Information And The Modern Corporation

A guide to information as the transformative tool of modern business. While we have been preoccupied with the latest i-gadget from Apple and with Google's ongoing expansion, we may have missed something: the fundamental transformation of whole firms and industries into giant information-processing machines. Today, more than eighty percent of workers collect and analyze information (often in digital form) in the course of doing their jobs. This book offers a guide to the role of information in modern business, mapping the use of information within work processes and tracing flows of information across supply-chain management, product development, customer relations, and sales. The emphasis is on information itself, not on information technology. Information, overshadowed for a while by the glamour and novelty of IT, is the fundamental component of the modern corporation. In Information and the Modern Corporation, longtime IBM manager and consultant James Cortada clarifies the differences among data, facts, information, and knowledge and describes how the art of analytics has all but eliminated decision making based on gut feeling, replacing it with fact-based decisions. He describes the working style of “road warriors,” whose offices are anywhere their laptops and cell phones are and whose deep knowledge of a given topic becomes their medium of exchange. Information is the core of the modern enterprise, and the use of information defines the activities of a firm. This essential guide shows managers and employees better ways to leverage information—by design and not by accident.

A guide to information as the transformative tool of modern business. While we have been preoccupied with the latest i-gadget from Apple and with Google's ongoing expansion, we may have missed something: the fundamental transformation of whole firms and industries into giant information-processing machines. Today, more than eighty percent of workers collect and analyze information (often in digital form) in the course of doing their jobs. This book offers a guide to the role of information in modern business, mapping the use of information within work processes and tracing flows of information across supply-chain management, product development, customer relations, and sales. The emphasis is on information itself, not on information technology. Information, overshadowed for a while by the glamour and novelty of IT, is the fundamental component of the modern corporation. In Information and the Modern Corporation, longtime IBM manager and consultant James Cortada clarifies the differences among data, facts, information, and knowledge and describes how the art of analytics has all but eliminated decision making based on gut feeling, replacing it with fact-based decisions. He describes the working style of “road warriors,” whose offices are anywhere their laptops and cell phones are and whose deep knowledge of a given topic becomes their medium of exchange. Information is the core of the modern enterprise, and the use of information defines the activities of a firm. This essential guide shows managers and employees better ways to leverage information—by design and not by accident.

Technology in the Modern Corporation: A Strategic Perspective examines the role of technology in corporate planning and all that this relationship implies to corporate organization and strategy. Organized into 13 chapters, this book first discusses the management of corporate entrepreneurship; technological innovation and interdependence; and the rise and character of modern technology strategy. Subsequent chapters describe corporate research and development; corporate strategies for managing emerging technologies; approaches for the strategic management of technology; innovation and corporate strategy; and executive succession, strategic reorientations, and organization evolution.

Efficient management of managerial tasks by capable managers is essential in order to grow and remain competitive in today’s global business market. On the other hand, digital transformation enables organizations to better compete with their global counterparts. In the process of digital transformation, many firms find it difficult to acquire qualified leadership with adequate knowledge and competence to drive success. Without integrating the dual edges of managerial competence and digital evolution, it is next to impossible for a firm to both survive and grow. Managerial Issues in Digital Transformation of Global Modern Corporations is a critical scholarly publication that examines current challenges in the digital transformation of modern business corporations from a managerial and leadership perspective. Featuring a wide range of topics such as digital transformation, marketing, and global business, this book is ideal for corporate executives, managers, IT specialists, entrepreneurs, business administrators, industry practitioners, academicians, researchers, policymakers, and students from various relevant disciplines that include economics, information and technology, business administration, management science, and commerce.

In this comprehensive analysis, the authors examine the structure of market capitalism to see what went wrong before and after the stock market burst in 2000. They find conflicts of interest to be heavily embedded in the system, and argue for a different approach to governance than federal regulation.

There is an active debate over whether the traditional purpose of the corporation – to maximize profits and financial value for the benefit of shareholders – can adequately encompass the interests of all other participants or stakeholders in the corporation's activities. Since a corporation cannot operate optimally without the support of its most important stakeholders, particularly its employees and customers, finding ways of incorporating responsiveness to stakeholder needs is vital for corporate management and governance. This anthology is designed to sharpen the debate about the role and purpose of the corporation. The debate includes such fundamental questions as: Who should be considered stakeholders? Which stakeholder interests should a corporation take into account? How should stakeholder interests be balanced against shareholder objectives (such as profits)? What changes should be made in corporate decision making and governance to reflect these new interests? This collection of seminal articles, is divided into three parts: Shareholders and Stakeholders; Morality, Ethics and Stakeholder Theory; and Stakeholder Theory and Management Performance. The articles date from 1916 to 1997, and are drawn from North American and European authors. Managers as well as researchers will find this collection presented will stimulate their thinking on the role of the corporation and its responsiveness to stakeholder interests. The volume is funded in part by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.