, Ltd., must decide whether to build a small plant or a large one to manufacture a new product with an expected market life of ten years. The decision hinges on what size the market for the product will be. Possibly demand will be […]

Six practices to sharpen your inquiry.