Strategy Driven

AUGUST 21, 2017

If you find that they’re having troubles calculating numbers and filling out spreadsheets because they’re doing it manually, then it’s possible that a piece of cloud accounting software could fix the issue.

Software 50

Software Asset Management Fixed Assets Document 50

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 3, 2011

Focus on capabilities rather than just fixed assets: Fixed assets, including brands, are more difficult to leverage across diverse businesses and tend to expire, become obsolete, or give way to related services.

Strategy 15

Strategy Fixed Assets Competitive Advantage Long-term 15

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 29, 2018

Previously strong barriers to entry have perished; fixed assets such as car fleets, hotels, bank branches, and landline infrastructure have become weaknesses. One way is by reducing dependence on fixed assets. Another is by taking underused assets and monetizing them.

Industry 8

Industry Fixed Assets Retail Market Penetration 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 15, 2013

At many companies the total cash investment in acquisitions, R&D, and fixed assets has not earned back its cost of capital after adjusting for the time lag in realizing incremental benefits. That outcome reflects the wrong allocation and/or ineffective execution.

P&L 9

P&L Fixed Assets Charan Delegation 9

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 15, 2012

Will Zhang Gaoli, as overseer of the economy, continue China's fixation on fixed-asset investment? Will Wang Qishan, the new anti-corruption czar, try to address the systemic roots of venality? My guess is no, and yes, but if you don't know, don't feel alone. Anyone who claims to know is simply making it up.

Politics 8

Politics Fixed Assets System Banking 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 23, 2014

It’s the continuous technological innovations that will exploit your fixed asset base. It’s a wide variety of things. It’s the sustaining innovations that will drive profitability across your core business units. It’s the disruptive innovations that will help you drive your business into the next era of your industry’s evolution.

Innovation 8

Innovation Disruptive Innovation Fixed Assets Project 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 19, 2011

It is derived by adjusting for changes in gross margin, capital intensity (fixed assets as a proportion of total assets), and positively for sales surprise (the degree to which actual sales exceeds or falls short of forecast). Consider the following example that Vishal Gaur of Cornell, my frequent co-author, shared with me.

Retail 15

Retail Marketing Benchmarking Fixed Assets 15

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

Failure to present a groundbreaking new vision risks leaving in place old economic drivers, especially the over-reliance on fixed-asset investment, that have created serious challenges such as China’s “ghost cities” and high levels of local government debt.

GDP 8

GDP Fixed Assets Globalization Survey 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 9, 2015

Some find evidence of a clear improvement of total factor productivity since market-oriented reforms began in 1979, estimating that the increase in TFP contributed about 40% to GDP growth, roughly the same as that contributed by fixed asset investment. There was also a slowdown in TFP after the mid 1990s. by the end of that period.

GDP 8

GDP Human Capital Fixed Assets Efficiency 8

Strategy Driven

MARCH 18, 2011

These choices historically conferred advantage – first-mover, scale – but asset-based scale advantages have diminished in recent years, thanks to technology, cheap information, and outsourcing. Assets are important, but they are, increasingly, table stakes in most competitive industries; everyone in the game has them.

Resources 51

Resources Industry System Strategy 51

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 3, 2011

How crazy is it that companies are willing to invest in preventative maintenance on fixed assets such as their machinery, but typically won't make a comparable investment to enhance and sustain the health and well-being of their employees?

Fixed Assets 16

Fixed Assets Competitive Advantage Commitment Definition 16

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 17, 2018

For a services firm, De Maeseneire said, the calculation is different than for a manufacturer: services firms have fewer fixed assets to look after, and their clients often are fellow multinationals. .” The raison d’etre can also differ per industry. They themselves leave when a crisis strikes.

Politics 13

Politics Short-term Long-term Banking 13

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 7, 2017

” Economic profit represents a company’s profit after subtracting a charge for the capital that the firm has invested (working capital, fixed assets, goodwill). Another way to measure the value creation of long-term companies is to look through the lens of what is known as “economic profit.”

Long-term 8

Long-term EPS Short-term Management 8