(The Seattle Times, 19 March 2012) In Brief: Starbucks opened its first juice bar Monday near Seattle in Bellevue Square. The store is named Evolution Fresh, after a company that Starbucks acquired in November. The coffee chain is trying to make inroads into the competitive $50 billion health foods market. Our View: Leading companies apply [...]
Read more(Huffington Post, 8 March 2012) In Brief: Starbucks announced plans to sell single-cup coffee/espresso machines this fall. The move will extend the chain’s ventures in the “single-serve” market that started with its Via Ready Brew instant coffee and its K-cup packs for Keurig machines from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. Our View: As companies look to [...]
Read more(Reuters, 12 January 2012) In Brief: Target, the second-largest discount retailer in the US, plans to open small boutiques in its stores as well as 25 Apple centers. The retailer’s next step will be to partner with unique shops that will co-create merchandise for exclusive sale at Target stores. Our View: Leading companies excel at [...]
Read more(Inc., 21 November 2011) In Brief: This year’s top three performing industries are health care, information technology, and business services, according to a firm that tracks the financial performance of privately held companies. Our View: The quest for growth often leads companies to look beyond the traditional boundaries of their business. If your firm is [...]
Read more(Associated Press, 20 September 2011) In Brief: The US-headquartered automobile giant has further cemented its alliance with state-owned Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corporation (SAIC) by signing an agreement to develop next-generation electric vehicles. GM’s board held its first ever monthly meeting in China this week, further underlining the importance of the market for future growth. Our [...]
Read moreAs we near the end of our research on how firms manage successful emerging markets entry, we have realized that one particular management mistake has cropped up repeatedly throughout the conversations we’ve had: managers are too preoccupied with forging a definitive “understanding” of emerging markets, and this leads them to neglect other areas of emerging [...]
Read more(BBC News, 18 August 2011) In Brief: The US-based soft drink giant will invest a further US$4 billion in China’s fast-growing market between 2012 and 2014, building on the US$3 billion it has invested since 2009. Our View: There is little doubt that China is an increasingly important market for Western companies, but our recent [...]
Read more(Treasury and Risk, 8 August 2011) In Brief: There were 145 corporate spin-offs in the first six months of 2011–more than any half-year period for 10 years–as well as an additional 17 between 30 June and 7 August. Companies “feel more pressure to review their portfolios in this environment,” says one portfolio manager. Our View: [...]
Read moreAt the beginning of this year, many commentators thought that 2011 would finally see a return to some kind of certainty about the global economy’s future. Unfortunately, and as America’s and Europe’s economies showed in particular, this didn’t turn out to be the case. Much like 2008, 2009, and 2010, uncertainty still abounds in global [...]
Read moreIn conversations with Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs), we’ve learned that if they do not push their procurement organizations to find new ways of providing value to their companies then they will likely slip into the anonymity of a shared services center. Many procurement organizations have taken steps to improve their functional maturity—investing in their systems, [...]
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