Sub-prime scares, credit crunches, talk of inflation and recession, is the world of economy in trouble and is the party reaslly over?

The mind's eye determines 24 hours a day what we focus on. Even in sleep, the mind's eye can be working. There are some people who are going to see a half-full glass or a half-empty glass. So if you have somebody that is constantly looking for what is wrong, they are not going to reach their highest potential. And we can easily be taken hostage because we focus on the wrong thing. The winners are going to be able to always see, no matter what the frustration, no matter what the pain is, where the opportunity lies.

China today is probably one of the most competitive markets in the world. It is not the low-cost economy it used to be, and many local and foreign companies are facing the challenge how to build and maintain competitive advantage in a rapidly changing environment - with a permanent shortage of talent.

How can HR increase the company capability to compete? The best Chinese companies can provide some useful lessons. How can HR add value?

A good example is Haier Group, a Chinese company that grew aggressively over the last twenty years. Starting in 1984 with 100 employees, Haier today is the world’s third largest home appliance producer. CEO, Zhang Ruimin says, "We must think about talent management and performance management. How can we change the mindset of the employees to get the results we need?"

A decision to save $20,000 a year by not subscribing for a second Reuters terminal ultimately cost Allied Irish Bank’s American subsidiary, Allfirst, some $690 million in 2002: possibly the worst bargain ever. Allied Irish was big enough to absorb the losses and did not suffer the same fate as Barings Bank, which had failed some seven years earlier after a ‘rogue trader’ ran up even greater losses. It was abundantly clear that Allied Irish had learnt nothing from that high-profile disaster. Sadly, this was only one of many such omissions that have led to history repeating itself so dramatically in the first years of the new century.

A thorough understanding of what has gone wrong, what the major causes of corporate failure are and where the responsibility lies is essential if we are not to continue repeating the mistakes of the past.

In parallel with the current trend towards financial globalization, a single system of regulation is fast becoming de rigueur for an increasing number of countries.

This trend is primarily fueled by companies seeking to raise financing abroad, and secondly by investors wishing to diversify risk and find new investment opportunities in other markets.

While there are currently still many different systems out there, the US model is winning the race by several lengths, as much in China as in more developed economies. While, however, the US system has proved extremely useful as an export to other countries, there is no "one size fits all" solution.

In Europe, there is a very small percentage of shares held by minority shareholders, so consequently a system that protects them against top executives is not required. There is a greater need for a system that protects them against institutional investors.

Originated by international organizations, like the World Bank or the IMF, the late nineties was an interesting period of tremendous effort by regulators to deliver reform in all countries of the world.

Strategic management today must focus not only on meeting short term targets and budgets but also on building an organization prepared to succeed and lead into the future.

This is obvious, you may say. But how is this simple reality reflected in how we strategically lead and engage our organizations. If we honestly look at our companies, how much do we manage through pre-determined linear steps towards incrementally higher targets in successive budget periods? How often do we honestly engage our organization in challenging internal thinking and focusing on creating opportunities for moving the business forward? Ask yourself a simple question -- are you and your company prepared today to be successful five years in the future? If not, what gets in your way and how can you start preparing today?

Almost all of the companies surveyed had an “architect”, usually in IT, whose job was to design and improve the IT systems in the company. Yet these architects’ efforts usually focused on IT architecture and had little impact. Top performing companies, on the other hand, take a business-focused view and design an enterprise architecture – a plan for the overall organization of the company’s systems and processes. They define how they will do business (an operating model), and design the architecture of the processes and systems critical to their current and future operations. They then leverage this for profitable growth. Based on our survey, we estimate that only 5% of firms do this well.

Almost all organizations work with suppliers with greater or lesser degrees of success. Billington, Cordon and Vollmann explore a new concept: super supplier collaboration. Super suppliers not only provide materials or services at reasonable price levels, they hugely enhance productivity, returns and the competitive advantage of both parties. So what are these super suppliers, and where can you get one?

Super Suppliers - an introduction

In super supplier collaboration, both firms truly work together in a win-win situation. Discarding the outdated model of combative customer-supplier relationships, suppliers gain significant competitive advantage. They do this by adopting unbiased competitive intelligence, insights, and engineering expertise and using it against their competition.

Most company managers consider NGOs a pest. Yet increasingly, they are strange bedfellows in non-market partnerships. As in all good relationships, there are benefits for both sides.

Hand in glove - complementary strengths

At first glance, it may seem absurd: why partner with organizations that seem to be pursuing goals contrary to those of your own organization? The fact is, NGOs offer perspectives, competences and resources that you will find hard to acquire alone, yet which may perfectly dovetail your strengths. For example, money can’t buy you...

Another month, another initiative? Strategy is top of most executive radar screens. But something isn’t working. Customers are less satisfied, profits are not growing and shareholders are disappointed. As one executive said: "How could we have such talented executives producing such mediocre results?"

It doesn't have to be this way. You can break the stalemate by focusing your organization’s resources and energy on the three to five critical must-win battles that your organization must win to achieve its most important goals. The must-win battle journey tackles the challenges of combining strategic focus and emotional commitment to your goals, simultaneously, to drive step-changes in business performance. There are three key steps along the way.