How to Pursue Strategies That Will Get Your Organization Up and Going In An Uncertain Economy and Maximize Profits

Presents the concept of agility in a clear, logical sequence that can be quickly grasped and implemented upon by a general business audience

Hoboken, New Jersey (PRWEB) April 8, 2009

The global economy squeezes profit margins more efficiently than ever before. Unfortunately, the relentless pursuit of industrial efficiency no longer yields the profits it once did because general 'business predictability' no longer exists. Instead, the Internet and global video and telecom systems provide a massive and continuous flow of data that causes the whole world to behave like a giant stock market with all the volatility and uncertainty that goes along with such markets. In this high change, global economy, responsiveness now trumps efficiency. The agile enterprise is an organization that uses responsiveness to make profits from a hundred small adjustments every day and from occasional big wins as opportunities arise - just as stock traders do. BUSINESS AGILITY: Sustainable Prosperity in a Relentlessly Competitive World (John Wiley & Sons; $29.95; March 2009) discusses the three fundamental processes that drive an agile enterprise and how they work together to deliver the responsiveness that generates profits in a high change economy, and it provides strategies for innovative and pragmatic use of people, process, and technology.

"My intention in writing this book is to articulate a handful of powerful trends that are shaping our businesses and our lives in this century; and to offer a handful of simple yet equally powerful principles and techniques for responding to these trends," said business leader and author, Michael Hugos. Hugos shows that by being responsive to the evolving needs and desires of specific groups of customers, companies can wrap their products and services in a tailored blanket of value-added services to consistently earn an additional gross margin The first two chapters define the business challenges leaders must confront as well as new opportunities and technologies used to address these challenges. BUSINESS AGILITY continues by outlining the operating principles and strategies used to respond to these challenges. Each chapter provides case studies and examples to illustrate the ideas presented. Coverage also includes:
•Creating "responsive organizations" and thriving in a real-time global economy
•Using technology to empower the people and actions of these organizations
•How desire and innovation impact the responsive organization
•Overcoming barriers that test ability to create responsive organizations
•Five key characteristics of a responsive organization
As part of the Microsoft Executive Leadership Series, chapters are based on millions of dollars in research conducted by Microsoft to capture the key areas that will determine success or failure for organizations in the years ahead. BUSINESS AGILITY guides readers through the process of learning to use this economy, and the information and communications technologies that enable it to achieve and sustain a thriving business in a compeitive & global market. The future is far from certain, but this book guides leaders in developing more robust, agile, responsive and fluid business models, and in deploying the technologies to support them.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Michael H. Hugos is a thinker, speaker, and practitioner of business agility and agile IT system development methods. He spent six years as chief information officer (CIO) for Network Services Co., a multibillion-dollar national distribution cooperative where he developed a suite of supply chain and e-business systems that transformed the company's business model from old-line distributor to value-added provider of products and supply chain services. He is a two-time winner of the CIO 100 Award, and a recipient of the InformationWeek 500 Award and the Premier 100 Award for career achievement. He is also author of Building the Real-Time Enterprise and Essentials of Supply Chain Management, Second Edition, both published by Wiley.

BUSINESS AGILITY
Sustainable Prosperity in a Relentlessly Competitive World
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Publication date: March 10, 2009
$29.95; Hardcover; 176 pages; ISBN: 978-0-470-41345-6

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