Download or read book Improving Engineering Design written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1991-02-01 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Effective design and manufacturing, both of which are necessary to produce high-quality products, are closely related. However, effective design is a prerequisite for effective manufacturing. This new book explores the status of engineering design practice, education, and research in the United States and recommends ways to improve design to increase U.S. industry's competitiveness in world markets.

Download or read book The End of Competitive Advantage written by Rita Gunther McGrath and published by Harvard Business Press. This book was released on 2013-05-14 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are you at risk of being trapped in an uncompetitive business? Chances are the strategies that worked well for you even a few years ago no longer deliver the results you need. Dramatic changes in business have unearthed a major gap between traditional approaches to strategy and the way the real world works now. In short, strategy is stuck. Most leaders are using frameworks that were designed for a different era of business and based on a single dominant idea—that the purpose of strategy is to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Once the premise on which all strategies were built, this idea is increasingly irrelevant. Now, Columbia Business School professor and globally recognized strategy expert Rita Gunther McGrath argues that it’s time to go beyond the very concept of sustainable competitive advantage. Instead, organizations need to forge a new path to winning: capturing opportunities fast, exploiting them decisively, and moving on even before they are exhausted. She shows how to do this with a new set of practices based on the notion of transient competitive advantage. This book serves as a new playbook for strategy, one based on updated assumptions about how the world works, and shows how some of the world’s most successful companies use this method to compete and win today. Filled with compelling examples from “growth outlier” firms such as Fujifilm, Cognizant Technology Solutions, Infosys, Yahoo! Japan, and Atmos Energy, The End of Competitive Advantage is your guide to renewed success and profitable growth in an economy increasingly defined by transient advantage.

Download or read book Design Thinking for Strategy written by Claude Diderich and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The business environment is changing more rapidly than ever before, and new business ideas are emerging. This book discusses applying insights from design thinking to craft novel strategies that satisfy customer needs, make use of the available capabilities, integrate requirements for financial success and provide competitive advantage. It guides readers through the jungle encountered when developing a strategy for sustained growth and profitability. It addresses strategy design in a holistic way by applying abductive reasoning, iteratively observing customers and focusing on empathy, as well as prototyping ideas and using customers to validate them. Uniquely applying insights from design thinking to strategy, this book is a must-read for graduates, MBAs and executives interested in innovation and strategy, as well as corporate strategists, innovation managers, business analysts and consultants.

Download or read book The Design of Business written by Roger L. Martin and published by Harvard Business Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most companies today have innovation envy. Many make genuine efforts to be innovative: they spend on R & D, bring in creative designers, hire innovation consultants; but they still get disappointing results. Roger Martin argues that to innovate and win, companies need 'design thinking'.

Download or read book Competitive Advantage Through Design written by Design Council Books and published by . This book was released on 2002-02-01 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Integrating Design and Manufacturing for Competitive Advantage written by Gerald I. Susman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1992-10-15 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With more emphasis being placed on the cost and quality of new products and on reducing the lead time to develop them, attention is turning to the increasingly important topic of design for manufacturing (DFM). This involves the collaboration among research and development, manufacturing, and other company functions and is aimed at accelerating the new product development process from product conception to market introduction. A company can create a competitive advantage for itself by managing the process and its related organizational dynamics effectively. This collection of essays focuses on the development of strategic capabilities through use of DFM tools and practices, the role of DFM in specific product development phases, and the social, political, and cultural context within which DFM is introduced.

Download or read book Competitive Advantage written by Michael E. Porter and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-06-30 with total page 592 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now beyond its eleventh printing and translated into twelve languages, Michael Porter’s The Competitive Advantage of Nations has changed completely our conception of how prosperity is created and sustained in the modern global economy. Porter’s groundbreaking study of international competitiveness has shaped national policy in countries around the world. It has also transformed thinking and action in states, cities, companies, and even entire regions such as Central America. Based on research in ten leading trading nations, The Competitive Advantage of Nations offers the first theory of competitiveness based on the causes of the productivity with which companies compete. Porter shows how traditional comparative advantages such as natural resources and pools of labor have been superseded as sources of prosperity, and how broad macroeconomic accounts of competitiveness are insufficient. The book introduces Porter’s “diamond,” a whole new way to understand the competitive position of a nation (or other locations) in global competition that is now an integral part of international business thinking. Porter's concept of “clusters,” or groups of interconnected firms, suppliers, related industries, and institutions that arise in particular locations, has become a new way for companies and governments to think about economies, assess the competitive advantage of locations, and set public policy. Even before publication of the book, Porter’s theory had guided national reassessments in New Zealand and elsewhere. His ideas and personal involvement have shaped strategy in countries as diverse as the Netherlands, Portugal, Taiwan, Costa Rica, and India, and regions such as Massachusetts, California, and the Basque country. Hundreds of cluster initiatives have flourished throughout the world. In an era of intensifying global competition, this pathbreaking book on the new wealth of nations has become the standard by which all future work must be measured.

Download or read book Creating Competitive Advantage written by Jaynie L. Smith and published by Crown Currency. This book was released on 2006-04-25 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why should I do business with you… and not your competitor? Whether you are a retailer, manufacturer, distributor, or service provider – if you cannot answer this question, you are surely losing customers, clients and market share. This eye-opening book reveals how identifying your competitive advantages and trumpeting them to the marketplace is the most surefire way to close deals, retain clients, and stay miles ahead of the competition. The five fatal flaws of most companies: ? They don’t have a competitive advantage but think they do ? They have a competitive advantage but don’t know what it is—so they lower prices instead ? They know what their competitive advantage is but neglect to tell clients about it ? They mistake “strengths” for competitive advantages ? They don’t concentrate on competitive advantages when making strategic and operational decisions The good news is that you can overcome these costly mistakes – by identifying your competitive advantages and creating new ones. Consultant, public speaker, and competitive advantage expert Jaynie Smith will show you how scores of small and large companies substantially increased their sales by focusing on their competitive advantages. When advising a CEO frustrated by his salespeople’s inability to close deals, Smith discovered that his company stayed on schedule 95 percent of the time – an achievement no one else in his industry could claim. By touting this and other competitive advantages to customers, closing rates increased by 30 percent—and so did company revenues. Jack Welch has said, “If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete.” This straight-to-the-point book is filled with insightful stories and specific steps on how to pinpoint your competitive advantages, develop new ones, and get the message out about them. “The biggest marketing flaw in most companies is their failure to fully reap the benefits of their competitive advantages. Either they think they have a competitive advantage but don’t. Or they have one and don’t realize it. Or they know they have a strong competitive advantage but fail to promote it adequately to their customers and prospects. “In my research with middle-market companies, I found only two CEOs out of 1,000 who could clearly name their companies’ competitive advantages. The other 99.8 percent could offer only vague, imprecise generalities. These same CEOs often rely on outside consultants to guide strategic-planning sessions. Yet, in my experience, very few consultants – even seasoned ones – give competitive advantage evaluation more than a superficial glance…. “Ignoring your competitive advantages can be an expensive and even fatal mistake. Because no matter the size of your company or the kind of business you are in, your competitive advantages should be the foundation of all your strategic and operational decisions. They’re the reasons customers choose to buy from you instead of the other guy.” – From Creating Competitive Advantage

Download or read book Managing Knowledge for Sustained Competitive Advantage written by Susan E. Jackson and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2003-06-03 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This eighteenth volume in the Jossey-Bass Organizational Frontiers Series provides an in-depth examination of how I/O psychologists can help find, recruit, and manage knowledge. The authors explain the nature of different types of knowledge, how knowledge-based competition is affecting organizations, and how these ideas relate to innovation and learning in organizations. They describe the strategies and organizational structures and designs that facilitate the acquisition and development of knowledge. And they discuss how continuous knowledge acquisition and innovation is promoted among individuals and teams and how to foster the creation of new knowledge. In addition, they explain how to assess the climate and culture for organizational learning, measure and monitor knowledge resources at the organizational level, and more.

Download or read book How information gives you competitive advantage written by Michael E. Porter and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Design Enterprise written by James P. Cramer and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Beyond Competitive Advantage written by Todd Zenger and published by Harvard Business Review Press. This book was released on 2016-05-24 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Your company is turning in regular profits every year, and its market share is only getting bigger. Competitors can’t touch you. So why is your stock price so sluggish? The answer is as simple as it is cruel: investors aren’t interested in history, and they already know you’re profitable and competitive—that knowledge is baked into your stock price. The hard reality is that a competitive advantage just isn’t enough. Investors want companies to surprise them with unexpected value, which means that you can outperform market expectations only if you as a leader know how to find, create, and deliver a series of multiple competitive advantages. This is why a corporate theory is so important. A good corporate theory provides a compass for those at the strategic helm, guiding their decisions about what assets and activities to pursue, what investments to make, and what strategies to adopt. Behind every long-term corporate success story lies a basic theory about how that company creates value. In Beyond Competitive Advantage, strategy professor Todd Zenger describes what makes a great corporate theory and helps readers understand the many tensions and trade-offs they’ll face as they apply the theory to meet the challenge of market expectations. Based on years of research and analysis, Beyond Competitive Advantage provides managers and executives with a framework for both sustaining value and creating growth.

Download or read book Problem Prevention Through Design for Supportability Gaining Competitive Advantage from Customer Support written by and published by Customer Service Press. This book was released on with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Design in Business written by Margaret Bruce and published by Pearson Education. This book was released on 2002 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book takes a more integrated approach to design, assuming it is a core business process as opposed to a peripheral or specialist activity. Design in Business aims for an analogous Total Design Management making design a part of everyone's concern. It makes use of a toolbox approach, offering in each chapter exposure to some of the range of tools and techniques with which design can be managed.

Download or read book HBR s 10 Must Reads on Design Thinking with featured article Design Thinking By Tim Brown written by Harvard Business Review and published by Harvard Business Press. This book was released on 2020-04-28 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Use design thinking for competitive advantage. If you read nothing else on design thinking, read these 10 articles. We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you use design thinking to produce breakthrough innovations and transform your organization. This book will inspire you to: Identify customers' "jobs to be done" and build products people love Fail small, learn quickly, and win big Provide the support design-thinking teams need to flourish Foster a culture of experimentation Sharpen your own skills as a design thinker Counteract the biases that perpetuate the status quo and thwart innovation Adopt best practices from design-driven powerhouses This collection of articles includes "Design Thinking," by Tim Brown; "Why Design Thinking Works," by Jeanne M. Liedtka; "The Right Way to Lead Design Thinking," by Christian Bason and Robert D. Austin; "Design for Action," by Tim Brown and Roger L. Martin; "The Innovation Catalysts," by Roger L. Martin; “Know Your Customers' 'Jobs to Be Done,'" by Clayton M. Christensen, Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon, and David S. Duncan; "Engineering Reverse Innovations," by Amos Winter and Vijay Govindarajan; "Strategies for Learning from Failure," by Amy C. Edmondson; "How Indra Nooyi Turned Design Thinking into Strategy," by Indra Nooyi and Adi Ignatius, and "Reclaim Your Creative Confidence," by Tom Kelley and David Kelley. HBR's 10 Must Reads paperback series is the definitive collection of books for new and experienced leaders alike. Leaders looking for the inspiration that big ideas provide, both to accelerate their own growth and that of their companies, should look no further. HBR's 10 Must Reads series focuses on the core topics that every ambitious manager needs to know: leadership, strategy, change, managing people, and managing yourself. Harvard Business Review has sorted through hundreds of articles and selected only the most essential reading on each topic. Each title includes timeless advice that will be relevant regardless of an ever‐changing business environment.

Download or read book Competing by Design written by David Nadler and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1997-07-10 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If the defining goal of modern-day business can be isolated to just one item, it would be the search for competitive advantage. And, as everyone in business knows, it's a lot harder than it used to be. On the one hand, competition is more intense than ever--technological innovation, consumer expectations, government deregulation, all combine to create more opportunities for new competitors to change the basic rules of the game. On the other hand, most of the old reliable sources of competitive advantage are drying up: the hallowed strategies employed by GM, IBM, and AT&T to maintain their seemingly unassailable positions of dominance in the 1960s and 70s are as obsolete as the calvary charge. So in this volatile, unstable environment, where can competitive advantage be found? As David Nadler and Michael Tushman show, the last remaining source of truly sustainable competitive advantage lies in "organizational capabilities": the unique ways each organization structures its work and motivates its people to achieve clearly articulated strategic objectives. For too long, too many managers have thought about "organization" merely in terms of rearranging the boxes and lines on an organizational chart--but as Competing by Design clearly illustrates, organizational strength is found far beyond one-dimensional diagrams. Managers must, argue Nadler and Tushman, understand the concepts and learn the skills involved in designing their organization to exploit their inherent strengths. All the reengineering, restructuring, and downsizing in the world will merely destabilize a company if the change doesn't address the fundamental patterns of performance--and if the change doesn't recognize the unique core competencies of that company. In this landmark volume, the authors draw upon specific cases to illustrate the design process in practice as they provide a set of powerful, yet simple tools, for using strategic organization design to gain competitive advantage. They present a design process, explore key decisions managers face, and list the guiding principles for incorporating the design function as a continuing and integral process in organizations that are looking to the future. In 1918, Henry Ford's Dearborn assembly plant was the model of the new assembly-line technology. Today, the assembly plant is an aging relic, but, incredibly, the organizational architecture it spawned lives on in steep hierarchies, centralized bureaucracies, and narrowly defined jobs. As companies are coming to realize they can't compete successfully in the 21st century with organizations based on 19th century ideas, Competing by Design shows clearly and persuasively why--and, most importantly how--to harness the power of organizational architecture to unleash the competitive strengths embedded in each organization.

Download or read book Product Design and Corporate Strategy written by Robert Blaich and published by McGraw-Hill Companies. This book was released on 1993 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "World-class companies such as Sony, Olivetti, and Braun recognize that in today's global marketplace, where the window of competitive advantage is narrowing rapidly, product design has become the driving force for improving product quality and maintaining a competitive edge. Wisely, they also realize that the design process can take the lead toward achieving these goals only when it is well managed." "Looking to these and other corporate giants and detailing his own 30 years of design management experience, Robert Blaich shows how you can elevate the status of product design in your own company and maximize its effectiveness through strong management, enabling design to spearhead innovations, establish new strategic directions, and gain the edge that translates into greater profitability. Using case studies derived from his own outstanding management work at Herman Miller, Inc., a leader in furniture systems, and Philips, the Dutch electronics giant, Blaich demonstrates that design can be the key tool in forging a corporate identity that can make your company's name synonymous with quality the world over." "Blaich lays out the steps that can bring your company into the twenty-first century. As a manager, you'll discover how to: establish product design as a proactive, problemsolving force; gain crucial upper-echelon support for a powerful design program; create a holistic design program that interacts on equal terms with engineering, marketing, and other departments; stimulate new ideas through teamwork, the use of consultants, and the creation of a multicultural design department; provide your designers with the necessary tools, including CAD systems; balance the use of in-house staff with outside consultants; and effectively manage your company's often limited human, capital, and financial resources." "Taking these steps will demonstrate to often skeptical upper management that designers themselves are best equipped to develop and manage the resources of the design department, establishing it for years to come as a primary force for innovation and quality." "America must recognize what Japan and Germany have long understood - product design must become the backbone of any company desiring to make it in the future. With its uniquely personal and practical insight into how to effect that crucial change, Robert Blaich's Product Design and Corporate Strategy can help put your company on the global map, whatever its size." "As such, Product Design and Corporate Strategy is an essential tool for current and prospective design managers, and critical reading for all CEOs and senior and middle managers who must come to grips with the centrality of product design in the corporate landscape."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved