“Effective stories that win both listeners’ hearts and minds are critical communications tools that can enable leaders to achieve difficult strategic goals,” write Doug Randall and Aaron Harms in an article in Strategy & Leadership magazine. The onus is on leaders—not their audience—to deliver a successful narrative that transfers meaning and motivation. The authors warn executives that their strategy initiatives are at risk every time the message they deliver is not convincing or clear.

Larry Keeley, an innovation expert and partner at Monitor, explains how Kodak’s famous failure to enter digital photography quickly can be a useful lesson for executives looking to innovate now. He writes that a new form of strategic thinking, convergences, “gives leaders a deeper sense of the interdependencies that connect firms, products, systems and services in new ecosystems” and reveals emerging opportunities, typically at the junction of new technologies and customer behaviors.

The global economy faces serious risks of a second “great recession” if world leaders fail to cooperate on solutions to prevent “near-term economic divisions to devolve into deeper-seated geopolitical divisions,” write Peter Schwartz, Jonathan Star, and Nikhil Prasad Ojha in The Times of India newspaper. In this piece that demonstrates scenario thinking, the authors project the global economy is likely to go through a near-term period of low growth. The long-term prognosis then depends on the actions—or failures—of leaders to respond.

With sizable government support, China’s life sciences industry “is quietly gathering a critical mass of skilled talent, and savvy and focused venture investors,” writes Monitor’s George Baeder in the December 2011 issue of Pharmaceutical Executive magazine.

In this special report on innovation in India’s Business Today magazine, Nikhil Prasad Ojha, Parijat Ghosh, Sachin Khandelwal, and Harsh Kapoor from Monitor describe key principles of innovation used by successful companies, from mobile phone provider Safaricom in Kenya, to Mexican cement company Cemex, to GE’s green energy products, to create new ways of doing business. “As markets mature and become more competitive, innovation has become an imperative for firms to survive and win,” the authors write.

This report, "Private Equity In the Shadow of Giants: Innovative Approaches Along the Investment Value Chain in Sub-Saharan Africa," surveys a wide range of stakeholders in the African private equity ecosystem to help new-to-Africa actors interested in understanding in more detail the investment opportunities and nuances in the operating models on the Sub-continent. It was compiled in the second half of 2011, triggered by the recent increase in positive hype that Africa received as the last frontier market. The report covers trends and innovative approaches from fund strategies and fundraising, to deal-flow generation and post-deal value-add activities, and ultimately exits. Overall, it uncovered an attractive industry in flux, with increased competitiveness, but sufficient uncharted territory to grow from its still relatively small base.

Roger Martin, the author of Fixing the Game: Bubbles, Crashes, and What Capitalism Can Learn from the NFL, discussed his ideas for changing executive compensation, financial services regulation, and tax policies to rebuild an economy that generates prosperity and growth. The interview with Monitor’s Steven Goldbach is part of Monitor’s “Insights from the Field” series of discussions with leaders sharing their perspectives on important issues.

Consumer product manufacturers invest millions of dollars into channel partnerships to influence the way consumers experience their product at the point of sale. These trade investments take many forms, ranging from standard rebates and cash payments to strategic collaboration programs. For many manufacturers in recent years, trade investment levels have increased faster than the sales they are designed to influence, contributing to eroded profit margins. In this article, part of the Monitor Perspectives white paper series, Christine Delivanis and Martin Zimmermann outline the challenges to sound trade investment and present four steps to maximizing manufacturers’ trade investment returns.

Fundamental changes in the health care system are transforming how key stakeholders value, obtain, and process information. While biopharmaceutical companies are experimenting with different solutions, they are not going far enough and fast enough to address new realities. In this article, part of the Monitor Perspectives white paper series, Jeff Wordham and Sheryl L. Jacobson outline how companies can succeed by fundamentally rethinking their approaches to customers, offering and channels.

In these video clips, Monitor thought leaders explain why pharmaceutical companies need to think differently about their commercial models—their approaches to customers, offerings, and channels—to make important changes to their strategies and adapt to the new shape of the pharmaceutical industry.