Strategy and Planning


Recent Strategy and Planning Articles

Five Boardroom Flash Points for Young Companies

By Ralph Ward |  May 1, 2000

Younger companies often face some tricky issues that seem to pop up sooner or later, and a good board can be hugely helpful in dealing with them. Hal Shea...  Read more

Attracting Top Names to Your Advisory Board

By Ralph Ward |  May 1, 2000

Q: Our software company is growing very fast, looking toward an IPO next year. However, our product competes with some really big, we...  Read more

Too Good to Be True: A Critique of Business Advice

May 1, 2000

Flawed Advice and the Management Trap by Chris Argyris Oxford University Press, 1999, 262 pages,$27. Check out ...  Read more

What qualities should a lawyer for a high-growth company possess?

Apr 12, 2000

Law & Taxation mentor Richard S. Morse Jr. responds: Obviously, a lawyer should have expertise and experience first and foremost. ...  Read more

Minority-Owned Businesses Up

By Christopher Caggiano |  Apr 1, 2000

It seems that the rising economic tide of the 1990s did indeed lift all boats. The U.S. Small Business Administration estimates that the number of minorit...  Read more

Beef Up Your Board Committees

By Ralph Ward |  Apr 1, 2000

As board work becomes more intense, technical, and specialized, the burden is increasingly shifting to boards' committees. But are your committee structur...  Read more

The New, Improved Nominating Committee

By Ralph Ward |  Apr 1, 2000

The corporate board's nominating committee has always been a bit of an afterthought, meeting maybe once a year to discuss whether anyone knew someone who ...  Read more

A Shopping List for Building Your Board

By Ralph Ward |  Apr 1, 2000

It's an old story -- the company founder eases out of management and the board hires a savvy new CEO to lead the firm boldly into the future. Usually when...  Read more

Living Business Plans Help Businesses Flow with Future

By Jeff Zbar |  Mar 31, 2000

Sudden, unanticipated changes in your market can have a drastic impact on your business. But you can thwart catastrophe by building flexibility into your bu...  Read more

Putting Your Business Idea to the Test

By David E. Gumpert |  Mar 20, 2000

When entrepreneurs ask me about the potential of an idea for a new business, I invariably ask some probing questions. I am trying to determine the followi...  Read more

Turning a Great Idea into a Practical Business

By David E. Gumpert |  Mar 20, 2000

You have a terrific idea for a new business. But before rushing ahead to implement it, consider the following: Have you seen the idea...  Read more

A Simple Approach to Sales Forecasting

By Tim Berry |  Mar 13, 2000

How do you forecast sales accurately? The trick is to break the sales down into manageable parts.  Read more

Come Up with a Contingency Plan

By Sarah Fenson |  Mar 7, 2000

Imagine this: You're managingthe rollout of a newsales-tracking software system foryour 100-person sales team. Thenew system is easy for thesalespeople to...  Read more

Meet Keith Lamb

Mar 6, 2000

Keith Lamb is the founder and CEO of The Lamb Group Companies, a fast-growing management consulting organization that specializes in e-business solutions,...  Read more

Are Peer Groups Useful?

Mar 6, 2000

Why joining a peer group will help you to be a better business owner  Read more

Insider Strategies on Leading a Board

By Ralph Ward |  Mar 1, 2000

Former chair of Citicorp, leader of the banking revolution that put ATMs on every street, member of many boards, and the defining business insider - that'...  Read more

Coaching Tips for a Better Board

By Ralph Ward |  Mar 1, 2000

Executive coaching has become one of the hottest fields in management consulting. But at the CEO level, a coach can offer the executive some excellent tip...  Read more

Four Rules of Board Politics

By Ralph Ward |  Mar 1, 2000

Ed Vick, chairman of mega ad agency Young & Rubicam, offers some firsthand advice for what makes a successful board chairman. "Being the boar...  Read more

Effective Board Meetings: Four Leadership Tips

By Ralph Ward |  Mar 1, 2000

What's the most basic definition of the board chair's job? To run the board meetings. But this essential of the chair's role can bring many pitfalls for b...  Read more

When You?re CEO but Not Chairman

By Ralph Ward |  Mar 1, 2000

Q: I'm a finalist for the CEO slot at a fast-growing tech company. The potential here is great, but I have one concern. The current ...  Read more

The Complete Franchise Business Plan

By Roger C. Rule |  Mar 1, 2000

What's the big difference between a traditional start-up business plan and a start-up franchise plan? Essentially, the latter must combine compone...  Read more

Products Liability Basics

Feb 22, 2000

Products liability is the area of tort law that deals with a manufacturer's or seller's liability for injuries suffered by a purchaser, user, or bystander...  Read more

Searching for a CEO

By Karen Carney |  Feb 10, 2000

It's not easy to hire someone to run the company you founded. But in early 1999, as start-up Roving Software was raisi...  Read more

Shake Up an Inbred Board

By Ralph Ward |  Feb 1, 2000

Whether it's the board of a start-up, a family firm, or a closely held company, there always comes a point when you need to crack open the boardroom door ...  Read more

Board Basics

By Ralph Ward |  Feb 1, 2000

Robert Lear belongs in the boardroom Hall of Fame. Recently retired from Columbia University, retired chair of Schaefer Corp., and chairman of the advisor...  Read more

Safeguarding the Troops

By Elyse Umlauf-Garneau |  Feb 1, 2000

Charlie Williams and about eight of his staff regularly wander through the Nicor Gas headquarters in Naperville, Ill., schmoozing with employees. The schm...  Read more

Making a Success of Succession

By Caroline Clarke Graves |  Feb 1, 2000

Black Enterprise is going to be 30 years old in August 2000. Not a lot of American companies, let alone African-American companies, reach that a...  Read more

Creating a Buzz on Your Board of Directors

By Ralph Ward |  Jan 1, 2000

The young startup company may have a great idea, market potential, or hot technology, but that's often not enough to get it over the hump. A strong succes...  Read more

The Surprising Rules of Boardroom Etiquette

By Ralph Ward |  Jan 1, 2000

The business world offers no other environment quite like the boardroom. The risks are very high, the rules are vague, and the directors often powerful, a...  Read more

Five Ways to Beat Board Presentation Blues

By Ralph Ward |  Jan 1, 2000

Boardroom chemistry involves more than just the directors. If you're a nondirector member of staff making a presentation to the board, knowing your etique...  Read more

Second Thoughts on a CEO?s Successor

By Ralph Ward |  Jan 1, 2000

Question: "So far, the CEO succession process at my company has gone well. The current chief executive gave our board a good plan wit...  Read more

Boosting Performance with Critical Numbers

By John Case |  Dec 11, 1999

Learn how to figure out your company's critical numbers -- and how to use them to build a stronger company.  Read more

Star Boards -- Nothing but Star Boards

By Mike Hofman |  Dec 1, 1999

Operating under the theory that celebrities are money magnets, America's largest companies have long stocked their boardrooms with a ration of star power....  Read more

Coping with the Boardroom Talent Pinch

By Ralph Ward |  Dec 1, 1999

The search for good directors to serve on corporate boards has become tougher and tougher, a toss-up between opposing trends. The tide of mergers has free...  Read more

Preventing Sexual Harrassment

Nov 9, 1999

What Every Manager Needs To Know About Sexual Harassment by Darlene Orlov and Michael T. Roumell AMACOM, 217 pages, $24.95 E...  Read more