Worrying about bankruptcy could cause you more harm than you have. Do not allow the stress and worrying to distract you from solving your business problems. You must be clear-headed right now. Saving your business should be the only thing you have to be concerned about during this emergency. You...
Great effort may result in useful problem solving, but hardly is it ever effective problem solving. The struggle merely points out that the path to the problem's solution was unknown in the first place, forcing the user to resort to trial-and-error methods. The longer it takes to find an answer,...
So you're the chief executive officer of a company and you rely on your board of directors for sound advice and counsel. But there's one director who isn't delivering. He or she doesn't read the meeting materials before hand. Dozes during the meeting. Goes on long-winded rants not related to...
Organizations often respond to financial and market imperatives by resolving problems with short-term solutions. Often, there are procedures in place to guide people’s actions so that they spend minimal time on original thinking and then focus on the immediate requirements of the job. However, constantly relying on quick fixes requires...
CEOs do not have the best public image. From the classics Enron and Worldcom, to more recent scandals over executive pay -- Bob Nardelli at Home Depot and Blackstone's Steven Schwarzman come to mind -- to the anonymously posted trash talk about an acquisition target from Whole Foods' John Mackey,...
Openness and free information sharing amongst scientists are supposed to be core norms of the scientific community. However, many studies have shown that these norms are not universally followed. Lack of openness and transparency means that scientific problem solving is constrained to a few scientists who work in secret and...
In this paper we present the Capacitated Multicommodity Network Design problem with Asset Management considerations CMNDAM. The problem is an extension of the design balanced fixed charge network design problem DBCMND, as presented in Pedersen et al. DBCMND problems arise in design of transportation networks, where node balance of vehicles...
Many companies understand the benefit of outsourcing. Yet, in current outsourcing practices, clients usually focus primarily on business objectives and security is negotiated only for communication links. It is however not determined how data must be protected after transmission. Strong protection of a communication link is of little value if...
Enterprise organizations use Data WareHouses DWHs to analyze their performance. Performance is judged regarding the achievement of goals. DWH data models are well established. There exist numerous domain-specific modeling approaches. Enterprises also often model their goals in terms of formal or semiformal goal models. The problem is that these two...
The need for product innovation has never been greater. Product lifecycles are shorter than ever, and pressure continues to mount for organic growth. Companies that fail to innovate face a grim future. The problem is that winning with new products is not so easy. Only one out of four development...
Whether or not you are a big business owner, you should have at least one person to share in your business operations. This will help you to open up some of your own time. The problem is, you are sitting there looking over information about your profits and you become...
"Nuisance" has been defined as "Something that causes harm" and "A bit of a bother." Nuisances are a pretty common occurrence in homeowner associations since living in close proximity is bound to create friction from time to time. Most HOA governing documents include language like: "No resident shall engage in...
In 2005 there were over 2 million personal bankruptcy filings in the United States. Many of these individuals will be looking to rebuild their credit and financial future. One of the first things someone with a discharged bankruptcy on their credit report will want to do is clean up their...
Processes are often used to free resources from non-value added tasks. Automation is required. The problem is that there are many ways to automate processes and it's not always clear which are appropriate. With so many packaged applications, workflow solutions, and numerous methods of bespoke software development, is there a...
Many insurance policies have been lost or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina or in its aftermath. Many insurance policies also are written in a complicated, and often unclear fashion. The problem is magnified by the fact that the losses involved may trigger different coverage provisions, be subject to different requirements, and...
Every time an organizational change occurs, many processes may split in two, or three; a centralized sales organization suddenly is split into three business unit sales teams. The problem is that with organizational change, process management is very rarely factored into the overall event. Where organizational design drivers process management,...
The problem is the process, which in most companies has become an inflexible sequence of activities, like a production line. Because it is inflexible, it is disconnected from marketplace changes that may determine the fate of new products. The solution is to inject more customer-related information into the process and...
A company is considered that generates research concepts and then converts them into product ventures with the help of its R&D department. The products generate revenue in a volatile market before passing into obsolescence. The funding for the R&D department is in turn obtained from this revenue. The publisher studies...
This paper describes a design project. The project itself involves in finding a problem and proving that it does actually exist, researching existing products that relate to the problem, drawing up a specification and creating a solution. This project is aimed at audiences who have a basic understanding of the...
The paper outlines that for most insurance companies today, the latest recession has been a turbulent storm that they are trying to ride out without sustaining too much damage. The problem is that the economic conditions are not the only factor making waves in the insurance industry right now. The...
