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Featured High Tech, Strategy & Analysis Article, Industry trends downturn snapshot

December 2008 

Industry trends in the downturn: A snapshot

In times of great uncertainty, an understanding of long-term industry trends can help executives plot robust strategies. This roundup highlights structural issues likely to influence the future performance of four industries: steel, technology, chemicals, and consumer goods.

Recent Thinking

The Archive

2008

2007

2006

2005

2004

  • October 2004 

    Will high-tech CFOs adapt to slower growth?

    Financial officers in the high-tech sector should learn to balance six roles to help guide companies into a more mature market.

  • February 2004 

    High-tech mergers take shape

    Economic pressures to restructure high-tech industries will eventually become irresistible. Executives should prepare themselves for more—and more hostile—acquisitions.

2003

  • November 2003 

    What high tech can learn from slow-growth industries

    To drive productivity, high-tech executives should focus not just on technological innovation but also on business process innovation.

  • June 2003 

    Keeping Taiwan's high-tech edge

    Many of Taiwan’s high-tech manufacturers have moved operations to China to gain an advantage; now they must streamline those operations to stay ahead of the competition.

  • May 2003 

    Recentralizing IT

    Companies can run their IT systems more efficiently by creating new organizational structures in which IT departments and business units share responsibility.

  • May 2003 

    Reinventing IT services

    After a hard fall, providers of IT services face demands for more value—at lower prices.

  • May 2003 

    Time for a high-tech shakeout

    With high demand replaced by an overhang of capacity, the industry needs a catharsis.

2002

2001

2000

  • August 2000 

    The war for technical talent

    A McKinsey survey of computer science and electrical engineering graduates, summarized in "The war for technical talent," found that falling numbers of middle-aged people, the movement of employees out of large corporations, and frequent job-hopping will force employers to offer top dollar to top performers.

  • February 2000 

    Internet IPOs: An insider’s game

    Stock options and tricky financial instruments are dividing the interests of insiders from the performance of the Internet companies they dominate. In a market as volatile as the present one, suspicion of skyrocketing initial public offerings should be the order of the day.

1996

  • November 1996 

    Software-based innovation

    A reprint from Sloan Management Review.

  • August 1996 

    Developing customers before products

    A new strategy for high-tech industrial markets—self-destruction. Getting out early is as important as getting in early. Wrong: taking samples to old customers. Right: drawing road maps with the right ones.

  • May 1996 

    Placing your bets on electronic networks

    The wrong debate: the Internet versus on-line services. The distinctive value of networks is the ability to form communities. The basics of quality, cost, and convenience will still drive success.

1995

1994

1993

  • August 1993 

    Excellence in electronics

    Innovation no longer ensures success in the maturing computer market; continuous productivity improvement is what it takes to win.

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