BCG has identified ten different value patterns that cut across industry boundaries and shape the range and types of strategic moves that are most likely to create value. To understand how value patterns work, consider the story of the one we call high-value brands.

China’s major carriers have a ten-year record of solid growth. Their low labor rates, modern fleet, and low fares make them formidable international competitors, particularly if they choose to upgrade their product and services to better meet the needs of China’s rising middle class and international travelers from around the world.

As mobile payments become increasingly popular, stakeholders from banks to handset makers will be affected. What banks do now to prepare for the change is crucial. Because of their deep customer relationships, experience in safe payments, and other know-how, banks are perfectly positioned to benefit from the m-payment revolution.

A CEO’s strategic and investment choices are calculated bets, made in a competitive and uncertain environment. When developing a strategy to create value, it pays to know your company’s starting position. BCG has identified ten such positions, or value patterns, that define the moves most likely to create value.

Emerging markets are expected to grow four times as fast as developed markets. This opportunity is too big to leave to chance. The Globalization Readiness Index measures a company’s capabilities against five traits of successful global businesses. Companies that want to get serious about globalization need to assess their organizations against these traits.

The strong economies and rising incomes of many emerging markets have attracted multinationals and expanding homegrown companies alike. But there’s a catch: talent is increasingly difficult to find and retain. It’s time for companies to stop relying on serendipity or poaching and instead to professionalize their talent-management strategy.

Successfully linking social media, big data, and signal advantage can deliver a host of competitive advantages to banks, including an enhanced understanding of customers and how to market to them.

Global equity markets declined in 2011, but that didn’t stop some companies from delivering double-digit total shareholder returns.  The big winners were cash machines that created value by improving margins, increasing asset productivity, and returning free cash flow back to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases.

Managers can assess their business model’s sustainability by examining how effectively it adapts in the ecological, social, and economic spheres. If they discover imbalances in the flows of  material, economic value, labor, or trust that impose limits on their current model, they should transform these red flags into new sources of ecosocial advantage.

Technology is a key enabler of performance at many businesses but is particularly critical to ADP. Mike Capone, the company's CIO, discusses how he attempts to maximize IT's contribution, steps he has taken to foster IT-led innovation, and his goal in developing a visible presence outside the company.