Leadership is a Humpty Dumpty word which people use in widely different ways. Argues that, on examination, there appear to be three main ways in which managers may exercise leadership. Two of them are specific to the manager′s nominal position. Strategic leadership, of the head, is concerned...

Major downsizing efforts are now taking place in multinational business firms in virtually every corner of the world, despite the economic recovery that seems to be occurring in many countries. Those multinational firms that have been turned around most effectively through downsizing activities...

Strategic alliances and networks have become an integral part of contemporary strategic organizational thinking. Their spread seems to correspond with the increasing rate of joint venture formations and outsourcing endeavours that have dominated the business arena in the past decade or so....

Presents some millennial thoughts on the appropriateness of the ature of work and organizational life in a future we can only sense rather than predict. It seems that it is of critical importance to question the core paradigms with which organizations and society currently identify. On this...

Shareholder‐value proponents claim a new, economically sound way to maximize profits, create wealth, measure performance, and reward executives. That invalid claim is dangerous. Stocks of shareholder‐value firms appreciated barely 15 percent as much as another, time‐tested...

Strategy & Leadership contributing editors interviewed researcher Jim Collins. Collins is author of two influential books: Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies co‐authored with Jerry Porras, and Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t. Some key...

Leaders at all levels of the company need to institute a simple but effective routine for collecting the information needed to take strategic action. This article explains how to make that process pervasive and suggests some specific tools to help it work effectively in your organization. There...

In the post‐Enron/WorldCom/Tyco environment of public distrust and tightening regulation, corporations must proactively work to regain public trust. In this skeptical environment, they must do more to reflect the fact that corporate legitimacy depends on public acceptance. The new wave of...

“Chemcor”, a mid‐sized specialty chemicals firm must balance the disciplining effects of planning against the need for innovative and adaptive action. The top corporate strategy officer at Chemcor resolved to help three company divisions work towards finding a way. To complement the...