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Article
Publication date: 6 February 2019

Vincent Barabba

Professor Vijay Govindarajan’s “Three Box Solution” framework provides a useful way of looking at a transformative business innovation initiative started at General Motors almost…

1599

Abstract

Purpose

Professor Vijay Govindarajan’s “Three Box Solution” framework provides a useful way of looking at a transformative business innovation initiative started at General Motors almost three decades ago and now being further developed by its current CEO Mary Barra.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on 18 years of experience at GM the author offers insights into how the company used the “Three Box” aproach: 10;•9;Box 1: Strengthen the core. 10;•9;Box 2: Let go of the practices that drive the core business but hinder the new one. 10;•9;Box 3: Invented a new business model. 10;

Findings

GM management found creative ways to enable the current business to thrive while exploring the potential market for a visionary business model.

Practical implications

%2010%3BThe%20paper%20provides%20new%20insight%20into%20how%20General%20Motors%20has%20changed%20and%20how%20it%20is%20continuing%20to%20adapt%20%20emerging%20future%20markets..

Originality/value

Based on actual experience of participating in strategy development this paper should help decision makers address their current actions and future strategies simultaneously.

Details

Strategy & Leadership, vol. 47 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1087-8572

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Article
Publication date: 9 May 2018

Vincent Barabba

This article demonstrates the value of adding a learning and adaptation component into the decision-making process.

474

Abstract

Purpose

This article demonstrates the value of adding a learning and adaptation component into the decision-making process.

Design/methodology/approach

By reviewing the case of Kodak’s decision not to focus its investments in digital technology in the 1980s the article introduces The Learning and Adaptation Decision Process, a model enables a firm to reassess analysis about future market disruptions and opportunities

Findings

Organizations need decision processes that are designed to be reviewed and rethought so they continue to provide fresh insight into how to prepare for disruptions and opportunities. This example shows how Kodak could have used its considerable resources to expedite its own digital camera technology, purchased companies with leading edge digital technology, put a digital technology-minded management team in place and lead the industry into the realm of mass market digital photography.”

Practical implications

A learning and adaptation approach might have helped Kodak take advantage of an opportunity to survive the disruption of its market and to avoid the eventual bankruptcy of the firm.”

Originality/value

The model introduced in this article can help leaders in a wide variety of industries review critical decisions, identify problematic outcomes, anticipate disruptions and prepare sooner for opportunities.

Details

Strategy & Leadership, vol. 46 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1087-8572

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Article
Publication date: 1 October 2002

Vincent Barabba, John Pourdehnad and Russell L. Ackoff

The authors argue that consultants are of two types: self‐promoting gurus and educators. Gurus that pontificate and promote their proprietary problem solving techniques do not…

1311

Abstract

The authors argue that consultants are of two types: self‐promoting gurus and educators. Gurus that pontificate and promote their proprietary problem solving techniques do not educate their clients. They promote maxims that define rules of behavior but do not increase the competence of managers. They promote their proprietary solution as a fix for all problems instead of trying to increase managerial understanding of a particular corporate puzzle. They provide maxims that are really platitudes and panaceas without proof of effectiveness. A significant proportion of the advice produced by such management gurus is either incorrectly inferred from data (but nevertheless may be true) or is unsubstantiated by genuine evidence. Examples are drawn from the work of Peters, Covey, de Geus, and Hamel. Recommendations for providing management with defensive measures include: recognition that flawed research techniques produces flawed evidence; recognition that many seemingly wise maxims are really platitudes; and effective selection and use of internal and external consultants who perceive their mission to be the individualized education of managers and the solution of their organization’s particular problems.

Details

Strategy & Leadership, vol. 30 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1087-8572

Keywords

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Article
Publication date: 1 February 1991

Vincent P. Barabba and Gerald Zaltman

The inquiry center concept fosters the competencies needed to ask key questions and provide useful answers about a firm's markets and its products or services in a continuous…

48

Abstract

The inquiry center concept fosters the competencies needed to ask key questions and provide useful answers about a firm's markets and its products or services in a continuous process of learning and renewal.

Details

Planning Review, vol. 19 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0094-064X

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Article
Publication date: 1 April 1980

Richard O. Mason, Ian I. Mitroff and Vincent P. Barabba

Consider the plight of the contemporary manager: the forces affecting corporate planning today stem from a wide variety of external sources—public interest groups, changing…

1072

Abstract

Consider the plight of the contemporary manager: the forces affecting corporate planning today stem from a wide variety of external sources—public interest groups, changing customer demands, foreign nations, government agencies, and many more. Consequently, the problems that managers and planners must solve are increasingly complex. They are, in addition, ill‐structured and have many highly interrelated dimensions, each of which expresses a wide range of differing values, beliefs and knowledge. Compared with well structured problems—proving geometric theorems or solving Sunday supplement puzzles are examples—ill‐structured problems have no sure fire solutions. One can't tell whether the planning methods used and the solutions obtained fit the problem best or not.

Details

Planning Review, vol. 8 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0094-064X

Available. Content available
Article
Publication date: 1 June 2005

Vincent Barabba

257

Abstract

Details

Strategy & Leadership, vol. 33 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1087-8572

Available. Content available
Article
Publication date: 10 July 2007

Vincent P. Barabba

3009

Abstract

Details

Strategy & Leadership, vol. 35 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1087-8572

Available. Content available
Article
Publication date: 1 October 2002

Robert M. Randall

268

Abstract

Details

Strategy & Leadership, vol. 30 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1087-8572

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Book part
Publication date: 13 July 2011

Gerald Zaltman

This article describes several lessons learned during my career. Some describe ways of approaching intellectual issues and others express values and attitudes underlying these…

Abstract

This article describes several lessons learned during my career. Some describe ways of approaching intellectual issues and others express values and attitudes underlying these approaches. Although the lessons have evolved in a largely academic context, they seem equally appropriate in the world of practice. The personal rules of thumb and ideas inherent in these lessons are typically developed and practiced implicitly. However, readers should find these explicit statements relevant in different ways. Some lessons might be candidates for adoption outright. Others might be constructive points of departure for evolving a related lesson better suited to one's own working style. All lessons, whether or not they are agreeable or appropriate, can serve as thought starters by challenging readers to surface their own implicit career lessons for comparison.

Details

Review of Marketing Research: Special Issue – Marketing Legends
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-85724-897-8

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Article
Publication date: 1 June 2003

Robert J. Allio

Think tank dynamo Russell L. Ackoff advocates that managers scrap the way they normally approach problem solving in general and innovation in particular. He champions a process…

2417

Abstract

Think tank dynamo Russell L. Ackoff advocates that managers scrap the way they normally approach problem solving in general and innovation in particular. He champions a process called “synthetic” thinking, a way of thinking about and designing a system that derives the properties and behavior of its parts from the functions required of the whole. His suggestions to managers for promoting creativity, innovation and better strategy are: (1) By understanding what’s happening inside and outside the organization, then by developing a vision of what the organization could be within the emerging culture and environment. Next by preparing a strategy for reaching or moving closer to that vision. (2) Through designs that lead require creativity. Creativity involves a three‐step process. The first step is to identify assumptions that you make which prevent you from seeing the alternatives to the ones that you currently see. These are self‐imposed constraints. The second step is to deny these constraining assumptions. The third is to explore the consequences of the denials. Creativity of individuals can be enhanced by practice, particularly under the guidance of one who is creative. (3) By becoming aware of the nature of the fundamental intellectual transformations now taking place and what their implications are for the future of business and management generally. And by attaching themselves to people who show creative thinking and engage with them in the process of redesigning, from scratch and with no constraints, the systems they manage.

Details

Strategy & Leadership, vol. 31 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1087-8572

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