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This article describes the application of pattern thinking to strategy. Patterns provide a powerful discipline to see order beneath the surface chaos. Pattern thinking can help entrepreneurs, managers, investors, and key talent to anticipate the likely direction of changes even before they happen. It reveals the economic meaning of these changes and provides the tools to capitalize on them. The authors report on groundbreaking research into over 200 companies in 40 industries, and they cite several examples of companies which have profited from analyzing their opportunities according to the profit pattern matrix.

Avoid the trap of corporate self‐absorption, a top strategy consultant urges.

Recently, I was asked to be the technical editor for a book that purported to put in one volume all the knowledge gained from an MBA program. Since a typical MBA program requires two full years of study, this was an ambitious undertaking. Always up for a challenge, I decided to give it a look. First, I skimmed through the text. The section that caught my attention, and stopped me for a closer read, was the one on strategic planning.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

As Stack was finishing up this column, Merrill Lynch made the stunning announcement it will offer low‐priced, un‐brokered, on‐line trading by the end of the year (it had previously delivered limited on‐line access only to selected highest net worth clients).

Classifying and evaluating the central ideas of strategic management (the basic tools for managers) is an ambitious project. Judging them by their impact, utility, and longevity, this study selected ten big ideas.

The author, who has 40 years of experience with large US, Canadian and Puerto Rican firms, reviewed the literature and interviewed a number of senior practitioners to collect current opinions.

The article should spur discussions among researchers and practitioners about alternative big ideas that belong on their own most‐significant list.

This list is valuable to practitioners who want to become familiar with and use a full range of strategic management tools and analytic options.

The evaluations of the strategic management tools and techniques are up to date and are based on practical experience.

These days every important trend in business converges on the decision to relocate.

This case chronicles the changing of a corporate unit’s business model, organizational model, and mindset. The reinvention process started in early 1999 when Mercer Management Consulting received a call from Bob Romasco, who had recently assumed the role as CEO of J.C. Penney’s Direct Marketing Services (DMS) unit. After completing a review of the company, he realized the need for a new vision and business design. Mercer worked closely with Romasco and his team over a two‐year period to transform many aspects of the business from its strategic direction to the implementation of sophisticated direct marketing techniques. Throughout, it was clear that a successful transformation would require more than the right vision and strategy; it also required changing the general mindset of the staff.

In the years to come, traditional product‐centered strategies alone won’t create the kind of growth companies desire. An alternative platform for driving significant, sustained new growth is demand innovation (as opposed to product innovation). Demand innovation focuses on using one’s product position as a starting point from which to do new things for customers that solve their biggest problems and improve their overall performance. Embedded in the customer’s use of your product are all kinds of hassles and inefficiencies as they buy it, use it, store it, maintain it, finance it, and eventually dispose of it. This broader web of activity represents tremendous economic activity, often 10 to 20 times greater in total value than the product market itself. Understanding and participating in this customer “value chain” is the key to demand innovation. Making demand innovation profitable means improving both your customers’ economics and capturing value for your company. Here success is rooted in putting to use a set of powerful hidden assets that your company may already have. Five types of hidden assets are described with guidelines for how to master the new discipline of demand innovation. Five principles are offered to guide managers through the challenges that arise for developing new‐growth projects into major opportunities.