Why Innovation Isn’t Working at 82% of Surveyed Companies
An Accenture study explains why increased innovation investments haven’t resulted in competitive advantages for companies – and why their executives are disappointed with the companies’ innovation performance. May 14, 2013 When you make a major investment in innovation, you want a good return on your investment, right? Well, hundreds of senior executives admit to disappointment [...]
[Read more...]Where the Action is for U.S. Small Business Growth
Valuable insights for getting a competitive edge are contained in a financial-service firm’s report – it provides details on the U.S. markets experiencing rapid small-business growth. With so many businesses having trouble getting capital and some Silicon Valley startups facing a Series A funding crunch, this is obviously a soft economy. So, it’s important to [...]
[Read more...]Increase Your Business Value with 5 Basic BPO Strategies
For your company to achieve higher performance, you often need to enhance your business processes. In essence, this means turning your attention to business process optimization (BPO), which is a holistic approach. The benefits: With BPO, you’ll be able to evaluate and authenticate your existing practices and create new processes via imagined situations. It’ll [...]
[Read more...]Make the Best Investment to Sustain Your Career
No matter what you do for a living, there’s one investment on which you can count to improve your career. Furthermore, it’s applicable for any situation and won’t cost you any money. Huh? Despite being a complimentary basis, a strong mentor will pay big dividends – whether you’re just starting your career, have years [...]
[Read more...]4 Ways to Solve 6 Uncertainties in Project Management
Seemingly negative surprises have often been perceived as insurmountable, but that’s not always the situation in project management. By innovatively spotting opportunities in uncertainties, the results often exceed initial expectations in budgeting, quality and scheduling. That’s the lesson according to an academic report. “Challenging Classic Project Management: Turning Project Uncertainties into Business Opportunities” was [...]
[Read more...]Tips for Marketing Your HR-Policy Changes to Employees
So you’ve identified workplace policies that need to be updated. But you want your policies to be accepted and followed by your employees. Employees are often uncomfortable with change even if it’s seemingly drastic but necessary for a business turnaround. You might recall the hysteria over Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s telecommuting ban. It was [...]
[Read more...]Planning Tips for Successful Business Retreats in a Difficult Economy
Some employees and board members like retreats. Some don’t. Many retreats aren’t popular because they’re viewed as a waste of time and money — particularly, in a challenging marketplace. So, decide whether you need one and can afford it. How do you make sure you stage a successful retreat? You need more than a [...]
[Read more...]Strategic Planning – Profit Lessons from Companies That Focus Long Term
To alleviate uncertainty in business and to grow profits, it’s increasingly clear that businesspeople must keep an open mind to seek opportunities, be bold and plan long term. In other words, companies that change their business models in order to become sustainable enjoy higher profits. That’s the conclusion from a 2013 study by MIT [...]
[Read more...]Setting Goals: Alleviate Uncertainty with 8 Best Practices
Whatever your entrepreneurial dreams, focusing on the right details is a skill conducive for setting goals strategically. However, if management doesn’t ponder enough on action-oriented details, goals are inordinately difficult to achieve. That’s really true in our new economy in which ever-increasing change makes for surprises in a dynamic marketplace. To alleviate uncertainty in [...]
[Read more...]2012 Year-in-Review: The Most-Popular Biz Coach Topics
Dec. 24, 2012 Out of the nearly 600 business-coaching articles on The Biz Coach – with new articles published each week – the most-popular topics in 2012 were pleasant bombshells. By way of explanation: Out of eight categories, the largest with the most articles is “Marketing/Sales.” However, neither marketing nor sales were the dominant topics. In general, 2012 provided two [...]
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