It was a mega-merger of iconic brands, supported by no less a genius than Warren Buffett. It was supposed to unlock value for investors and rethink how food would be consumed globally. But what if… Read more »
innovation
Americans Are Pretty Smug About Tech Leadership. They Shouldn’t Be.
America stands at a dangerous crossroads in the global race for green technology supremacy. While European nations surge ahead with coordinated multi-trillion dollar investments and China dominates manufacturing with record-breaking deployment, the United States appears… Read more »
The Gen Z Crisis
Generation Z – born between 1997 and 2012 – are preparing for college, entering the workforce, and are at the beginning of their professional and educational careers. Throw in a global pandemic, geopolitical instability, and… Read more »
The Great Productivity Paradox: Why We Measure Everything Except What Makes Life Worth Living
Since the days of Adam Smith, we have credited rising living standards with an improvement in productivity, typically manufacturing productivity. But as we are on the cusp of a revolution in digital, intelligent work, perhaps… Read more »
Why you would have a strategic edge if you’d attended “Leading Strategic Growth and Change” in the 90’s
It’s fun to reflect on how my course “Leading Strategic Growth and Change” has evolved over the years. I first took over as the Faculty Director for the course in 1998. Everyone was abuzz about… Read more »
The Merger Mirage: The Triumph of Hope over Experience
Synergy. Market expansion. Gaining share. Cost savings. Diversification. Talent acquisition. Owning a unique asset. Moving into a high-growth sector. These and many more reasons have often propelled companies into one another’s arms, regardless of the… Read more »
An inflection point comes for Pharmaceutical Companies
The Inflation Reduction Act for the first time allowed Medicare and Medicaid to negotiate with drugmakers for pharmaceutical prices. It also contained a much less discussed provision regarding patent protections. The law sets different exemption… Read more »
On the agenda for 2024 – a better way to keep track of your innovation portfolio?
I was delighted to be part of a virtual event sponsored by the good people over at Innov8rs, in which a field of 10 experts shared their perspectives on the prospects for innovation in 2024,… Read more »
Opportunities and Challenges of Driving Impact In Innovation – A Princeton Panel Discussion
A dazzling array of speakers opened a day of hearing from entrepreneurs, researchers, businesspeople, and others convened for Princeton’s Keller Center’s Innovation Forum. I was delighted to be part of a panel, each person discussing… Read more »
Using behavioral insights to better segment customers
This week, we’re launching a new guidebook series at Valize, designed to share core ideas about strategy today in a convenient online format for using with your team or on your own. The first one… Read more »
Creating value or extracting it? An existential question.
A board and governance level issue that doesn’t get nearly enough attention is whether firms are being run as value creators or value extractors. As economist William Lazonick points out, absent real pushback, it is… Read more »
We Never Seem To Learn – Bubbles Bursting, WeWork Edition
Every bubble produces its own poster children. One of the more astonishing is WeWork – a company that promised to defy the gravity of conventional real estate transactions by leasing long-term and renting short-term. At… Read more »