Why most customer loyalty programs are a crock

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First there was customer satisfaction. Then loyalty. And of course the whole CRM craze. Why not just settle down and think rationally? [...]

Voluntary disclosure and capital costs

Wachovia National Bank 1906 statement from Wikipedia Commons

Three authors have taken advantage of the natural relationship between capital structure and disclosure to propose a mathematical model to choose a firm's disclosure policy. [...]

Charts, ABC and Benchmarks

The foundation of accounting systems is key to low ongoing maintenance, key information, and efficiency. It is always more efficient to reconstitute the accounting function than consume IT and operational departments with workarounds and specialty programming to overcome foundational deficiencies. Avoid the band-aid approach; it bloats methodologies and software code (requiring their own maintenance cost), consumes time, and generally confuses the enterprise. [...]

Cost Centers

Structure cost centers to align with external 3rd party vendors

Do not just allow cost centers to reflect current operational practice. Order them and measure them with two other important concepts in mind; according to established educational expertise with an conscious focus on leverge of talent, and as a formal methodolgy of benchmarking. [...]

Manage IT Costs and Culture

Organizations typically leverage less than 50% of current technology. With such a powerful vehicle running at half speed, IT must remain the highest priority in increasing productivity and innovation. [...]