TOP COMPANIES TURN TO US FOR PROFIT EXPERTISE
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PROFIT ISLE software and change management capabilities are grounded in the insights and techniques developed by MIT’s Jonathan Byrnes over a thirty-year period. These insights and techniques have been articulated in his award-winning book, Islands of Profit in a Sea of Red Ink, and in his very popular series of monthly columns in Harvard Business School’s Working Knowledge website and e-newsletter. We hope these insights help you discover your Islands of Profit.
The Accidental Company
Have you ever wondered why we hiccup? I recently reread a fascinating book, Your Inner Fish, written by Neil Shubin, a professor of anatomy at the University of Chicago. In this very readable book, he describes how we humans carry the very real vestiges of our...
read morePrecision Forecasting
Have you ever had an experience at a meeting that you will never forget? Here’s one of mine. A few years ago, I was advising a major company in restructuring its supply chain and customer relations. I visited one of the company’s most important suppliers. This...
read moreStrange Finance Problem: Too Much Accuracy
One of the biggest problems in effective profitability management is the instinctive desire on the part of many CFOs for too much accuracy. How can this be? In my experience, there is good accuracy and bad accuracy. Let me explain. Good Accuracy Accuracy is essential...
read moreNew Article – Improving Profitability from a Granular Level
I recently wrote an article for Business Finance, “Improving Profitability from a Granular Level”. I hope you find it helpful.
read moreChange Management: Paving the Cowpaths
Change management is one of the most difficult problems facing managers at all levels. All too often, managers focus primarily on defining the best end-state, and deal with the change process almost as an afterthought. If the end-state really is better, the logic...
read moreGreat Summer Reading
Here are four terrific books that you might enjoy this summer. One is an enduring classic of nature writing. Two are great management books that are not technically about management. And the fourth is a very interesting brief overview of the history of mankind. The...
read moreNew Article – Best Practices: Leading Profitability Turnaround
I recently wrote an article for American Executive, “Best Practices: Leading Profitability Turnaround”. I hope you find it...
read moreNew Executive Briefing – First Steps to Profitability Turnarounds
I was recently interviewed by Lindsay Konzak, Editor of Modern Distribution Management, on managing profitability turnarounds. Here’s the 14 minute You Tube segment: “First Steps to Profitability...
read moreUnlikely Operations Heroes – Sales Reps
A few weeks ago, I met with the top operations managers of a major multinational consumer products company. These executives were very interested in understanding how to become more innovative. What could they do? What have other companies done? What is the current...
read moreNew Article – The Use and Misuse of Business Cases
I recently wrote an article for Business Finance, “The Use and Misuse of Business Cases”. I hope you find it helpful.
read moreNew Article – Getting Under the Hood of a Flawed Budgeting Process
I recently wrote an article for Business Finance, “Getting Under the Hood of a Flawed Budgeting Process”. In the article I explain why most budgeting processes are inherently backward-looking, so companies wind up investing in yesterday, instead of tomorrow. I hope...
read moreChannel Mapping for Profit
In my previous blog post, “Customer Intimacy vs. Operations Excellence: Why Not Have Both?”, I explained that leading companies are gaining market share and growing profits by focusing their resources on the customers that are giving them high sustained profitability,...
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