Results 1-10 of 149
Cost Reduction in the Telecom Industry
Why operators need to act now to escape from the low-profit spiral
The telecoms industry in Europe and the US is at risk of becoming a low profit business. If the current trend cannot be reversed, industry margins are at risk of dropping from the current figure of 35 - 40% to 15% within 5 years. Cost management has to become an inherent core competence for wireless and wireline operators. Significant cost reductions are only possible with substantial changes in the business/operating model. New pressures will mean a change in mindset and the ability to ‘think outside the box’. Arthur D. Little has successfully managed this process with many operators.
Released: March 2010
To download please login or register as a new user ADL_Cost_Reduction_in_the_Telecom_Industry_01.pdf (.PDF, 824 kB)
Research & Technology Institutes
Meeting the Challenges of the Post-Recession World
Research and Technology Institutes (RTIs) around the world are facing a number of strategic and operational challenges: changes in their role, pressures on funding, more global competition, and increasing demands from their sponsors and customers. To adapt successfully, institutes need to avoid the trap of incremental changes and death-by-a-thousand-cuts. Instead, they need to take a more fundamental approach by revisiting role and strategy, sharpening the focus of research activities, and making real changes to operational processes, organization and incentives.
Released: March 2010
To download please login or register as a new user ADL_Research_Technology_Institutes.pdf (.PDF, 1.83 MB)
Manufacturing Network Concentration
Now Could Be the Time to Act
Manufacturing networks drive unnecessary costs, capital and obstruct service if not aligned with products, sales and production technology. Historic events and organizational heritage often lead to manufacturing networks that are not optimal from these perspectives. Although companies are often aware of the problems, many are hesitant to start restructuring activities in a good business climate. The current economic downturn accentuates the problems with overcapacity, high fixed cost or geographical imbalances. Arthur D. Little argues that now is a good time to review and restructure manufacturing networks. Arthur D. Little offers a pragmatic yet rigorous method to quickly come to the right decisions and put implementation plans and structures in place.
Released: February 2010
To download please login or register as a new user ADL_Manufacturing_network_concentration.pdf (.PDF, 331 kB)
The Art of Systematic Surveillance
Intelligence Management – "To be defeated is forgivable, to be surprised is not!"
"Great leadership isn’t about solving problems after the fact, but foreseeing potential problems and eliminating them before they occur" Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, once said. Intelligence Management is a systematic approach that leverages both internal and external knowledge in new ways. It streamlines decision making, enhances competitive positioning and creates an environment that aggressively responds to competitive threats and market challenges.
Released: February 2010
To download please login or register as a new user ADL_Intelligence_management.pdf (.PDF, 230 kB)
Worldclass Purchasing
Central results from the "Purchasing Performance Excellence" (PPE) study
The global financial and economic crisis appears to have pulled out of its low point. An economic turnaround is expected in 2010. Now is when the decision is made as to who will capitalize on the opportunities of the coming recovery phase and who can lay the foundation for the years of future success. This can only happen with a methodical, optimally structured and staffed purchasing department functioning as the backbone of a successful company. By lowering costs, the purchasing department significantly contributes to increased value. However, this is not the case for all companies. Oftentimes, the purchasing department operates purely as an order processor and in doing so inadequately performs its strategic functions. What these types of purchasing departments can learn from the very successful purchasing organizations, including which best practices they can purposefully adopt and how they can benefit from the implementation and regular utilization of these best practices, was identified in detail by Arthur D. Little in cooperation with the University of St. Gallen and the German Federal Association of Materials Management, Purchasing and Logistics (BME) with the 2009 PPE Study.
Released: January 2010
To download please login or register as a new user ADL_Worldclass_Purchasing.pdf (.PDF, 1.8 MB)
Time for Change
Oil Company Asset Management
Structural changes taking place in the oil supply outlook are making it very complex for international oil companies (IOCs) to pursue their key twin targets: reserves replacement at sustainable cost, and operational efficiency to sustain the levels of profitability that investors and markets expect of them.
Traditional models of asset management - focused on individual asset performance and short term results - are already limiting what IOCs can accomplish today. And additional challenges are emerging for the future: e.g. asset operations will need to be capable of quicker response to the accommodate market changes, and greater awareness will be needed of the full spectrum of opportunities and threats to which assets are exposed.
IOCs where asset and field managers merely perform tasks, rather than attempting to run a business as part of an overall enterprise, will not be able to deliver their full potential. They, and their colleagues in the corporate strategy rooms, need to radically rethink their vision of asset management.
To address these challenges, both present and future, we propose here a holistic approach to asset management - one that supports consistent and integrated decision-making at each level of the asset portfolio. This approach provides a route to improving current practises, accelerating response to market changes, delivering better resource allocation and utilization, and ensuring optimum cross-asset use of best practice and innovation.
Released: December 2009
To download please login or register as a new user ADL_Time_for_Change.pdf (.PDF, 664 kB)
Open Standards for IPTV Set-Top Boxes
What an Open Standard Could Do for the Success of IPTV
The global IPTV industry has experienced impressive growth, but penetration levels are still modest. Set-top boxes represent a not insignificant part of the total costs of providing such services to the end consumer.
To spur further development and to avoid sub-optimization based on multiple proprietary systems, a common standard will be increasingly important. Any such standard needs to be interoperable, affordable and innovation-friendly.
Since no single proprietary standard for IPTV STBs is likely to emerge, influential players should cooperate to establish a widely supported open standard. A common open standard may represent the best route forward, but does not in itself guarantee such qualities. Clear rules and procedures are needed to ensure robust competition and a win-win environment for all principal stakeholder groups.
Such a development will likely aid the prospects of the entire ecosystem, contributing to the growth and overall success of IPTV.
Released: December 2009
To download please login or register as a new user ADL_Open_standards.pdf (.PDF, 442 kB)
Future of Television
The End of TV as We Know It?
The future of TV will be defined by the enrichment of linear TV with interactive, on-demand services, a mash-up of professional and user-generated content, an increasing availability of TV on multiple devices and 3-screen access. Successful business models will be based on a hybrid model, i. e. a combination of free services to attract users to the respective platform and paid services. Upselling opportunities will depend both on the reach and ease of use of the platform as well as the quality of the content. While short-form user-generated was enough to grow for first movers in the middle of the 2000s, this content won’t be enough to compete with the increasing online offer of commercial broadcasters. Relevant content - and this might be Hollywood studio productions as well as niche specialties from independent studios - will provide reach and stickiness which are the ultimate enablers for upselling and the placement of advertising.
Those players which provide a carefully balanced content portfolio, ensure a high reach with an easy to use platform, add relevant additional services and focus on a hybrid business model will be at a competitive advantage and dominate the market in the future.
If you are interested in the full report, please contact Jürgen Morath or Dr. Karim Taga.
Released: November 2009
Procurement Performance Measurement (English)
What CFOs expect from measuring Procurement Success
Procurement excellence is increasingly becoming an important factor in delivering efficient operations within successful companies. On the surface, effectively measuring procurement performance is no rocket science. However looking deeper, adequate measurement of procurement success is a big issue, as bottom-up reported savings can significantly deviate from the key financial figures a CFO looks at. Arthur D. Little’s latest study on procurement performance identifies the key challenges that companies currently face in developing a CFO-friendly procurement performance measurement. This report suggests a best practice approach to overcoming these challenges and consistently measuring purchasing success in the future.
Released: November 2009
To download please login or register as a new user ADL_OM_Procurement_Performance_01.pdf (.PDF, 383 kB)
Post-Merger Integration of R&D (English)
Reaping the full potential of post-merger integration
An in-depth study conducted by Arthur D. Little notes that while the potential gain of merging R&D departments is substantial, integration of R&D activities exposes the business to significant risks, is more difficult and takes longer than other areas – all factors that can spoil the affair. The solution is careful tailoring of a full R&D integration approach that deals with the “enablers” early on.
Released: November 2009
To download please login or register as a new user ADL_post_merger_integration.pdf (.PDF, 360 kB)