The New Cost-Conscious Doctor- Changing America's Healthcare Landscape
Article:For those who believe that America's physicians contribute to the country's spiraling healthcare costs by demanding more—more unnecessary tests, more expensive prescriptions, more complex treatment regimens—change is on the way. Increasingly aware and concerned about the growing cost of healthcare, for the first time a majority of physicians show an increased willingness to consider the cost implications of the products they use.
Results Delivery- Busting Three Common Myths About Change Management
Article:The best of intentions are never enough. Your goal is to lose 10 pounds and get fit. You invest in the latest home gym device and install it in your basement. And there it sits—while you lounge on the couch, wondering why you’re not getting into better shape.
The Great Eight: Trillion-Dollar Growth Trends to 2020
Article:Daily turmoil on a global scale is giving business leaders and investors plenty of reasons to stay hunkered down as they confront huge challenges in the here and now. Spreading sovereign debt woes, volatile markets, unstable currencies, political gridlock and stalled growth plague the big developed economies. Meanwhile, China, India and other rapidly emerging economies are flexing their strength as they adjust to the phenomenal growth that has been the biggest economic story of the past two decades.
Getting Ahead of Game-Changing Trends
Article:Consumer products executives are confronting a bitter truth: conventional recipes traditionally used by multinationals for profitable growth no longer are enough. As the marketplace undergoes a rapid transformation, it's forcing leading brands to rethink everything—from where and how they compete to what capabilities they will need to thrive in this new world order.
How Leaders Get the Most from their Salesforce
Article:For companies focused on growth, one of the biggest opportunities is making sales more productive. But running a company's sales engine at peak performance takes more than a tune-up. And no selling organization can afford the luxury of taking the engine apart for an extended overhaul.
Linking Loyalty and Growth
Article:How company leaders use Net Promoter® to tap customer feedback and shape winning strategies.
Management Tools and Trends 2011
Article:Since launching our first survey of Management Tools & Trends in 1993, we have tracked executives' attitudes and behaviors through a wide range of economic cycles. We watched as managers pulled away from the recession of 1990-91, maneuvered through the speed bumps of 1996, slowed for the painful 2001 recession and slammed into the Great Recession of 2007-09.
Familiar patterns are emerging: profound fear that the world has deteriorated forever is followed by increasing optimism that economic challenges strengthened companies' positions and the future will now be brighter.
Winning Good Customers- Losing Bad Debt
Article:Bad debt, the revenue that utilities write off because customers can't or won't pay their bills, continues to accumulate like barnacles clinging to a ship's hull and creating drag. As economic growth returns, utilities expect their cash flows to improve. But the bad-debt provisions of major European and North American utilities remain high well beyond the recession. Some utilities will write off as much debt in 2011 as they did last year, according to Bain & Company projections.
Solving the talent problem- A decision approach
Article:Finding and keeping the right people-winning the "war for talent"-is a perennial challenge for every organization. Applying a decision lens can help. Once you identify your company's critical decisions, you can focus on ensuring that top performers own those decisions-and continue to make and execute them effectively.
Winning in wealth management
Article:Before the global financial crisis, the wealth management business used a reliable model to expand: Look for large pools of retirement savings or parts of the world like China with fast-growing numbers of newly affluent people, then offer prospects investment options that make them feel special. In the economic recovery, however, forward-looking firms have recognized they need a new strategy.
Build an organization that decides and delivers
Article:Some of the most important decisions in business are the seemingly small operating choices made every day by people throughout the company. Getting those decisions right requires an environment that equips people at every level to decide and deliver. The goal is to align all the elements of the broader organizational system so people make good decisions, make them quickly and execute them effectively, all as a matter of course.
Embed decision capabilities in your organization
Article:With effort, any organization can rid itself of internal logjams and get things decided and delivered for a period of time. But most organizations have enormous amounts of inertia and are likely to slide back into the old ways of doing things. If you want decision effectiveness to be more than a four-month flash in the pan, you'll need to build lasting capabilities--to embed the new ways of working in the organization and ensure that they produce continuing results.
Solving the talent problem: A decision approach
Article:Finding and keeping the right people-winning the "war for talent"-is a perennial challenge for every organization. Applying a decision lens can help. Once you identify your company's critical decisions, you can focus on ensuring that top performers own those decisions-and continue to make and execute them effectively.
The Cost- Conscious Doctor- Changing America's Healthcare Landscape
Article:Rapidly shifting attitudes among physicians on critical issues such as managing costs, drug and device usage, and standardized care are transforming healthcare business models
Bain and Company Global Private Equity Report 2011
Article:Our view of the 2011 global PE markets must take into account not only the conflicting forces at work in 2010, but also the continued fragility of the global economic recovery and credit markets. Market indicators clearly point to stronger PE activity across the board in 2011: More deals consummated, more deals exited, higher returns and more funds committed by LPs for future transactions. However, stronger PE markets remain just one major geopolitical problem or sovereign-debt crisis away from being derailed. When assessing the world of PE over the next year, our watchwords of the day are "cautious optimism
Getting Ahead of Game-Changing Trends
Article:Consumer products executives are confronting significant trends that are reshaping their world--everything from declining populations in developed markets to curtailed consumer spending among some consumer segments to retailer consolidation and the growth of private labels. As these and other trends alter the rules for players in both developed and developing markets, companies best-equipped to meet the challenge will be distinguished by their strength in five winning behaviors: repeatability and consistency, simplicity and alignment, speed, external focus and selectivity.
Flexible work models: How to bring sustainability to a 24/7 world
Article:Challenging times make most jobs more challenging. As companies reduce head count, surviving employees take up the slack. They shoulder more responsibility, work longer hours and travel more. When the economy picks up, attrition rates spike as employees act on pent-up frustrations and look for opportunities at other companies. In the constant war for talent-and especially when businesses start to grow again-flexible jobs can be a powerful tool to attract and retain top talent. When done right, flex jobs-defined as jobs that allow employees to contribute their skills outside the standard workweek-offer several benefits. They appeal to burned-out employees who are seeking sustainability. They allow employees, particularly women, to stay engaged and continue to advance during periods when they confront dilemmas such as caring for children or aging parents and managing 60-hour work weeks or extensive travel.
Realize results: Busting three common myths of change management
Article:The failure to achieve desired results is not new, of course, but it has become a major challenge for leaders who must manage under increased pressure. A seven-year study by Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that about 40 percent of new CEOs last an average of less than two years. Facing such odds, leaders often pursue the sort of sweeping transformational change that will give their companies a competitive edge, boost performance and ensure their own future at the helm. But the odds of implementing a successful change effort-whether it's a broad-ranging efficiency initiative or a shift in strategic focus-are even more daunting than that of CEO tenure. According to one well-quoted study that spanned industries and continents, more than 70 percent of change efforts fail.
In search of jump-start for economic motor
Article:With the worldwide financial system still on crutches, the 2011 global business outlook hinges largely on which economic advice Western nations turn into policy and whether countries worldwide can develop unprecedented levels of collaboration to jump-start aggregate demand.
Flexible Work Models- How to Bring Sustainability to a 24-7 World
Article:Challenging times make most jobs more challenging. As companies reduce head count, surviving employees take up the slack. They shoulder more responsibility, work longer hours and travel more. When the economy picks up, attrition rates spike as employees act on pent-up frustrations and look for opportunities at other companies. In the constant war for talent-and especially when businesses start to grow again-flexible jobs can be a powerful tool to attract and retain top talent. When done right, flex jobs-defined as jobs that allow employees to contribute their skills outside the standard workweek-offer several benefits. They appeal to burned-out employees who are seeking sustainability.