Cover -- How purchasing became a strategic function: from purchasing to external resources management -- Supply resource management: Salomon and his network of subcontractors in Romania -- How purchasing managers can benefit from new opportunities -- Geopolitics: a new field of expertise for...

We are often told that before we can run we must learn to walk. That’s sound advice, particularly in business. But try telling it to David G. Neeleman, the 44‐year‐old CEO of US budget airline JetBlue. The airline has enjoyed phenomenal success since its 2000 launch and now offers its...

The planning stage in start‐ups still typically overlooks the importance of organizational capability. Yet experience shows that this frequently leads to operations and maintenance problems that can threaten the viability of new capital projects. So what are the priorities? And how can...

Improving business performance often focuses on clearly articulated strategies, definite goals and structural change. However, even the best laid plans for change often fail to address that performance is inseparable from how an organization does what it does. Improved performance is impossible...

Companies implement TQM initiatives because they seem to be a “fast track” to improved performance and profitability. TQM is also customer driven because as more and more firms receive accreditation they prefer to deal only with similarly accredited companies. However, the TQM failure rate...

Whatever happens, stay focused on your vision, mission and core values, even when other companies are frantically trying to jump on (or off) the Internet bandwagon. That is the core message on how to develop a business strategy when the general business environment is turbulent. Easier said than...

In theory, joint ventures do not sound too complicated. There are decisions to be made and contracts to be drawn up of course, but basically they are just about two or more firms pooling their expertise for mutually beneficial effects. What’s more, they are nothing new and hundreds of...

“It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it – that’s what gets results”: words from a 1980s pop song that also happen to be sound business advice. After all, merely having a good strategy does not guarantee success. It must also be properly implemented. And with one study...

“No man is an Island, entire of itself”, wrote the English poet John Donne. What applies to the individual also holds true for the business world, in which no organization can ever operate entirely independently. When alliances involve companies operating within similar spheres, those...

There’s a broad, smiley, grin in the face of “Jack”, the corporate mascot of Jack in the Box (JBX), one of the leading fast‐food restaurant chains in the USA. And why wouldn’t he be smiling, being the figurehead of a company that has got more than 1,940 outlets in 17 states and 44,000...