Vigilant organizations excel at seeing looming threats and embryonic opportunities sooner than rivals, which prepares them to act faster when needed. Four drivers distinguish vigilant from vulnerable organizations, which can be used to design a roadmap to improve organizational acuity and preparedness.…Read More
When digital turbulence is the new normal, vigilant organizations prevail by following three navigation principles. …Read More
Today’s marketing organizations face unprecedented turbulence and complexity. To anticipate and adapt to fast changing customer preferences and environments, executives seek to make their internal organizations nimble and agile by constantly developing, integrating, and reconfiguring new capabilities. …Read More
When the Covid-19 pandemic struck some organizations were more vigilant and better prepared to absorb the shock and are emerging stronger. This article describes the best practices of these vigilant organizations that enabled them to be more adept at anticipating whatever surprises are coming next.…Read More
George Day, Geoffrey T. Boisi Professor Emeritus, The Wharton School, Paul J. H. Schoemaker, Q2 Technologies LLC, and Govi Rao, Phase Change Solutions Strategy & Leadership, 2020 The case of Philips Lighting shows how management coped with the ambiguous but real threats and opportunities of a highly disruptive emerging technology…Read More
The work of innovation occurs within an organizational environment that can either help or hinder the necessary activities.…Read More
Our work on vigilant leadership is being extended to the domain of foundations. We have collected data from 97 major foundations operating in the U.S. …Read More
Why are vigilant organizations better at developing foresight than their rivals and acting faster on the insights and alerts? Four attributes were hypothesized to explain the difference between vigilant and vulnerable organizations.…Read More
When turbulence is the new normal, an organization’s survival depends on vigilant leadership that can anticipate threats, spot opportunities, and act quickly when the time is right. …Read More
Marketing is at the interface of the firm and its present and prospective markets, and is the organizational function that absorbs much of the environmental turbulence. …Read More
We are exploring the reasons for the infamous “deny, deflect and delay” approach of Facebook leadership, and will argue that some of the damage they incurred might have been avoided had they absorbed four lessons we have drawn from our studies of highly vigilant organizations.…Read More
Managers have no shortage of advice on how to achieve organic sales growth through innovation. Prescriptions range from emulating the best practices of innovative companies like Amazon, Starbucks, and 3M to adopting popular concepts such as design thinking, lean startup principles, innovation boot camps, and co-creation with customers. …Read More
Why are some firms consistently able to grow faster than their rivals in the same industry? We employ dynamic capabilities theory to show that organic growth leaders excel because they have innovation prowess. …Read More
Our Fall Conference 2015 stressed the need to trade places with consumers in order to identify opportunities in a landscape where digital technologies have changed all the rules.…Read More
Mack Institute Co-Director George Day has retired from The Wharton School, but remains as involved as ever with the Mack Institute.…Read More
The Mack Institute Fall Conference 2014 examined how rapid advances in technology continuously change the way that organizations innovate.…Read More
According to George Day, top businesses have a lot in common with top athletes. His research examines the qualities that separate “growth leaders” from “growth laggards” — in other words, the qualities that separate average or failing companies from those that achieve Olympic-level success.…Read More
With outsourcing growing and core capabilities contracting, is hierarchy becoming a thing of the past? Faculty from the Mack Institute talk corporate hierarchies today versus in the past.…Read More
Finding the path that will allow established companies to take advantage of their strengths while also giving them the flexibility to innovate is one of the most pressing concerns of many executives. This was the theme of the Mack Institute’s Spring Conference, titled “Incubating Innovation in Established Firms.”…Read More
Managers can help cultivate breakthrough innovation by putting the right organizational habits in place.…Read More
