DURHAM, N.C. — A group of leading research universities has launched Futurity (www.futurity.org), an online research channel covering the latest discoveries in science, engineering, the environment, health, and more.

The site offers direct access to research news posted by Duke University and 35 partners supporting the project.

Futurity cofounder Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations at Duke, says the site allows the public to see how federal, state, and private funds are being put to use by universities to address critical challenges.

“It’s not often you see high-powered universities working together in such a collaborative way,” says Schoenfeld. “That fact alone indicates the project’s significance. Universities are the world’s laboratories. They host the brightest minds working to answer some of today’s most urgent questions. The breadth and caliber—and the collective force—of the research featured on Futurity is truly extraordinary.”

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This is the second in a series of posts by Duke Strategy Professors Arie Lewin and Marco Huesch.

Let’s consider a suggestive example of deliberate business model experimentation. In our association with leading U.S. consultancies, we have seen these ideas put to good use. Recall one of the last international financial crises, triggered by East Asian currency collapses? In the late 1990’s, banks in this region faced dollar denominated borrowings, and local currency denominated credit assets. Technical insolvency of many players led to dramatic government interventions, ownership stakes sold to international banks, and depressed wholesale financial performance.

Surviving independent local players saw global banks like Citibank poach swathes of high-value personal and commercial clients. Portfolio monitoring, credit risk assessment and dynamic external monitoring were missing at most local players. Reliable financial market and commerce statistics and credit bureau did not exist to inform lending practices.

Not the best time for experimentation? Steady as she goes? Not so. Booz and Co. worked with one of the leading Thai commercial banks to transform the business model in a risky but successful series of business model experimentations. As part of that team, one of us helped to tailor overseas practices (in risk and recovery, in portfolio management in credit cards, in internal IT support and many other areas) to local organizational, cultural and resource constraints. Within a short time, our client had outperformed the local banking market in stock price and continued to adapt its business model pro-actively to the changed competitive landscape. Loyal customers and staff continue to reward the still-independent bank years later for not cutting and running.

The lessons for domestic firms are clearly that counter-cyclical investment in business model innovation can pay big. Cisco’s CEO alluded to this recently by explaining that the firm made more aggressive investments during bad times than during good times. His counterpart at IBM goes further: the Economist highlighted his belief that new leaders would “win not by surviving the storm, but by changing the game.”

Closing thoughts will follow tomorrow…

This is the final installment in a four-part series of postings by Strategy Professors Will Mitchell and Richard Burton. Mitchell and Burton outline four principles for leading your business as an opportunity driven strategist in tough times, rather than falling into purely defensive positions that are destined to be overwhelmed by economic pressures.

PRINCIPLE 4. MOTIVATE YOUR PEOPLE

We have already told you that part of principle 2 is to “invest in your people”. So, why are we coming back to people? Well, we were reminded about the importance of motivation by a recent talk to the graduating Global Executive MBA class at Duke University by Ferdinando Beccalli-Falco, the CEO of GE International. Mr. Becalli-Falco’s core point was that you will not survive tough times without the commitment of your people.

In our experience, when times are good, the second thing that comes out of our mouths, after “we are customer focused,” is usually “our people are our most valuable resource.” But most of us do not really practice the people mantra. We take advantage of the rising tide to succeed as businesses despite under-performing in how we motivate and build on our employees’ insights. We do not have that luxury when times are tough.

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This is the third installment in a four-part series of postings by Duke Strategy Professors Will Mitchell and Richard Burton. Mitchell and Burton outline four principles for leading your business as an opportunity driven strategist in tough times, rather than falling into purely defensive positions that are destined to be overwhelmed by economic pressures.

PRINCIPLE 3. STAY OUTWARDLY FOCUSED

When times are tough, the temptation is to hunker down and focus inwardly, trying to cut costs and protect our traditional core. But tough times create advantages – firms that find ways to reach out for those advantages while protecting cash and reinforcing current advantages will both flourish in the tough economic times and create platforms for growth when times get better.

Now, we can hear you saying that it is easy for us to say “stay outwardly focused”, but is this really realistic when you have to protect cash and reinforce our current advantages. Nonetheless, firms that keep one eye beyond their walls in tough economic times will find powerful opportunities.

We stress three points about staying outwardly focused: Sources of opportunities parallel your needs for investment, outward focus reinforces principle 2, and outward focus creates opportunities for selective expansion even in tough times.

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