domenica 18 aprile 2010


"A Harvard don’s tips for surviving tough times".

All companies want to know how to survive the bad times — how to ensure that they emerge out of the economic darkness into the light. Ranjay Gulati, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, thinks he has the answers. They are not rocket science but nor do they offer the quick fixes beloved of management gurus and over-optimistic managers.

Gulati’s conclusions, contained in his new book, Reorganize for Resilience*, are based on interviews with more than 500 executives over the past decade. The result is a four-part route to developing resilience. These resilient companies focus on the needs of their customers. They do so to such an extent that they consider their job to be “solving problems with and for customers”.

They are also organisationally fluid. They know that as long as they provide solutions for their customers they will make money. Customers do not care if products and services have been outsourced as long as their needs are met. The nine companies studied by Gulati include American corporations such as Harley Davidson, ...