In 2007 Swiss RE was striving to maximize economic value, a metric that would allow the company to assess its performance over time despite the volatility of the reinsurance industry. Maximizing economic value required that decision makers throughout the company understood the risk profiles of...

If they want employees to take collective responsibility for customers, managers must do more than reorganize. Thousands of businesses have reengineered work in order to focus employees on processes that clearly provide value to customers. Tbey have done away with their functional silos and...