I wonder if the editors of the January-February, 2013 issue of Harvard Business Review connected the dots among their articles. As a reader I did. “The 100 Best CEOs in the World” is the cover story for an issue that also includes the article “Strategic Leadership: The Essential Skills.”  Too many CEOs and their C-Suite [...]

It came as no surprise to many analysts that Microsoft has had a disappointing few months, with very slow holiday sales of its Surface tablet and continuing tepid-at-best reviews of Windows 8.  PCs and Windows software are in trouble – so much so that Microsoft is investing billions to prop up one of its channels [...]

If you thought that the move from the Industrial Era to the Digital Era was the last major economic transition that your business would have to deal with, think again. We are in the middle of yet another transformation of comparable magnitude. The slow but steady shift of power away from companies and to customers [...]

Wizard of Oz protagonist Dorothy captures the shock of her post-tornado world in the memorable line, “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.” Ex-Apple retail wizard Ron Johnson, now CEO of JC Penney (JCP), must be saying “I’m not in Cupertino, California [Apple’s headquarters] anymore” as he discovers the challenges of transforming his [...]

If, as a company leader, you did not lose a heartbeat over the bankruptcy filing of Kodak, Barnes and Noble, Blockbuster and AMR Corporation (American Airline’s parent) or Google’s pending purchase of Motorola phones, you should have. When previously solid businesses run out of cash, there are lessons to be learned. In particular, never forget [...]

Netflix’s stock price is falling, fast. My take is that the decline has much more to do with the long-term viability of its business model than the stated cause – recent defections in subscribers owing to a change in its pricing formula and a (since averted) break-up of the company into two parts. Here’s a [...]

Amazon’s quarterly revenue rose 51% year-over-year while Best Buy’s revenue remained flat. Is it any wonder Best Buy’s stock prices fell by one-third this year? What’s going on? A high percent of store visitors use Best Buy for decision-making but turn to the Internet to find best prices and make purchases. Without stores and with [...]

What should we make of HP CEO Leo Apotheker’s recent announcement that HP is spinning off its PC business for a future sale, despite holding worldwide market share leadership? Here are three potential answers. HP understands portfolio management. The PC industry as traditionally defined is maturing, with growth mostly in the developing world. HP has [...]

The blogosphere is aflutter with talk on Apple’s recent customer satisfaction issues linked to the new iPhone 4’s antenna design. A quiet whisper turned into thunderous noise once Consumer Reports decided to not recommend the phone because calls are dropped if the antenna is covered while in use (for example, by the user’s hand holding [...]

In November of 2008, Business Week magazine reported that Apple’s cash on hand exceeded Dell’s total market valuation. These two statistics explain how it happened – Apple net profit margin = Dell’s net profit margin plus 10 percentage points Apple operating margin = Dell’s operating margin plus 13 percentage points There is a vital lesson [...]