MIT Sloan Management Review

INTELLIGENCE

RESEARCH ■ IDEAS ■ EXECUTION

■ “For many years, BP had been attempting to rebrand itself as a company that also invests heavily in alternative energy.

The Gulf spill strengthens associations of the BP brand with ‘Bad Petroleum.’ The image of a green, virtuous, ‘Beyond Petroleum’ company was blown to pieces with the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon and the seemingly unstoppable gushing of oil into a cherished natural environment.” (From Johar et al., “How to Save Your Brand in the Face of Crisis,” page 57.)

■ “More trust isn’t always better. Innovativeness increases with the degree of trust until a ‘sweet spot’ is reached, after which it declines even as trust becomes greater.” (From Bidault and Castello, “Why Too Much Trust Is Death to Innovation,” page 33.)

■ “Somehow we’ve managed to denigrate management to the extent that it’s no longer actually deemed to be a subject that we should think about or aspire to. No kid today ever grows up thinking, ‘I want to be a manager.’” ( Birkinshaw, interviewed in “Rethinking Management,” page 14.)

■ “The word ‘broken,’ for example,
was redefined to include the notion
of ‘wasteful.’ Instead of regarding
machinery as broken
only when it ceased to
function, employees at
Owens Corning began
to consider equipment
broken when its oper-
ation was inefficient.”
(From Lueneburger
and Goleman, “The
Change Leadership Sustainability
Demands,” page 49.)

What You’ll Learn
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Crib
Notes

■ “Before jumping in, an established company needs to assess the ‘ attractiveness’ of the new market and whether it’s a market worth competing in…. The corporate graveyard is littered with companies that moved into what appeared to be attractive markets, only to discover that the markets were filled with mines.” (From Markides and Oyon, “What to Do Against Disruptive Business Models,” page 25.)

■ “One vice presi-
dent for external
research told us:
‘It is important that
the project manag-
ers are extroverted.
They need to enjoy
interacting with
people. One of our
project managers
has a business
card that says
‘hunter-gatherer.’
(From Pertuzé
et al., “Best Prac-
tices for Industry-
University
Collaboration,”
page 83.)

■ “You look at where you’re moving things, how much utilization you’re putting to the trucks, how much energy you’re consuming and how much oil you’re burning. This is what companies should be doing on a regular basis — rethinking their network. ” (Blanco, interviewed in “The Four-Point Supply Chain Checklist: How Sustainability Creates New Opportunity,” page 65.)

■ “Though scientists, designers, engineers and other innovators are used to working with computers to analyze their data and visualize their designs, the number one response to the question ‘How can IT help you?’ tends to be some variation on ‘Keep it away!’ That is, the IT department is generally seen as less of a help and more of a hindrance to innovation efforts.” (From Gordon and Tarafdar, “The IT Audit That Boosts Innovation,” page 39.)

■ “…Some people
gravitate toward
asset enhance-
ment….Such
people often see
the world as full of
opportunities.
However, their
weakness
is that they are
prone to fall in
love with their
overly optimistic
assessments.”
(From Stybel and
Peabody, “En-
hance Assets or
Reduce Liabili-
ties?” page 96.)