In April 2002, the Chairman of Heineken, Karel Vuursten, handed over the reigns of the world’s third largest brewers to his long‐time number two Thony Ruys, and in doing so spelt out a strong message of continuity to both employees and analysts alike. Although the potential for major mergers...

Communications are important when you are a National Health Service Trust caring for a remote and largely rural community in Northern Ireland. On top of that you are responsible not only for acute hospital care, but also community care services, mental health and elderly care. So when the Trust...

It is all too easy, in the wake of september 11, to point the finger of blame for the current economic depression towards those responsible for the Twin Towers’ destruction. It is clear however, that for the auto industry, the origins of the problems it is experiencing began long before that...

Ten million pounds for an excellence programme sounds considerable. But a complete ‘makeover’ of a corporate culture was never going to be cheap. Launched by the then new chief executive Antoine Cau in 1998, three years and one million training hours later, the Forte Hotel Group’s...

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...

In this century there is likely to be more self‐examination by manufacturing industries. This is not a case of firms putting themselves in the psychiatrist’s chair; rather, companies will be looking more closely at the mechanics of how their organization works, to see where traditionally...

It is a comforting aspect of the business world that the race is not inevitably won by the biggest and meanest kids on the block. Smaller organizations can often compete with and even outwit their larger counterparts through smart strategy. It is this approach that enabled a comparatively small...