Executive Action Reports - The Conference Board

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Executive Action Reports

These brief reports address the most pressing business issues of the day. Download them free by clicking on the links below. Click here for help downloading pdf files.

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Dec. 2007

Member Exclusive

2007 Report on Top Executive Compensation—Key Findings
The Conference Board 2007 Report on Top Executive Compensation—Key Findings indicates that CEOs of the largest companies hold a substantial amount of company stock.

Jan. 2009	Member Exclusive	A Crisis of Confidence Despite ongoing concerns that the current economic crisis could end up resembling The Great Depression, data so far shows that this recession is in far better shape than the circumstances of 1929.
May 2004	Member Exclusive	A Failure to Communicate . . .Twelve Habits of Effective Writers With the advances in media and technology, getting your message delivered has never been easier. However, it is also easier than ever to be misunderstood or overlooked in today's deluged inboxes.
Jan. 2008	Member Exclusive	A Place at the Table: Should the Ethics Function Report to a Company's Highest Authority? An increasing number of professionals in the ethics field advocate that the chief ethics officer report to a company's highest authority.
Feb. 2006	Member Exclusive	A Strategic Approach to Security: Compliance, Certification, and Competitive Advantage Should companies be viewing security as a strategic tool for anticipating and managing risk?
Mar. 2007	Member Exclusive	A View From the Top: The Challenge of Building A Global Workforce Last November, a group of CEO panelists discussed the redistribution of jobs outside the United States with both optimism and concern.
May 2009		Action Plans for Dealing With a Global Pandemic This report summarizes the business and health lessons from previous epidemics and provides important insights to managers about dealing with today's pandemic-related issues.
July 2004	Member Exclusive	Adding Value in Shared Services . . . Insourcing, Outsourcing, and Offshoring Companies are closely examining insourcing, outsourcing, and offshoring to decide which approach delivers the best support services at the lowest cost. What is the best solution?
Oct. 2003	Member Exclusive	Affluent Population: Current Assets and Future Demographics The number of affluent households in the United States will continue to increase over the next seven years, according to a recent study. The report also finds despite recent financial setbacks, the portfolios of the well-to-do remain healthy.
June 2002	Member Exclusive	After Enron It's Back to Basics: 10 Questions Boards of Directors Need to Ask The adversarial history of corporate governance, the responsibilities required of directors, effective board processes, and red flag processes.
May 2006	Member Exclusive	Age and Opportunity: Plan Strategically to Get the Most Out of a Maturing Workforce If baby boomers retire as expected, there won't be enough people to do the work. Is it time for your company to panic?
Dec. 2003	Member Exclusive	Aggressive Energy Productivity Management Pays Big Dividends Many companies have recognized that energy productivity is not a “nice to do” activity, but an important part of their business operations that can yield quantifiable cost savings and less directly-measurable general productivity improvements.
Mar. 2008	Member Exclusive	Allure of Private Equity and Its Impact on Performance Pay in Publicly Held Companies Despite anecdotal evidence to the contrary, privateequity packages may not help public sector companies win the war for talent.
July 2006		Are Businesses Doing Enough To Prepare for a Pandemic? As the effectiveness of a world response to any pandemic depends upon the quality of advance preparations, this research seeks to clarify the role business plays.
Jan. 2006	Member Exclusive	Are You In or Out? In-House vs. Outside Counsel Some companies use outside counsel, but many small and midsize companies have made the switch to in-house counsel to combat their ballooning fees. What is the right move for your company?
Aug. 2002	Member Exclusive	Are You the Next Enron? Why you might be . . . and what to do about it A Conference Board survey finds that even corporate ethics officers believe there is still more talk than action going on when it comes to ethics in the business world.
Aug. 2004	Member Exclusive	Asia's New Era of Opportunity Many changes have been made since the 1997-98 financial crisis in Asia. Can these changes provide Asian economies with a critical source of home-grown capital?

Mar. 2007	Member Exclusive	Becoming Skilled at Painting with Two Brushes What are Asian and Western-based companies doing to develop the kinds of leaders that are badly needed in Asia and elsewhere today?
Apr. 2008	Member Exclusive	Benchmarking Business Preparedness: Plans, Procedures, and Implementation of Standards This report reveals the preparedness and business continuity practices put into place by a wide range of companies.
Jan. 2005	Member Exclusive	Beyond Compliance: The Future of Risk Management According to recent interviews with business managers, Enterprise Risk Management is gaining ground as a comprehensive approach for evaluating activities and assessing a multitude of risks associated with conducting business.
Aug. 2003	Member Exclusive	Brain and Experience Drain: Are You Prepared for a Retirement Tsunami? The mass retirement wave is not far off in the future—it is already here. What should you be doing to cope?
Dec. 2003	Member Exclusive	Branding Challenges in the Great China Breakout The domestic market in China for many manufactured goods is heavily saturated in several sectors, leading to stiff competition and squeezing profit margins. This is causing Chinese manufacturers to launch their brands on the world market.
Jan. 2007	Member Exclusive	Bridging China's Talent Gap Finding talented managers in China is difficult. For multinationals, it is now a challenge not only to recruit the best people, but also to develop and retain them.
Aug. 2008	Member Exclusive	Bridging the Logistical Divide: Integration of Poor Countries in Global Supply Chains This report analyzes the reasons behind the lagging development of the world's poorest countries and offers some solutions for conquering the divide to help those nations achieve sustainable growth.
June 2007	Member Exclusive	Brotherly Alliances, Engines of Growth One of the fastest, least capital-intensive ways for small-to-midsize companies to grow is to connect with a larger, more powerful partner or brand. But how do you find a 'big brother' you can trust?
July 2006	Member Exclusive	Building a World-Class Workforce: Two Case Studies This report details how Rockwell Collins and PricewaterhouseCoopers are innovating recruitment and retention strategies to ensure a skilled, motivated, and diverse workforce.
Sept. 2007		Building an Ethical Company Whether large, small, or medium-sized, ethics and compliance programs are now essential to a company's DNA.
Sept. 2004	Member Exclusive	Building Executive Coaching Capability That Delivers Business Results The second part of a two piece report asks: Does coaching really work? Can the end result justify the financial means? (See Executive Action 112 for part one.)
Series		Business & Energy in the 21st Century
Apr. 2007	Member Exclusive	Business Benefits of Security: Making the Case in Mid-Market Companies Mid-market companies are coming to the realization that security is best viewed as an investment that increases business value, rather than an expense to be minimized.
Feb. 2006		Business Case for Diversity: Good Practices in the Workplace What do case studies tell us about the impact of diversity in the workplace?
Jan. 2002	Member Exclusive	Business Conduct Codes: Why Corporations Hesitate A survey of companies looks at how sensitive the issue of code and guideline endorsement is for corporations and why.
Jan. 2004	Member Exclusive	Business Environment Abounds with Angry Questions: How to Answer a Zinger Challenging questions are being asked today in the workplace. The key to dealing with the tough questions is to understand that they often have a genuine emotional component.
May 2005	Member Exclusive	Business Is Evolving - Just Not In The Ways You Might Think Is there anyone out there who hasn't heard the warnings that business is evolving? Modern business is perhaps the most evolutionary environment to ever exist and natural evolution has much to offer in understanding the challenges faced by management.

Jan. 2008	Member Exclusive	Can Continuing Changes in Pension Management Provide a Secure Retirement? With 77 million baby boomers headed for retirement, it's no surprise that nearly every facet of pension plan structure and financial management is being reevaluated.
Mar. 2004	Member Exclusive	Can Manufacturing Survive in Advanced Countries? Job losses remain high in the manufacturing industry in the U.S. and in other developed nations, and are not being made up by greater job creation in expansions. What is the long-term impact of such job losses on a country’s ability to compete globally?
Nov. 2008	Member Exclusive	Can They Take It? What Happens When Older Employees Work Overtime Overtime is a key to profitability for many employers, and a boost to the paychecks of their employees. But is there a concomitant cost when, as is often the case, senior employees work extra hours?
June 2005	Member Exclusive	Can U.S. Corporations Change the Way People Think About America? There has been a gradual global erosion of faith in the United States and its government, and in turn consumers worldwide are losing trust in American corporations. Is it time for U.S. corporations to help change the way the U.S. is viewed?
Apr. 2008	Member Exclusive	Capturing Butterflies and Making Them Talk This report looks at how to overcome the four critical challenges to transferring knowledge across generations.
Oct. 2006	Member Exclusive	Carbon Footprint a Growing Management Concern Companies are increasingly focusing on greenhouse gases and their implications for business. Based on 2006 survey results from the research project "Managing for a Carbon-Concerned Future: Obligation or Opportunity?"
May 2009	Member Exclusive	CEO View . . .Managing through the Global Financial Crisis CEOs of five of the world's leading companies predict that the current global financial crisis will leave its mark on how business is done in the future. But how, to what degree, and for how long?
May 2004	Member Exclusive	CEOs and The Glass House This report is based on John R. Hall's remarks to The Conference Board's Director Institute. Hall emphasized the need for boards to ensure that ethical procedures are followed, and the company's Chief Executive Officer carefully monitored.
Jan. 2002	Member Exclusive	CEOs on Citizenship Summarizes the results of surveys of managers, board members, and chief executives on corporate citizenship.
Mar. 2006		Challenge of Meeting Public Expectations on Sustainable Development Industries that are perceived to be a risk to health, safety, and the environment are adopting new approaches to relieve public concerns regarding their new developments and products.
Feb. 2003	Member Exclusive	Change—It's Getting Serious!! Change efforts seem out of control and fraught with excessively painful repercussions. However jaded from experience, leaders everywhere still seem to hope for a better way.
Mar. 2009	Member Exclusive	Changing Attitudes to Work - What Should HR Do? Participants at The Conference Board’s European Human Resources Council Summit issue a set of management recommendations to deal with changing work attitudes.
July 2005	Member Exclusive	China: Creating An Unlikely Edge In The Global Market Share Battle In the quest for market dominance, is the ability to exploit the mass market more important than cutting edge innovation?
Jan. 2007	Member Exclusive	Citizenship and Sustainability: Doing Good Can Be Good for Business While they may not be in the public eye as much as their larger counterparts, small and mid-size companies have a lot to gain by expanding their corporate citizenship and sustainability programs.
Aug. 2004	Member Exclusive	Climate Change: Clear Trajectory—Haze in the Details Climate change is a fact of life for business in the 21st century, and those that ignore the potential implications do so at their own peril.
Oct. 2003	Member Exclusive	Closing the Revolving Door: How To Ensure New Hires Stay Here is what employers and employees need to do to avoid the “set-up-to-fail syndrome.”
Sept. 2004	Member Exclusive	Coaching Creates Relationships Essential to Business Success Part one of a two part report finds that coaching should not be used to boost low performing employees, it should be reserved for those with potential. (See Executive Action 113 for part two.)
Mar. 2005	Member Exclusive	Committed Management Builds Sustainable Enterprises This report considers how some Europe-based businesses are integrating environmental, social, and corporate governance reporting into their mainstream activities.
May 2008	Member Exclusive	Company Approaches to Green Products and Services: What's Working and What's Not How can companies use the growing customer demand for so-called green products to their business advantage while minimizing financial and reputational risk?
Nov. 2007	Member Exclusive	Company Focus on the Risk of Third-Party Misconduct — A New Strategic Consideration The need for partners in global markets, and the competitive and external pressures for high standards of business conduct from governments, international organizations, and NGOs are resulting in an increased company focus on third-party business conduct.
Jan. 2008	Member Exclusive	Compensation & Benefits: A Global View What are the most effective strategies for recruiting and retaining high-performing talent when it's a sellers' market, virtually anywhere in the world?
Nov. 2001	Member Exclusive	Compensation in a Changed Economy A survey of HR council members looks at the effects of the economic downturn and September 11 on companies' 2002 compensation plans.
Dec. 2002	Member Exclusive	Compensation Plans in Curious Times: Salary Increase Budgets Being Reduced Most respondents to a Conference Board survey say their current 2003 salary increase budgets are now lower for most employee classes than originally planned.
Oct. 2006	Member Exclusive	Competitive Advantage of “Low-Wage” Countries Often Exaggerated When adjusting wages for productivity, the cost advantage to companies of "low-wage" countries and regions such as China, India, Mexico, or Central and Eastern Europe over North America and Western Europe is smaller than you think.
Aug. 2004	Member Exclusive	Conducting Independent Investigations Corporate leaders now must determine whether to conduct an independent investigation in response to a legal, regulatory, or corporate integrity crisis.
Aug. 2007	Member Exclusive	Connecting Emotions and Personality to Your Corporate Image and Brands When it comes to building and maintaining a corporate brand, today's democratized market is no place for top-down, hierarchical thinking. In this climate, an authoritative tone is as apt to cause resentment as it is to increase sales.
Jan. 2004	Member Exclusive	Consumer Trends...Why People Shop Online Online retail appears to be mostly about the price with nearly half of all online shoppers claiming bargain hunting as their motive.
May 2005	Member Exclusive	Consumer-Driven Healthcare: Cost Shift or Paradigm Shift? Consumer-driven health plans are the latest trend being presented as a promising solution to rising healthcare costs. This topic was discussed during The 2005 Employee Healthcare Conference held by The Conference Board in February and March.
July 2004	Member Exclusive	Consumers Going Online Before Going on the Road Consumers tend to be using the Internet to research travel rather than booking it - with concern regarding credit card security the main reason for not making arrangements online.
Oct. 2002	Member Exclusive	Context and Consequences - The U.S. Economy: 9/11 and the War on Terrorism History shows the depth and length of the impact of 9/11 on the U.S. economy may not be as severe as many think.
Mar. 2007	Member Exclusive	Convergence of Principle- and Rule-Based Ethics Programs: An Emerging Global Trend? There is a growing recognition that principles and rules are both essential elements in an effective ethics and compliance program. What is at stake in the ethics versus compliance debate?
Apr. 2008	Member Exclusive	Coordinating Business Preparedness: Managing Public and Private Efforts An effective partnership between the public and private sectors is essential to ensure the resilience of America's critical infrastructure.
Apr. 2002	Member Exclusive	Coping With the Coming Wave of Web Communication Looks at Web conferencing and collaboration systems: how they work, how to create a successful enterprise strategy for them, and their outlook.
Sept. 2004	Member Exclusive	Cops, Geeks, and Bean Counters: The Clashing Cultures of Corporate Security Bridging the clash of cultures and creating a common frame of reference is essential if companies are to manage their total security needs in an effective manner.
May 2003	Member Exclusive	Corporate Behavior Standards: A Worldwide Call to Reform The worldwide effort to restore public and investor trust in companies and their executives following recent corporate scandals in both the United States and Europe has spawned numerous calls for change in corporate conduct.
July 2002	Member Exclusive	Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability Arrive: Are Capital Markets Addressing New Business and Investment Risk Factors? Perhaps the only thing that is certain today in global capital markets is that traditional performance measures are not capturing important investment risk factors.
Jan. 2004	Member Exclusive	Corporate Communications Trends... Ruling in Nike Case May Lead to Increased Corporate Self-Censorship The repercussions from the lawsuit against Nike concerning its international employment practices, may cause the loss of free speech protection for businesses and an increase in false advertisement suits.
Oct. 2004	Member Exclusive	Corporate Contributions - A Look at the Numbers Corporate giving among the largest U.S. corporations is on the rise according to The Conference Board’s annual survey. For additional information see Report 1355.
Nov. 2005	Member Exclusive	Corporate Contributions in 2004 Corporate giving among the largest U.S. corporations is on the rise according to The Conference Board’s annual survey. Results from 133 matched-case companies and corporate foundations reveals their total U.S. giving jumped almost 22 percent in 2004.
June 2007	Member Exclusive	Corporate Giving Priorities and Challenges in 2007 What are some of the key drivers behind corporate giving programs? A Conference Board survey reveals the priorities and challenges that are affecting corporate philanthropy in 2007.
Nov. 2001	Member Exclusive	Corporate Security in a Time of Crisis: Bioterrorism Deals with mailroom procedures and the risk of bioterrism.
Nov. 2001	Member Exclusive	Corporate Security in a Time of Crisis: Concerns for International Business Travelers Addresses current security issues in business travel and emergency evacuation from overseas locations.
Nov. 2001	Member Exclusive	Corporate Security in a Time of Crisis: Management Challenges Assists senior executives in becoming conversant with current security issues, including how to integrate it in the management process, the question of cost, protection procedures and contingency plans, and supply chain and product security.
Nov. 2001	Member Exclusive	Corporate Security in a Time of Crisis: Online Security Resources Lists Web resources for current security issues, including management challenges, bioterrorism, protecting IT, and concerns for international business travelers.
Nov. 2001	Member Exclusive	Corporate Security in a Time of Crisis: Protecting IT Discusses ensuring IT security, and IT recovery and response procedures.
July 2005	Member Exclusive	Corporate Social Responsibility In China: Can Voluntary Codes Succeed? Is there an alternative to laws that are unevenly administered and enforced? A question well worth asking about business practice in all developing economies -- including China.
Aug. 2007	Member Exclusive	Crafting a Strategy for Virtual Worlds: Eight Questions to Ask Virtual worlds are emerging fast on the business landscape, but few companies have developed a strategy to deal with them. How can you take advantage of this new technology?
Jan. 2003	Member Exclusive	Crisis Management... Negligent Failure to Plan: The Next Liability Frontier? How well has your organization planned for crisis? The answers you are able to give could have enormous consequences for your company, its bottom line, and its future.
Apr. 2006	Member Exclusive	Cultural Resistance to Whistleblowing Systems—Myth or Reality? Americans may think that whistleblowing systems don't work abroad because workers and governments don't want them. But they can work, and new conversations explore some of the challenges of taking the concept abroad.

Dec. 2001	Member Exclusive	Dealing With Employee Travel Fears Discusses travel safety concerns, how companies can assist employees in overcoming them, new airport safety measures, components of a comprehensive disaster plan, travel tips for individuals, coping with anxiety, and online resources.
Sept. 2005	Member Exclusive	Defining Corporate Governance Best Practices to Add Firm Value European family-controlled public companies tend to perform less well in the stock market than their American counterparts. Would best practices followed by family firms in the United States be helpful examples for similar enterprises in Europe?
Nov. 2005	Member Exclusive	Defining the Corporate Ethics Brand Corporate Ethics and Social Responsibility, although seen as equivalent by the public, have different lines of authority, and different sources of institutional support. Is there a way to integrate them and mold a coherent Corporate Ethics Brand?
June 2004	Member Exclusive	Defining The Values-Based Enterprise A renewed interested in the concept of a values-based enterprise has emerged. At the heart of the values based enterprise is the belief that companies need both “private” and “public” capital to survive and prosper.
Apr. 2003	Member Exclusive	Designing a Healthy Regional Headquarters The key questions to answer when designing a regional headquarters are: How does it add value to the subordinate business unit? And how does it differ from the corporate office?
July 2007	Member Exclusive	Designing Organizations That Execute New Strategies and Create Capabilities for Change Since organizations are experiencing constant change — driven by today's global and hyper-competitive environment — they need to build an internal design capability to realign organizational components on an almost continuous basis.
Jan. 2007	Member Exclusive	Designing the High-Performance Compensation Plan That Works The latest article of the Mid-Market Trends series shows how smaller and midsize companies are revising their incentive plans, extending them to more employees, and attempting to tie them more closely to strategic objectives.
Nov. 2009	Member Exclusive	Director Notes: The Role of the Board in Risk Oversight—Adapting to Regulatory Developments and Emerging Practices This report highlights a range of considerations for directors as they approach the assessment and oversight of their risk management programs.
Jan. 2005	Member Exclusive	Discretionary Income Trends: An Overview A new study finds that the number of U.S. households with discretionary income rose over a five year period. Can the same be said for the proportion of households with discretionary income?
Jan. 2006		Diversity and Profitability: Making the Connections Demographic changes in Europe, combined with government regulations, are putting pressure on companies to increase the diversity of their workforces.
Feb. 2002	Member Exclusive	Does Your Board Have an Effective Management System of Its Own? Reviews the key areas directors should focus on to ensure they meet their increasingly stringent fiduciary liability.
May 2002	Member Exclusive	Don't Underestimate China: Why Chinese Businesses Can Grow Into Serious International Competitors Businesses that follow conventional wisdom and assume that Chinese-owned enterprises will be weak competitors on the international business stage may be unpleasantly surprised.

Aug. 2003	Member Exclusive	E-mail Management and Distribution Tools—A Primer A sound management strategy of e-mail communication can produce important cost and customer retention benefits.
July 2005	Member Exclusive	Efficient Grantmaking: Using Technology to Enhance Due Diligence How can grantmakers keep up with overwhelming demands, increasingly complex laws, and decreasing staff members? Is technology the answer?
Apr. 2003	Member Exclusive	Emergency Response and Planning in Reaction to the Department of Homeland Security Advisory System Corporations responding to a Conference Board survey consider a terrorist attack unlikely, but say such an event would have a major impact on their businesses. Are companies doing enough to mitigate the potential impact of a disaster?
Feb. 2003	Member Exclusive	Emerging Trends... Europe Shifts Burden of Waste Disposal to Product Producers What companies can do now to prepare for the expanded financial and physical burden of disposal at the end of a product's useful life?
Sept. 2002	Member Exclusive	Emphasis on Developing Leaders: Despite Hard Times Companies View Leadership Development as a Priority Even during corporate belt-tightening leadership development is a necessity, not a luxury.
Feb. 2005	Member Exclusive	Energy Management Goes Strategic—An Operations-Only Issue No More Now that energy is viewed as having an impact on so many critical areas, innovative companies are taking the issue out of the operational arena and giving it strategic focus.
Feb. 2002	Member Exclusive	Enron Ethics Breakdown Focuses on the business ethics issues raised by the conduct of Enron's directors, officers, accountants, and lawyers.
Dec. 2003	Member Exclusive	Entrepreneurial Flame: How to Keep it Burning Brightly in Your Company Maintaining the enthusiasm and motivation of your most creative, entrepreneurial-minded employees is difficult even in the best of times. Learn how some successful companies manage to always keep the entrepreneurial spirit flourishing.
June 2009	Member Exclusive	Ethics and Compliance Enforcement Decisions – the Information Gap Senior executives and corporate directors want to know whether companies have "received credit" (i.e., avoided prosecution or obtained sentence reductions) for having effective ethics and compliance programs - but such information is in short supply.
Sept. 2006	Member Exclusive	Ethics Programs and Practices: A 20-Year Retrospective Taking an overview of corporate ethics codes in the past 20 years, this report finds that such codes are becoming more detailed and precise.
Sept. 2003	Member Exclusive	Ethics Programs: The Role of the Board Though recent events have imparted a new urgency to Board involvement and oversight of company ethics programs, a Conference Board study finds that such Board action is neither a new or a distinctly U.S. phenomenon.
Jan. 2005	Member Exclusive	EU Labor Productivity and Employment Improve in 2004—but U.S. Still Leads Productivity and employment growth accelerated in the European Union, but the United States improved at about double the EU-25 growth rates. Will Europe be able to maintain and improve upon these results to reach global prosperity?
June 2002	Member Exclusive	Europe Vs. The United States: Which Industries are Leading the Productivity Race? Good and bad news for Europe, technology as a growth factor, ICT vs. non-ICT sectors, and industry leaders and laggards.
Jan. 2007	Member Exclusive	Europe's Progress in Promoting Work-Life and Diversity in the Workplace Comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation now covers all 27 member states of the European Union. This report looks at a series of best practices now being implemented at major companies throughout Europe.
Nov. 2003	Member Exclusive	European Perspective: Using Diversity and Work-Life Solutions to Retain a Competitive Edge This report finds organizations that master the ability to effectively address the needs, challenges, and opportunities that diversity represents will be the ones that thrive globally.
July 2004	Member Exclusive	Evolving Role of the Board in CEO and “Back Bench” Senior Executive Succession Boards of Directors are becoming more involved in overall management succession. How can they ensure that the right leaders are in place to steer the company to be lucrative and principled.

Nov. 2006	Member Exclusive	Faith at Work: What Does It Mean to Be a “Faith-Friendly” Company? Though in its early stages, the "faith-at-work movement" is demanding serious attention from employers. How companies frame their response will determine if the issue becomes a legal minefield or a source of competitive advantage.
Dec. 2005	Member Exclusive	Fatal Attraction: The Job Candidate That Is Too Good To Be True What are the possible consequences of hiring the wrong person, and how can companies protect themselves from making hiring mistakes?
June 2007	Member Exclusive	Finding a Definition of Employee Engagement Executives are beginning to realize that "employee engagement" doesn't mean the same thing to everyone in every company. So what is the proper definition and what does it mean to have an engaged workforce?
Dec. 2003	Member Exclusive	Finding Direction . . .Taking Control of the Sustainability Agenda: Broadening the Role of Business For business to adopt an enhanced corporate responsibility strategy and expect to realize short-term business benefits in the face of long-term global needs is likely unrealistic. This report explains why it is still important to develop such a strategy.
Nov. 2004	Member Exclusive	Forget the Free Sodas – They Don’t Motivate Anyone The real key to employee productivity lies in passion. What five things can managers do to make employees care?
Jan. 2005	Member Exclusive	Future of Knowledge Management The revolution never came—but that doesn’t mean that Knowledge Management is dead. In the ’90s, there was a belief that knowledge was critical of business and the gateway to innovation. KM was going to make a difference.

Oct. 2005	Member Exclusive	Gaining Momentum in Mainstream Investing . . . or Not? The potential for ESG integration is at a critical point. Has the importance of ESG factors in mainstream investment analysis been set?
Dec. 2002	Member Exclusive	Getting Started... Building a Culture of Innovation For businesses today, there are two roads to profitability. One is a short-term fix—reducing operating costs. The other road, the one less traveled, is a more sustainable option—creating profitable new business growth.
May 2003	Member Exclusive	Getting the Best of Volatility: Managing Risk and Creating Opportunity While there is great risk in these volatile times, there is also great opportunity for those businesses that know what to do.
June 2002	Member Exclusive	Global Climate Change: Fact or Fiction? It Doesn't Matter--The Issue is Here to Stay This report argues that while science is unlikely to provide unequivocal answers to the debate, governments and markets are likely to act on their perception of the science--actions which will have an impact on global business.
Sept. 2006	Member Exclusive	Global Talent Management: How Businesses Attract, Develop, and Retain the Best As baby boomers head towards retirement and birth rates decline globally, how will companies handle the available talent pool shrinking?
Dec. 2005	Member Exclusive	Globalization: Will Your Company Be Left Standing? New market realities may compel mid-market companies to adopt a business model that powers growth through product innovation, as well as improved operational effectiveness.
June 2005	Member Exclusive	Go Ahead: Sweat the Small Stuff Microinequities among your fellow workers are more damaging than one might think - both to the left out employee and to the company itself.
June 2005	Member Exclusive	Going Global: Challenges for Indian Business At The Conference Board 2005 Global Leadership Development Conference a number of top Indian CEOs shared their experiences as emerging global leaders in the business marketplace. This piece highlights some of the key discussion points from said meeting.
Mar. 2008		Going Green: Corporate Commitment to Citizenship and Sustainability Issues Takes on a Greater Role North American companies have placed increased emphasis on corporate citizenship and sustainability issues over the past three years, leading to numerous changes within their organizations.
Mar. 2007	Member Exclusive	Growing a Business Niche by Niche Smaller and midsize companies are often gut-smart about serving a well-defined market segment. They can build on their success by expanding into "the niche next door."
June 2006	Member Exclusive	Growing a Family Company: An Exercise in Patience In order to survive, many smaller and mid-sized companies are being forced to grow. But to grow successfully, they will have to re-examine old attitudes and junk outdated business models.
July 2007	Member Exclusive	Growing Globally in an Age of Disruptions — How India's Top Companies Are Meeting the Challenge What tools do Indian companies with global ambitions need to compete effectively?
Sept. 2006	Member Exclusive	Growing the New Business Leader Are companies doing enough to anticipate their future leadership requirements? Are they instilling the right experiences and skills for the future in their talent of today?
Feb. 2007	Member Exclusive	Growth in the Middle East Depends on Productivity Can the Middle East and North African region overcome stagnant productivity levels and the lack of a large middle class with spending power?
Nov. 2003	Member Exclusive	Guanxi – In Chinese Business, the Relationship is Everything Failing to understand and abide by the concept of guanxi, a set of relationships which links millions of Chinese firms into a social and business network, can mean the difference between success and failure for companies seeking to do business in China.
Oct. 2005	Member Exclusive	Gulf Coast Hurricanes: Assessing the Economic Impact Economic growth in the United States was already losing steam before Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit. To what extent will these natural disasters impact our national economy?

May 2008	Member Exclusive	Harnessing the Perfect Storm: Business Executives in Mid-Size Companies Are Seizing Green Opportunities Mid-size businesses that may have only considered taking small affordable steps toward energy efficiency or that originally balked at government regulation are actively seeking ways to become environmentally friendly.
May 2002	Member Exclusive	High Performers: How the Best Companies Find and Keep Them best practices--all resting on important changes in what employees value--for finding and keeping high peforming employees.
Jan. 2005	Member Exclusive	Hispanic Market in 2010 By the close of the decade, Hispanics in the US are expected to represent more than $670 billion in spending power. Marketers will wish to take advantage of this opportunity, but do they understand this population well enough to do so?
Mar. 2006	Member Exclusive	Hispanics in the Workplace: Building Meaningful Diversity This report explores current conditions and anticipated changes in both the overall Hispanic community and the Mexican, Central and South American, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and other Hispanic populations.
Feb. 2008	Member Exclusive	How CEOs Turn Themselves (and Others) into True Leaders As never before, leaders of small-to-midsize companies must master softer, more intangible skills, such as the capacity to build relationships and maintain a strong culture.
Apr. 2005	Member Exclusive	How CFOs Carve Out Time for What Counts Most The job descriptions of CFOs in smaller and mid-sized organizations have been steadily expanding. When do they find time to work on tasks that will build shareholder value?
Dec. 2008	Member Exclusive	How Effective Information Services Can Contribute to the Bottom Line The five case studies in this report demonstrate how having the right information at the right time and in the right format can create a competitive advantage and help top executives more effectively manage the bottom line.
Mar. 2005	Member Exclusive	How Prepared Are Companies for the Revised Sentencing Guidelines? The modification of the Sentencing Guidelines in November 2004 included three newly emphasized ethical requirements. How prepared are companies to respond to these new challenges?
Jan. 2007		How Public-Private Partnerships in Education Can Enhance International Business Competitiveness Roughly three billion new participants are entering the global economic system from countries like Russia, China, India, and Vietnam — increasing risk and competition, as well as opportunity, in this expanded economic universe.
Aug. 2005	Member Exclusive	How Smaller Companies Earn Customer Loyalty How do you develop customer loyalty? How do you measure it? How do you profit from it?
Mar. 2009	Member Exclusive	How to Compete and Win In a Broken Economy While many small and midsize firms are struggling to survive, stronger companies will find opportunities to improve their competitive position.
Aug. 2006	Member Exclusive	How to Hire Top Performers (Hint: They Already Have Jobs) Smaller companies don’t have to settle for less. Get an edge in the talent wars with shrewd targeting and robust retention strategies.
Feb. 2007	Member Exclusive	How to Make Executive Coaching Work for Your Company and Executives The field of executive coaching continues to evolve today, but in general, successful coaching agreements are based on a high degree of professional integrity on the coach's part, and a coachee willing to embark on the "coaching journey".
Apr. 2008	Member Exclusive	HR Challenge: Staffing Up to Expand Overseas You don't have to be a huge company to establish a presence in foreign markets. You do need to develop global leaders and learn how to recruit local talent.
Sept. 2005	Member Exclusive	HR’s Role in Building a Culture of Innovation Encouraging innovation is a high priority among CEOs. How can HR professionals gain a place at the strategy table by overcoming obstacles and fostering an innovation framework?
Sept. 2008	Member Exclusive	Huddled Masses? Why Helping Immigrants Helps Companies Immigration is a hot-button issue. When it comes to corporate philanthropy, the target should be immigrant integration. The payoff to both business and society can be handsome.
Apr. 2008	Member Exclusive	Human Resources: Changing to Drive Business Strategy Huge transformational changes taking place in business have demanded that human resources professionals adapt their strategies and operating procedures.
Mar. 2002	Member Exclusive	Human Resources—Doing More With Even Less Describes the competing priorities HR departments are currently faced with, evidence for the resilience and excellence of HR contributions, and the outlook for HR.

Dec. 2004	Member Exclusive	Improving Project Results: Operating “Below-the-Line” to Produce Real Value Project teams and their sponsors rarely acknowledge the risk that their project’s outcomes will not translate into the intended benefits to the organization. How can you keep a project on track for real results?
Dec. 2005	Member Exclusive	Incredible Shrinking Corporation In trying to please Wall Street, companies have starved themselves nearly to death.
Oct. 2008	Member Exclusive	Innovate Today, Grow Tomorrow In a down economy, companies can't afford to mark time. Three midsize firms are seizing the moment to explore ideas for new products and invent new business models.
Sept. 2008	Member Exclusive	Inside the Mind of the CEO: Careful What You Wish For A look at the issues that are keeping corporate bosses up at night, and insight into how CEOs make the decisions they do.
Mar. 2004	Member Exclusive	International Business Cultures . . . Corporate Governance: An Asian Perspective Corporate Governance initiatives in the U.S. are causing many countries around the world to review their best practices. Hong Kong is no exception, but their business leaders believe they should be implemented with characteristics unique to the region.
Feb. 2008	Member Exclusive	Investing in the Future—the Importance of Cross-Sector Partnerships in Improving Workforce Readiness With talent gaps looming, businesses have a strong incentive to focus on workforce readiness.
May 2006	Member Exclusive	Irresolute American The bold face Americans put on in the marketplace is quite different than the one they have in the workplace. Are Americans working in fear?
Sept. 2003	Member Exclusive	Is "Crisis Mode" The New Energy Management Norm? In the United States, the traditional assumption about energy—abundant supplies at low cost—is being challenged by frequent "crises".
May 2006		Is Avian Flu the Next Y2K? Can We Afford To Think So? Coping with a potential pandemic requires a different approach to continuity planning. Is your company preparing properly?
Jan. 2007	Member Exclusive	Is ICT's Contribution to Productivity Growth Peaking? This analysis examines whether information technology can continue to boost productivity growth, among other issues based on this study of productivity and income trends in 40 countries.

Sept. 2003

Member Exclusive

Job Satisfaction Continues to Whither
A new Conference Board survey finds less than half of workers are satisfied with their jobs—and the discontent is growing among all age groups and income levels.

Oct. 2005	Member Exclusive	Keep It Simple: Getting Your Arms Around Enterprise Risk Management The savviest companies approach to Enterprise Risk Management is to focus on the fundamentals. Is your company one of them?
May 2009		Key Questions in Pandemic Planning This report addresses questions of concern to business managers across sectors, industries, and regions in light of the current resurgence of a global pandemic health threat.

Oct. 2006	Member Exclusive	Leadership Challenges for Indian Companies Tomorrow's Indian business leaders must be master strategists, able to manage change as well as relationships and networks, and perhaps most importantly demonstrate the ability to develop new leaders.
Dec. 2005	Member Exclusive	Looking for Employees in All the Right Places The buzz may be about the Internet and job boards, but recruiters shouldn’t write off that old stand-by—newspaper help-wanted print advertising.

May 2003	Member Exclusive	Making a Case for Corporate Sustainability Reporting Key stakeholders are driving the move toward "triple bottom line" reporting, in which companies document the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of their businesses.
Dec. 2005	Member Exclusive	Making It in Manufacturing: Becoming Lean to Compete Globally What are some steps companies in higher-wage countries can take to remain competitive globally?
Aug. 2004	Member Exclusive	Making Over Leaders and Leadership Styles Are the requirements of leadership changing? That is the question being asked as a new generation rises in the workplace.
June 2006	Member Exclusive	Making the Business Case for Security A survey of corporate decision-makers by The Conference Board and sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security finds that executives give most weight to security concerns on issues of operational risk, such as compliance and certification.
Oct. 2001	Member Exclusive	Management Challenges in a Changed World Based on key issues identified by members of the executive Council program.
May 2006	Member Exclusive	Management’s Great Addiction Corporations are obsessed with numbers. Isn't it time we recognize that we can’t measure everything?
July 2005	Member Exclusive	Managing Corporate Citizenship Implications of Offshoring How can companies handle operational downsizing/offshoring while treating its departing employees with respect and maintaining its reputation in the community?
Sept. 2003	Member Exclusive	Managing Corporate Security in Mid-Markets Compared to large companies, security spending is more of a burden for smaller companies when expressed as a percentage of annual sales and they are less likely to feel that their security spending is adequate.
July 2003	Member Exclusive	Managing Corporate Security: Patterns of Organization Despite raised expectations and heightened visibility, corporate America is undergoing an evolution rather than a revolution in the management of security concerns.
July 2003	Member Exclusive	Managing Corporate Security: Patterns of Spending Except for risk management and insurance, corporate spending on security has increased only moderately since 9/11.
Mar. 2008	Member Exclusive	Managing Great Expectations: Reshaping Engagement Strategies to Address Stakeholders' Citizenship and Sustainability Concerns It is critical that a company understand the Citizenship and Sustainability issues relevant to its products, services, and operations, and know how stakeholders perceive its responsiveness to those issues.
Sept. 2005	Member Exclusive	Managing Paradoxes in Change: Six Steps for Building a Balanced Culture Change in initiatives and strategies happen constantly in large companies. But, how often do company leaders address the most critical success factor in sustainable change—changing people’s behavior?
Apr. 2003	Member Exclusive	Managing Supply Chain Risks "Just-in-time" supply chain management, while providing the needed speed and visibility to operate in today's complex supply chain environment, also exposes companies to large-scale disruptions, especially in times of conflict.
Oct. 2005	Member Exclusive	Managing Talent in Asia: Leadership Challenges in a Time of Transition Numerous differences exist in Asian society both cultural, generational, and technological which has lead to new challenges. How can business leaders successfully overcome these differences?
Apr. 2003	Member Exclusive	Marketing's New Path to Profitability With budgets shrinking, the pressure is on marketers to demonstrate real and immediate returns on their investments. (Download Spanish version)
Sept. 2007	Member Exclusive	Meetings: The Biggest Money Pit of Them All The cost of off-site meetings is often grossly underestimated by companies' management, and sometimes it's not even tracked at all. But in this age of Sarbanes-Oxley, boards and shareholders are demanding that unexamined expenditures be accounted for.
Apr. 2007	Member Exclusive	Middle Managers: Engaging and Enrolling the Biggest Roadblock to Diversity and Inclusion Middle management is essential to the success of any diversity initiative — playing a key role in hiring, development and promotion decisions. But they're often at direct odds with diversity practitioners, who by definition challenge the status quo.
Mar. 2005	Member Exclusive	Minimizing Risk and Maintaining Ethics in Asia–Pacific In order to cope successfully when doing business in the Asia-Pacific world, one must take into consideration the region's unique culture and the higher incidence of certain kinds of risks.
June 2009	Member Exclusive	Mission Accomplished? What Every Leader Should Know about Survivor Syndrome This Executive Action report explores the concept of "survivor syndrome," how it materializes, and what to do about it.
July 2002	Member Exclusive	Mission Critical: Controlling Costs ... Compassionate Downsizing: Making the Business Case for Education and Training for Transitioned Employees Few organizations consider (or have the ability to quantify) the longer-term hidden costs of downsizing to their corporate reputation, customer loyalty, and employee morale, incentive, and productivity.
July 2002	Member Exclusive	Mission Critical: Controlling Costs ... Marketing Costs: The Efficiencies Provided by Targeted Approaches One danger in attempting to contain marketing costs: If a company's value proposition is compromised then cost-cutting becomes counterproductive.
July 2002	Member Exclusive	Mission Critical: Controlling Costs ... Overview: Cut the Costs, But Not the Trust When it comes to costs, crash dieting does not make companies stronger in the long run—developing a "cost-conscious culture" does.
Oct. 2002	Member Exclusive	Mission Critical: Controlling Costs—Setting Executive Travel Policies This menu of tactics and options provides useful tools for cost-conscious companies to stay flexible in this period of ongoing volatility in executive travel.
June 2003	Member Exclusive	Mixing Politics and Business ... Conflict Everlasting? Just how deep an impact the current atmosphere of distrust that pervades international political relations will have on global commerce depends on from which side of the Atlantic you view events.
Apr. 2002	Member Exclusive	Morality and the Bottom Line: The Growth of Anti-Corruption Programs in the Private Sector Addresses global progress being made against corruption, the components of an effective corporate anti-corruption program, the effectiveness of ethics programs, and spreading the anti-corruption word.
Nov. 2005	Member Exclusive	Moving the World - A Case Study in CSR Partnership Moving the World, a unique partnership between TNT and the U.N. shows how two organizations can combine their core strengths to make a life-saving difference - and increase a company's competitiveness and reputation.

Sept. 2005	Member Exclusive	Navigating Energy Management: A Roadmap for Business Businesses today are more focused on “managing” energy than at any other time in recent decades. However, are business opportunities being missed because many companies are approaching energy management in an unsystematic fashion, or not at all?
Jan. 2005	Member Exclusive	Navigating the Tsunami Relief Effort Preventing outbreaks of diseases across tsunami-hit Asia and Africa is a race against time. The following information is meant to assist donors interested in participating in the tsunami relief efforts.
May 2003	Member Exclusive	New Dynamic of First Reports: Executive Lessons from the Iraq War In the war with Iraq, first reports from the battlefield were handled in a new way, creating a different dynamic that until now has only been hinted at.
Feb. 2004	Member Exclusive	New EU Directive Means Greater Corporate Environmental Liability Exposure Once a new controversial law is passed, companies already operating in the EU will see their environmental liability exposure increase.
Feb. 2004	Member Exclusive	New Member States Will Raise Productivity Growth of Enlarged European Union—but U.S. Lead Still Strong Structural reforms in Central and Eastern Europe will significantly boost productivity growth in the European Union. Despite this growth, the United States is significantly ahead of the newly enlarged European Union.
July 2003	Member Exclusive	New Role of Audit Committees The audit committee plays a key role, but the proliferation of corporate scandals, new legislation, and stock exchange rules are creating critical new roles and responsibilities.
May 2004	Member Exclusive	New Ways to Innovate... Creating a Corporate Advisory Board Advisory Boards can offer companies a less expensive way to obtain the expertise they lack and fresh ideas on how to go about their business.
June 2006	Member Exclusive	Nuts and Bolts of Execution: Putting Ideas to Work How do mid-market companies take great vision and make it a reality?

June 2009	Member Exclusive	On the Record with Barry Melancon Barry Melancon, President and CEO of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, discusses some of the successful initiatives that the AICPA has taken to build a strong pipeline for the accounting profession.
July 2008	Member Exclusive	On the Record with George W. Buckley The chairman, president, and CEO of 3M Company, discusses how private equity firms and public companies are swapping roles and the increasing importance of close-to-market manufacturing.
July 2008	Member Exclusive	On The Record with Ivan Seidenberg The CEO of Verizon Communications, Inc., New York, New York, explains the importance of developing global managerial talent and implementing cost control methods.
July 2008	Member Exclusive	On the Record with J. Doug Pruitt The CEO of Sundt Construction, Tempe, Arizona, explains the importance of managing change, fostering innovation and the need for diversity and multi-generational knowledge sharing in today's competitive business environment.
Aug. 2008	Member Exclusive	On The Record With Jose Antonio Fernandez Carbajal Jose Antonio Fernandez Carbajal, CEO of FEMSA, S.A. de C.V., Monterrey, Mexico, shares his views on the importance of having multicultural and multilingual talent as well as protecting a company's intellectual property.
June 2008	Member Exclusive	On the Record with Jouko Karvinen In this exclusive in-depth interview, Jouko Karvinen, CEO of Stora Enso, Helsinki Finland, explains the importance of finding qualified managerial talent and planning for management succession.
May 2006	Member Exclusive	On the Record With.... Bertrand Collomb An in-depth interview with Bertrand Collomb, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Lafarge, France, on current forces in management and the marketplace and the trends he expects to face in the future.
June 2006	Member Exclusive	On the Record With.... Dr. Gerhard Cromme An exclusive in-depth interview with Dr. Gerhard Cromme, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, ThyssenKrupp AG, Düsseldorf, Germany.
June 2006	Member Exclusive	On the Record With.... Dr. Stephanie A. Burns In this exclusive in-depth interview, Dow Corning President and CEO Dr Stephanie A. Burns, explains why the notion of an innovative organization must extend far beyond the development of new products into processes and strategy.
May 2006	Member Exclusive	On the Record With.... Lim Chee-Onn An in-depth interview with Lim Chee-Onn, Executive Chairman, Keppel Corporation, Ltd., Singapore, on current forces in management and the marketplace and the trends he expects to face in the future.
June 2006	Member Exclusive	On the Record With.... Sajjan Jindal Sajjan Jindal, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of JSW Steel, Ltd.; Mumbai, India, explains his philosophy for corporate success, particularly the importance of maintaining a long-term business view in the face of short-term pressure.
Jan. 2004	Member Exclusive	On the Record With....Daniel DiMicco An interview with Daniel DiMicco, Vice-Chairman, President, and CEO, Nucor Corporation, Charlotte, NC, regarding current trends in management and the marketplace.
Jan. 2004	Member Exclusive	On the Record With....S. Dhanabalan An interview with S. Dhanabalan, Chairman, Temasek Holdings (Pte) Ltd., Singapore regarding management and market challenges.
Feb. 2004	Member Exclusive	On the Record With....Sir Martin Sorrell An interview with Sir Martin Sorrell, Chief Executive Officer, WPP, London, UK, regarding current trends in management and the marketplace and how they expect these to change by 2008.
Oct. 2004	Member Exclusive	On the Record With...Alain J.P. Belda An interview with Alain J.P. Belda, Chairman and CEO, Alcoa, Inc., regarding current forces in management and the marketplace and the trends expected to be faced in the future
Feb. 2005	Member Exclusive	On the Record With...Julien De Wilde An interview with Julien De Wilde, CEO, N.V. Bekaert S.A., Kortrijk (Belgium), regarding current forces in management and the marketplace and the trends expected to be faced in the future.
Oct. 2004	Member Exclusive	On the Record With...Nandan M. Nilekani An interview with Nandan M. Nilekani, CEO, President, Managing Director, and Co-Founder. Infosys Technologies, Ltd., regarding current forces in management and the marketplace and the trends expected to be faced in the future.
Nov. 2004	Member Exclusive	On the Record With...Stan Shih An interview with Stan Shih, Chairman, CEO, and Founder, The Acer Group, Taipei, Taiwan, regarding current forces in management and the marketplace and the trends expected to be faced in the future.
Aug. 2002	Member Exclusive	One Year After: The Leadership and Communication Dilemma of 9-11-02 For corporate leaders on the anniversary of 9/11, listening may become more important than speaking.
May 2006		Overcoming the Barriers to a Successful Cross-Sector Partnership Businesses and humanitarian organizations are utilizing partnerships to become more efficient in dealing with disaster responses and aid distribution. What barriers need to be overcome to make these partnerships work more easily?

Sept. 2006	Member Exclusive	Pandemic Preparedness: Frequently Asked Questions The Conference Board has presented a number of programs to help businesses better prepare for and understand the challenges posed by an avian flu or other human influenza pandemic. Here we address the recurring questions elicited by these programs.
Sept. 2006		Philanthropy at Mid-Market Firms: It Pays to Be Creative With a little creativity, midsize companies can make their philanthropic activities stand out, not only providing a wealth of assistance to those in need, but also strengthening their organizations at the same time.
Dec. 2002	Member Exclusive	Planning for Energy-Based Business Risks It is one of the true ironies of our times: growing concern over the future of energy at a time of abundant and generally inexpensive supplies of traditional energy forms. How should a company respond?
Apr. 2008		Political Money: The Need for Director Oversight Until recently, companies' political expenditures were not fully disclosed and were rarely subject to oversight by boards. The lack of attention that these expenditures normally receive has exposed companies to serious legal and reputation risks.
May 2009		Potential Economic Impact of the 2009 A(H1N1) Influenza (Swine Flu) Pandemic While it's too early to determine the ultimate scope of the A(H1N1) influenza pandemic, a comparison to the 2003 SARS outbreak shows the economic impact may be short-lived and will not significantly alter long-term trends in global macro economic activity
Oct. 2008	Member Exclusive	Precision Marketing: Five Ways to Make Better Marketing Investment Decisions Five principles are presented that can help companies make better marketing decisions by refocusing their concentration and perception of customer behavior — and in some ways redirecting their delivery investments.
Feb. 2006	Member Exclusive	Preparing for the Worst: A Guide to Business Continuity Planning for Mid-Markets Why are smaller companies creating disaster survival plans? Because regulators, investors, and customers are demanding they do so.
Sept. 2007		Private Equity: Pirates or Saviors? Every day we read about the latest private equity threat to a corporate icon. Private equity is shaking up sleepy companies and transforming industries all over the world.
Jan. 2003	Member Exclusive	Productivity and Global Competitiveness... Despite Cyclical Downturn, Structural Trends in Productivity Remain in Place Into 2003 As the United States began to emerge from recession, labor productivity growth rebounded sharply in 2002. In Europe, however, it was another story—productivity growth slowed substantially.
July 2008	Member Exclusive	Profit in Smarter Pricing While holding the line on prices is a constant battle, small and midsize companies sometimes ignore the positive role that pricing can play as a lever of profit.
Sept. 2008	Member Exclusive	Promoted to Fail? How Executive Coaching Can Improve Performance in Newly Promoted Executives Promotion to a new position with increased, often corporatewide responsibilities can be a tremendous challenge. The following narrative explains how executives in one organization used coaching to prevent a manager from "derailing" in a new position.
July 2003	Member Exclusive	Public Trust in Financial Markets Makes Modest Comeback Two years after the Enron scandal focused spotlight on the excesses and abuses of corporations of all sizes and reputations triggering a crisis of public trust, there are signs that the public's confidence in financial markets is on the mend.
Apr. 2003	Member Exclusive	Putting Women on Equal Footing For women, the road to gender parity in the corporate world is potholed with "microinequities," such as being interrupted or ignored, having ideas credited to male colleagues, being excluded from activities, and having to deal with jokes that target women

Nov. 2002	Member Exclusive	Re-sizing the American Corporation Perhaps Enron—which by now has plenty of blue-chip companions (with possibly many more to come)—is just a symptom of a deeper movement under the sea.
Feb. 2005	Member Exclusive	Reaching the Goal Line On Good Governance Complying with Sarbanes-Oxley has been a difficult undertaking for small and medium sized companies. It has been a painful learning experience with more lessons to be learned.
Dec. 2001	Member Exclusive	Rebuilding Lower Manhattan: The Need for Cross-Sector Collaboration Characterizes the challenges rebuilding Lower Manhattan will pose to the private, government, and nonprofit sectors and the what the likely results will be.
Jan. 2004	Member Exclusive	Rebuilding Trust in Business . . .Corporate Social Responsibility in the 21st Century The challenges faced by corporations when deciding between commercial opportunity and being socially responsible is discussed by Unilever Chairman Niall FitzGerald.
Sept. 2009	Member Exclusive	Recession Lessons for Mid-Market CFOs: Successfully Obtaining Loans in the New World of Credit Even though signs of an economic recovery are emerging, recession challenges and a shutdown of easy credit have changed the lending world for CFOs of small- and mid-sized firms
Mar. 2004	Member Exclusive	Recruitment, Retention, and Ethics . . . Can You Interview for Integrity? Many managers feel there is no way to scout out integrity when hiring employees. However, this report shows that there are questions that can be asked and simple steps taken during the interviewing process to prevent the hiring of unethical employees.
Feb. 2005	Member Exclusive	Redefining the Employee Value Proposition: New Developments in Asia-Pacific How can a company develop an Employee Value Proposition fit to recruit, develop, inspire, and retain people in the talent-hungry Asia-Pacific region?
Apr. 2004	Member Exclusive	Redesigning HR for Mid-Sized Firms Human Resources departments - of both large and mid-sized firms - choosing to outsource routine administrative tasks, are going through the same transitional pangs.
July 2009	Member Exclusive	Relieving Pressures to Eliminate Jobs Smaller companies are finding ways to "redeploy" employees rather than lay them off. Three models for surviving recessions without losing your investment in human capital.
Aug. 2004	Member Exclusive	Restructuring for a Stronger European Union If European policymakers greatly step up reforms, will it enable the European Union to become “the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world” by the end of the decade?
Apr. 2005	Member Exclusive	Revolution in Retail Trade Barcodes and scanning technologies spurred a transformation in retail and wholesale trade, including a recent explosion in labor productivity growth. Now, 30 years after the first price scan, has the retail revolution run its course?
Nov. 2006		Reward Trumps Risk: How Business Perspectives on Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability Are Changing While companies see more potential reward than risk when it comes to corporate citizenship and sustainability (CC&S) issues, they are clearly struggling to find concrete ways to capitalize on their programs in the marketplace.
Feb. 2007		Risk and Opportunity in the Gathering Climate Change Storm Converging trends and forces are raising the profile of climate change and the need for carbon emissions reduction. Business must prepare to minimize risks and realize the opportunities that are rapidly emerging.
Feb. 2002	Member Exclusive	Role of Business in Zones of Crisis Discusses what businesses can do in zones of conflict, the role of business in failing states, and how companies can contribute to a country's redevelopment.
Aug. 2009	Member Exclusive	Role of the Board in Turbulent Times... CEO Succession Planning Management succession is one of the most critical strategic risks a corporation faces and a favorite topic of discussion on the role of the board in business crises.
Jan. 2009	Member Exclusive	Role of the Board in Turbulent Times: Assessing Corporate Strategy This report provides U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reporting companies with a checklist of issues that their board members, in collaboration with top executives, should consider addressing.
Apr. 2009	Member Exclusive	Role of the Board in Turbulent Times: Avoiding Shareholder Activism This report provides board members with a checklist of issues they should consider addressing in their relations with shareholders and, in particular, how to avoid a costly and disruptive battle with an activist investor.
Feb. 2009	Member Exclusive	Role of the Board in Turbulent Times: Overseeing Internal Investigations This report provides boards of directors of SEC-reporting companies with guidance to consider when confronting material evidence of internal misconduct or the prospect of investigations by the federal government or a self-regulatory organization.
Dec. 2008	Member Exclusive	Role of the Board in Turbulent Times: Overseeing Risk Management and Executive Compensation This report highlights "pressure points" for boards to consider, including practical actions that can be followed to help ensure directors fully meet their fiduciary responsibilities toward shareholders.
June 2009	Member Exclusive	Role of the Board in Turbulent Times: Responding to Unsolicited Takeover Offers An overview of issues a board may consider in evaluating its corporation's governance profile, given the potential increase in unsolicited offers in the current market environment.

May 2006	Member Exclusive	Safety, Health and Environmental Management Excellence Yields Business Benefit This report highlights the Environmental Health & Safety programs of two recent winners of The Robert W. Campbell Award.
June 2006	Member Exclusive	Salary Budgets Holding Steady A survey of HR executives of 441 companies reveals pay increases for most salaried workers will average only 3.5 percent this year and stay at that level through 2007.
June 2002	Member Exclusive	Salary Increase Budgets 2002 increases fell in many industries; a rebound is projected for 2003.
July 2003	Member Exclusive	Salary Increase Budgets 2003-2004: Business Remains in a Cautious Mood With companies paying careful attention to controlling costs, median increases have moved significantly below 4 percent for the first time in a decade.
June 2004	Member Exclusive	Salary Increase Budgets 2004-2005: Despite Recovery, Mood Remains Cautious For a second straight year, median salary increases have dropped well below four percent even though U.S. business is rebounding.
May 2005	Member Exclusive	Salary Increase Budgets 2005-2006: With Recovery Leveling Off, Mood Remains Cautious Caution continues to be the prevailing mood when it comes to salary budgets, with continued attention paid to controlling costs. This is the third year in a row that median increases have fallen significantly below 4 percent.
Dec. 2008	Member Exclusive	Salary Increase Budgets 2009: Financial Crisis Edition The continuing negative economic growth forecasted well into 2009 is having an impact on compensation decisions in real-time.
Aug. 2008	Member Exclusive	Salary Increase Budgets Holding Steady for 2009 Companies are responding to a sluggish economy by remaining disciplined on labor costs. Salary increase budgets for 2008 are below 4 percent and seem destined to remain near that level in 2009.
Feb. 2007	Member Exclusive	Secrets of Midsize Success: An Interview with Richard E. Cavanagh Midsize companies are essential to the U.S. economy, both for the products and services they offer and the jobs they provide. They also face a unique set of challenges and opportunities.
Nov. 2004	Member Exclusive	Security in Mid-Market Companies: Tackling the Challenge Will the most important incentive for smaller companies to upgrade their security operations come from standards imposed by major corporations rather than those imposed by the government?
Apr. 2008	Member Exclusive	Security Metrics as a Management Tool Modern security management requires a toolkit of effective metrics to relate security operations to the reduction of risk.
July 2004	Member Exclusive	Security Practices ... Security in Mid-Market Companies: The View From the Top Is corporate security an expense that should be minimized or an investment that increases business value?
Jan. 2003	Member Exclusive	Security Today: The New Global Context The most difficult aspect of the global security challenge is in understanding how to bring prosperity to poor countries. Government and international programs need to rethink their approaches to the incentive and market structures that drive prosperity.
May 2009	Member Exclusive	Shift in U.S. Policy on Climate Change Opens a New Era for Business It's no longer business as usual when it comes to climate change. A significant change of direction for U.S. regulatory policy on the issue will eventually affect all of business.
May 2008	Member Exclusive	Shifting the Focus: Updating Your Work-Life Approach to Integrate Employee Engagement and Talent Management In order to engage and retain employees, companies will need to modernize their work-life approach. This means moving beyond flex-time and taking a holistic approach.
June 2008	Member Exclusive	Smart Sourcing: A Boost to Sourcing Value Creation Why do so many sourcing initiatives fail to create the value the organization expected? In many cases, it's because managers lack a true understanding of the resources necessary and the risks that are involved.
Dec. 2006	Member Exclusive	Soft Law and Ethics Programs: The Expanding Role for Company Attorneys This Executive Action explores "soft law" issues and how they have created a new role — and new dilemmas — for lawyers.
Jan. 2005	Member Exclusive	Sound Fundamentals, Troubling Trends: U.S. Consumers Can’t Carry the Global Economy Indefinitely Markets seem to view a U.S. slowdown as bad for America and good for everyone else; in actuality, nothing could be further from the truth.
May 2008		Speaking with Authority—the Case for Teaching English Language Proficiency on the Job As foreign-born workers become a larger share of the overall U.S. workforce and companies rely more and more on immigrant communities to supply their labor, employers are going to have to deal with language limitations in one way or another.
Oct. 2007	Member Exclusive	Step Up to Solutions-Selling Some small and midsize companies are getting organized to sell solutions, not just products. Why aren't all the others?
Oct. 2006	Member Exclusive	Stopping the Profit Drain from Higher Energy Costs Corporate America can expect little respite from soaring — and volatile — energy prices. Smaller companies can protect profits by strengthening the ways they manage energy use.
May 2004	Member Exclusive	Strategic Planning for the Time-challenged For many smaller and mid-sized companies, whose management resources tend to be stretched thin, a simplified approach to planning works best.
Nov. 2004	Member Exclusive	Strategy Struggles in the Boardroom Corporate strategist Donald V. Potter finds board meetings do not do justice to strategy discussions. Are separate meetings with a set agenda the answer?
Feb. 2006	Member Exclusive	Strengthening Corporate Governance: A New Age of Entrepreneurship in India How is India benefiting from coming late to the game of developing globally accepted corporate governance standards? By reaping the results of years of experimentation and trial and error by others.
Dec. 2004	Member Exclusive	Succession Planning....Without Tears Rather than putting off succession planning and then rushing to hire from the outside when the time arrives, small companies would be better served by grooming leaders from within the firm.
Nov. 2008	Member Exclusive	Swimming with the Big Fish This Executive Action tailored to the needs of Mid-Market members of The Conference Board presents constructive advice for businesses that are competing with or seeking to do business with Fortune 500 companies.

Feb. 2005	Member Exclusive	Take This Job and… A new study finds that only half of all Americans are satisfied with their jobs -- nearly a ten percent decrease from ten years ago. Is there trouble ahead for employers?
Feb. 2004	Member Exclusive	Taking Global Brands to Japan: A Luxury Goods Market that is as Profitable as it is Unique This report delves into how the profound social changes in Japan - brought about by a decade long recession - have allowed global luxury brands to blossom there.
Feb. 2005	Member Exclusive	Thinking Offshoring Through For a topic that has been so widely and so hotly debated, the answers to many questions about offshoring are still somewhat hazy. Why is that?
June 2006	Member Exclusive	Threat, Vulnerability, and Consequence: A Framework for Managing Security This Executive Action report examines the specification of risk and its application to a commonly employed analytic tool, the Security Risk Equation.
Jan. 2009	Member Exclusive	Tighten Your Supply Chain to Wring Out Costs This report features insights and practical advice from corporate executives and supply-chain experts, and helpful suggestions for recruiting logistic specialists.
Oct. 2001	Member Exclusive	Tomorrow Is Not Yesterday Commentary on the post-September 11th global economic environment.
Dec. 2006	Member Exclusive	Toward a Framework for Supply Chain Leadership With no management framework to effectively guide the implementation of Supply Chain Leadership programs, it has largely been a learn-as-you-go endeavor, with many companies learning the same lessons, over and over again.
Mar. 2003	Member Exclusive	Travel in Uncertain Times This report provides background information, along with tools and tactics for traveling safely and economically during periods of conflict and military action—and the accompanying heightened risks.
Apr. 2003	Member Exclusive	Traveling Green: Linking Executive Travel to Corporate, Community, and Environmental Values Executive travel provides the next opportunity for organizations to demonstrate to their employees, suppliers, customers, and communities that they "walk the talk" on corporate citizenship.
Feb. 2003	Member Exclusive	Trends in Education: Creating the Scientific Equivalent of the MBA Professional science master's programs at dozens of universities are attempting to meet the demand within science and technology industries for more focused, more industry-responsive and shorter, timelier graduate educational opportunities.

Sept. 2004	Member Exclusive	Unique Challenges of Developing World-Class Business Leaders in Asia Pacific Although leadership development is a concern for CEOs worldwide, some of the challenges are exaggerated in the Asian Pacific context.
Sept. 2007	Member Exclusive	Unlocking Speed and Agility If mid-market companies want to remain strong competitors and avoid complacency, they need to rediscover the speed and agility they had as start-ups.
June 2005	Member Exclusive	Using Ethical Analysis to Guide Offshoring When considering offshoring, how can companies significantly reduce their exposure to risk?

May 2009	Member Exclusive	Waddayaknow? Knowledge Management Can Be an Organization's Key to Survival This Executive Action report uses three case studies to build a business case for implementing Knowledge Management, and provides tips for making KM work.
Apr. 2004	Member Exclusive	Webcasting on the Corporate Intranet Many large and medium sized companies are using webcasting to communicate with their employees, courtesy of high-bandwidth network connections.
Jan. 2006	Member Exclusive	What Do We Really Know about Effective Leadership in Change Management? While the need for effective leadership is seen to be one of growing importance, the means to achieve it are far from clear. So where does one turn for guidance, and where do efforts get focused?
Nov. 2007	Member Exclusive	What Others Think of You Matters: Manage and Boost Your Corporate Reputation Using Social Media Podcasts. Blogs. Virtual Worlds. Today's media landscape is evolving, stretching far beyond traditional radio, television, and print, and the days of managing your company's reputation with just a press release are history.
Feb. 2006	Member Exclusive	What's in a Day's Pay? SEC Proposes New Rules for Disclosing Executive Compensation Proxy statements will include more information — and more transparency. The impact on executive pay, companies and stockholders is less certain.
Sept. 2007	Member Exclusive	When an Employee's Freedom of Religion Crosses Paths with a Company's Interests As religion increasingly collides with corporate policies and practices, companies are asking what is and isn't permissible behavior — for workers and for themselves.
Nov. 2001	Member Exclusive	When Disaster Strikes: Ensuring an Intact Supply Chain Addresses the factors in place that lessened the damage to the U.S. global supply chain post-September 11th and those areas of supply chain function that were affected by the tragedy, the anthrax mail incidents, and the war against terrorism.
Sept. 2007	Member Exclusive	Where Are the Women Directors? Women are everywhere in corporate America — except on boards. Here's how to change that.
May 2005	Member Exclusive	Why Ethical Leaders Are Different What makes an ethical leader different? An ethical leader welcomes open and contentious debate and understands that this is essential to making the best possible decisions.
Apr. 2005	Member Exclusive	Why Organization Design Is Critical To Global Leadership Development Talented individuals cannot contribute to their full capacity and potential in a top-heavy organization that stifles initiative. Why is the crucial connection between effective organization design and successful leadership development often ignored?
Aug. 2009		Will You Want to Hire Your Own Kids? (Will Anybody Else?) Workforce entrants are caught between an educational system that teaches and measures one set of skills and a rapidly evolving workplace that demands another. But who will close the gap?
July 2003	Member Exclusive	Women Advance Slowly But Surely in Top Management Ranks Although few senior male managers openly deride women's corporate ambitions, many—either consciously or unconsciously—undermine them.
June 2007	Member Exclusive	Women and Leadership: Creating Opportunities for Advancement With smaller numbers of U.S. workers expected during the next decade and increasing numbers of women entering the workforce, more business leaders are realizing that competing globally will require making good use of all their human resources.
July 2002	Member Exclusive	Women in Leadership: A European Business Imperative When an organization puts women in key leadership positions they become a magnet for talented women and men.
Aug. 2004	Member Exclusive	Women in Leadership: Putting Diversity Policies into Practice Most large companies have diversity policies in place that include targets for recruiting and advancing more women into leadership roles, but they still face the challenges of implementing the policies successfully while growing their business.
Aug. 2005	Member Exclusive	Women in Leadership: The Diversity Imperative—Supporting Actions for Change There are considerable gender gaps in employment status, pay levels, and career outlook in Europe despite roughly equal numbers of well-educated males and females. Are senior executives willing to take steps to correct the imbalance?
June 2006	Member Exclusive	Women of Color: Strategies for Leadership Success This Executive Action report offers some strategies for personal success for women of color.
July 2008	Member Exclusive	Women's Leadership: Revitalizing Women’s Initiatives Key indicators of gender in the workplace suggest that women's advancement in corporate America has plateaued or even slipped over the past few years. Still, many companies remain committed to initiatives designed to support women in the workplace.
Nov. 2004	Member Exclusive	Work-Life and Diversity: Local Needs and Business Relevance Drive Success Spurred on by the new European Union-wide anti-discrimination legislation, inclusion policies and practices are being adopted by Europe-based organisations. Which approaches will succeed?
Jan. 2008	Member Exclusive	Working at the Intersection of Human Resources and Business Ethics – the Need for Collaboration When it comes to the implementation of an effective ethics and compliance program, corporate culture, performance incentives, and disciplinary systems must be closely integrated with standard human resources and talent management processes.
Mar. 2002	Member Exclusive	World Summit on Sustainable Development: Why Business Should Care Explains why businesses need to care about the World Summit on Sustainable Development and what they can expect from it.