Business Transformation Requires Transformational Leaders
Leadership and teaming skills are front and center in times of rapid change. Meet today’s constant disruption head on with expert guidance in leadership, business strategy, transformation, and innovation. Whether the disruption du jour is a digitally-driven upending of traditional business models, the pandemic-driven end to business as usual, or the change-driven challenge of staffing that meets your transformation plans — you’ll be prepared with cutting edge techniques and expert knowledge that enable strategic leadership.
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Insight
On 13 May 2002, Blockbuster, Inc., the leading US video rental chain, hit its highest stock price to date at almost $30 per share. Six years later, the price has fallen below $3 per share. The biggest reason for the decline? A Web site.
Not just any Web site, though. I'm talking about the Web site of a small startup named Netflix, which has now grown to have a market cap that is three times that of Blockbuster's. While Blockbuster is shutting down its stores and laying off employees, Netflix is experiencing year-after-year profits.
Executive Update
Insecure Code: An Agile Look at the Debian Debacle
How compatible are agile software development processes, such as XP, with the production of secure code? I am often asked this question and sometimes, indeed, confronted with the suggestion that they are not. Yet, my experience shows that not only is agile development compatible with secure code, it is an enabler. This Executive Update examines a recent unusual incident in the world of open source software, providing some insights in support of this position.
Abstract
This Executive Report by Bhuvan Unhelkar discusses sourcing as a formal business strategy that enables organizations to focus on their core competencies and alleviates pressure to carry out all of their business activities themselves.
The accompanying Executive Report discusses the practical importance of considering sourcing as a business strategy. The report begins with a discussion on the philosophical background for sourcing. Sourcing becomes smart when it (1) becomes a formal part of a business strategy and (2) has a repeatable and manageable process to follow.
This Executive Update is the first of three in a series that aims to share different viewpoints regarding three phases of an outsourcing strategy: feasibility analysis, implementation, and operation. Each phase features different levels of complexity. In the first phase, we assess the likelihood of putting outsourcing into effect. During the implementation phase, the decision has been made, and we are challenged to implement it the best way possible, avoiding operational disruption and future problems. Nevertheless, the biggest challenge is the operation phase; when we get there, outsourcing has been implemented, and our responsibility is to handle the new arrangement efficiently.
Domain Syllabus
Market mechanisms
Assertion 174:Apple's App Store represents a new value proposition, one that is likely to have far-reaching consequences for the IT world.
The sale of software through a brokered clearinghouse is likely to usher in an era of drastically changed software pricing and an entirely new take on the notion of open source software.