Research and Reports

Doing business as usual won't cut it in emerging markets as many organizations are challenged by myths surrounding consumer needs. In this month's Straight Talk, experts provide guidance on the new approaches necessary and how retail execution and mobility are essential capabilities in these new markets.

With its beginnings firmly rooted in trucking and manufacturing, supply chain has traditionally been viewed as inhospitable to women. But change is on the horizon as more women enter the field and as progressive companies recognize the advantageous skillsets that women bring to the table.

Outsourcing is one of the most misunderstood investments that the competitive consumer goods company wrestles with. When it first became popular, it was generally a defensive tactic meant to reduce costs. Today, however, it has morphed into a strategic business driver.

For the 14th year in a row, CGT's readers voted for their top solution and service providers in 12 areas of investment opportunity. The results, and accompanying analyst commentary, help consumer goods companies find the best technology/services matches for their business needs.

Subject matter experts clear up the biggest misconceptions surrounding the topic of cloud, including security risks, it's appropriateness for existing mature infrastructures, and whether it is powerful enough to support mission critical processes.

Consumer confidence was a bit manic in 2012, hitting a five-year high in November and then dropping again in December as consumers doubted an end to the fiscal cliff. The impact of this uncertainty plays out in the results of this annual listing of the top-performing public consumer goods companies.

This month's Straight Talk tackles big data, one of the hottest topics to hit the business world. Notwithstanding the hype, the buzz around insights and analytics has created a lot of confusion. Let our experts help you disprove the myths.

As much as reputation leaders (most frequently the senior communicator, chief marketing officer or the head of business strategy) would like to be able to tell CEOs and board members that everything is under control, the fact is when it comes to stakeholder relationship management, everything is not under control. Although most companies agree that reputation management is important, relatively few have figured out what to do about it.