100 Great Business Ideas: From Leading Companies Around the World (100 Great Ideas)

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100 GREAT BUSINESS IDEAS • 93


  • What information is needed?

  • How should it be presented?

  • When does it need to be supplied (timing and frequency)?

  • Where does it come from? This determines the quality of
    information and puts facts into context.

  • What restrictions are there? For example, whether some or
    all of the information is confi dential.

  • Which decisions and activities will it support? It helps if
    people know why information is needed.

  • Generate the right data—fi nd out the best way to acquire
    information (eg surveys, telephone calls, meetings, and
    interviews).

  • Review and analyze information. Decisions come down to
    judgment, but quantitative statistical methods will highlight
    trends and anomalies, while scenario planning, modeling, and
    simulation are useful techniques for generating and assessing
    the right information.

  • Store and retrieve information, ensuring it is widely accessible,
    clearly labeled, and categorized. It needs to be relevant and
    up to date. Establish criteria for adding new information and
    discarding (or archiving) old, irrelevant details. The system
    and processes for storing and retrieving information need to be
    cost-effective.

  • Act on information. Three tactics are useful: monitor decisions,
    act methodically, and manage the constraints (in terms of time,
    resources, and other pressures).

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