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Where I Think “Agile” is Headed, Part 2: Where Does Management Fit?

Johanna Rothman

The more management wants to standardize on any agile approach, or add control or synchronization points, or require another group/team to deploy, the more management creates local optimization. The biggest problem I see in feedback loops is when managers think in resource efficiency instead of flow efficiency. That's wrong.

Agile 69
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Consultant Ninja: A Simple Question about the Credit Markets.

Consultant Ninja

Heres my understanding of the current TARP/TARPII/PPIP/etc plans: The major "sick" banks wont lend to businesses, because their balance sheets are tied up with bad assets that they cant sell. It is probably much easier to diagnose and treat 4 or 5 patients than a group of 100, 200, or +1000. Posted by Consultant Ninja.

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How the Great Recession Changed Banking

Harvard Business

That strengthened investment banks’ balance sheets by forcing them to scale back and to change the nature of the risks they take. As a result, their balance sheets are half as large on a risk-adjusted basis, and the capital they hold against trading positions has doubled over the past decade, our research shows.

Banking 28
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How to Improve Your Finance Skills (Even If You Hate Numbers)

Harvard Business

See More Videos > See More Videos > Tackle the balance sheet. “Take an interest in the balance sheet and then do the due diligence to understand it,” he says. “There are four ratios common in every company: profitability, leverage, liquidity, and operational efficiency,” he says.

Finance 28
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Why Apple Is Getting into the Energy Business

Harvard Business

Some of the energy saved and resold will come from traditional energy efficiency (EE) investments, which companies have been making for many years. However, the explosion of smart digital- and internet-connected devices has created a new form of energy efficiency that adds immediate control over equipment as a new EE strategy.

Energy 28
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Descent of the Global Monetary System

Tom Spencer

The smaller the group of people, the easier it is to reach agreement on what to use as money. The principal goal of the Bretton Woods System was to create an efficient foreign exchange system in order to promote trade and economic growth while at the same time preventing countries from engaging in competitive currency devaluations.

System 88
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The 3 Company Crises Boards Should Watch For

Harvard Business

Another CEO used prodigious management skills to successfully consolidate, grow, and dramatically increase the efficiency of a vertically integrated industrial company. To support a change in strategy from efficiency-driven to innovation-driven growth, the company acquired another company to be its innovation engine.

Company 28