Research & publications

Latest Publications

The Insurance Challenge: Managing Complexity
Insurers that manage all sources of complexity are able to provide products with essentially the same market value, but at substantially lower costs.
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Managing Complexity Preemptively
Leading financial institutions focus on complexity—not eliminating it but deciphering the bad from the good.
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How Much Does Complexity Really Cost?
Companies can increase their EBIT by 3 to 5 percent on average—if they make systematic, cross-functional improvements based on transparent complexity costs.
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Simulation-based Complexity Management
Using intuition or “gut feelings” to make strategic business decisions can result in lost earnings potential, unmanageable complexity and unnecessary risk. This paper discusses a holistic, simulation-based approach to decision-making, which allows companies to predict the longer-term impact of every move they make.
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Getting a Handle on Complexity
The supply chain team is in a strong position, within most companies,to drive the complexity reduction discussion and to serve as stewards of complexity management in the long term.
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Strategy & Transparency

Controlling Complexity in the Chemical Industry
Companies that take control of their complexity can release hidden earnings potential, in some cases increasing margins by 2 to 5 percent.
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The Complexity Challenge
Consumer products companies must reduce complexity even as they add brands, extend lines and alter package sizes.
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Taking Control of Complexity
Complexity must be controlled so companies have a clear path to the next growth frontier.
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Stop Chasing Your SKU Tail
For a real impact, you have to take aim at some of your unnecessary, high-volume products.
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Cultivating Smart Complexity
Recession-weary and buried under too much of everything, customers are saying no thanks to more products.
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Total Value Chain

Learning a New Complexity Language
If the relationship between the cost and the value of complexity were clear, managing the trade-off between the two would be simple.
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Lean product management: High-tech manufacturers boost profits by reducing product complexity
The combination of lightning-swift product development cycles and intense price competition has left electronics and computer hardware manufacturers looking for new approaches to improve their cost positions.
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The End of the Village Store
Throw away those business models that have accumulated since B-school and beyond. It's time to adapt your strategies and supply chains for customers who want everything now.
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Simplify or Drown: Fighting the Rising Tide of Telecom Complexity
Telecom carriers can turn back the rising tide of complexity with a simplified organizational structure that will reduce costs, increase revenues and improve the customer experience.
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Battling the Beast: Complexity vs. Customization
In some ways, the financial services industry is where the automakers were in the 1970s, when every feature of a car was custom designed.
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Sustainability

Got Complexity Under Control? Now, How to Sustain It
By implementing best practices, a company can sustain its "wins" and ensure that the complexity it beats today won't come creeping back tomorrow.
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Reuse, Recycle and Reduce Complexity
More companies are using Sustainable Complexity Reduction to cut complexity while also capturing environmental and social benefits.
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