March–April 1999

Under current compensation schemes, senior managers are rewarded even when their companies underperform. But there’s a way for boards to align executive pay with shareholder expectations.

How do you shift strategy into overdrive at a company with 340,000 employees in more than 200 countries? The answer, says Ford’s iconoclastic new leader, is teaching as you’ve never seen it before.

In battles for emerging markets, big multinationals don’t hold all the advantages.

Complexity theorists argue that management counts for little in a world of radical discontinuity. So why do the best-led companies so often prevail?

They chat about hobbies, hold spur-of-the-moment meetings, and seek out people far from their chain of command—all to combat the uncertainty and resistance inherent in their work.

The payoff on their Web site is nowhere in sight. Can they afford to make it better? Can they afford not to?

What business are you really in? Chances are, it’s not what you think.

Sending executives abroad is expensive, but most companies don’t get much back for their money. Those that do follow three practices.

Companies need to stop chasing best-in-class models for their corporate planning processes and play to their own strengths instead.

Some companies automate knowledge management; others rely on their people to share knowledge through more traditional means. Emphasizing the wrong approach—or trying to pursue both at the same time—can quickly undermine your business.