The consultant who boasted about how much he got paid and how good his perks were to company employees facing redundancy may have been good at the technical side of his job, but his people skills obviously needed some attention. This was just one of the stories about consultants to emerge from a...

In 1996, Koji Oboshi, president of NTT DoCoMo, foresaw that the demand for new mobile phones would soon peak unless mobiles were developed with new capabilities and services so that consumers would trade in their old mobile for a new, improved one. NTT DoCoMo is Japan’s leading mobile...

When sales of shoes in the key holiday period kept slumping year after year, US retailer Marco called for help. Corporate executives had a feeling the fall‐off in sales was a direct result of poor communication of holiday product and set‐up information. They were not wrong. A series of focus...

When Bill Henderson, postmaster general of US Postal Service (USPS), turned up at the Tour de France in July 1999, things could not have been better. After making loss upon loss, his organization had finally turned things around. USPS was in profit with a strategic five‐year plan that was set...

The history of human endeavor reveals that change can take place in unorthodox ways. A move to implement change in one direction can sometimes suggest a way forward down a completely different route. The same is true of organizational change. When the board of management at the Australian office...

Many people view the term downsizing as an unpleasant euphemism, especially those who have been victims of an organization’s decision to cut its workforce. To some extent, this is based on the view that downsizing simply means a planned reduction in personnel. A better definition might be a...

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...

So how might you describe you and your firm’s attitudes? Complacent? How about resigned or cynical? If you are lucky enough to be part of an organization that has enjoyed continued success, you would not be blamed for believing things will always continue to work well as they are. On the other...

Not all management leaders are high‐profile champions of causes, fitting the traditional heroic mold. So‐called quiet leaders are often just as effective when tough decisions are required. Their stealth tactics and slowly‐but‐surely approach may even be just what is called for in...

With levels of competition ever increasing, even the most traditionally confident of organizations are feeling the pressure to stay in the game. Stuck in long‐standing strategic ruts with the same names dominating key roles, more and more firms are finding that revenues are falling as market...