Management - Leadership

The article notes that a quarter of chief executive officers who left their companies between 2000 to 2013 were forced out, and a primary reason is that a fundamental disconnect exists between what boards of directors believe creates a successful CEO and what in reality leads to optimum performance.

China and the U.S. in the 21st century

Rising costs in China have prompted Chinese manufacturing entrepreneurs to look to Africa for higher-margin investments. It is possible that Africa might become the next big worldwide manufacturing center, supplanting China itself.

When he joined T-Mobile, in September 2012, the author writes, the most important thing he recognized wasn't specific to T-Mobile; it was true for the wireless industry in general: People hated it. He saw that the best way to succeed in this industry was to do things as differently as possible from the existing carriers.

While rising in the ranks of State Street Corp., the author became involved in local philanthropic causes, and chose urban education as his focus.

Barbara Hackman Franklin, the 29th U.S. secretary of commerce and international business consultant, believes that shareholder activism has grown in recent years, and that its presence has changed the normal interrelationship between investors, boards, and management. She cites hedge fund activists as an influence on other investors.

An increasingly popular route to success as a small business owner is "acquisition entrepreneurship"--buying and running an existing operation. If you're considering such a path, the authors offer practical advice for each stage of the process.

David Pyott, former chief executive officer of Allergan, describes the conditions prior to the hostile takeover bid in 2014 by Pershing Square Capital Management and Valeant Pharmaceuticals.

In surveys of 106 C-suite executives representing 91 private- and public-sector companies from 17 countries, the author found that a full 85% agreed that their organizations were bad at problem diagnosis, and 87% agreed that this flaw carried significant costs. Fewer than one in 10 said they were unaffected by the issue.

Large companies spend millions, or billions, of dollars directly on energy each year--and millions more indirectly, on supply chain, outsourcing, and logistics costs. Yet outside the most energy-intensive industries, the majority of firms approach energy as merely a cost to be managed.