Arcus Business Management Consultants
 
Latest Research and Insights

 Growth

11 INNOVATION

How to Come Up With a Great Business Idea

The age of business leaders when they got started, such as, Mark Zuckerberg with Facebook, Bill Gates with Microsoft, Steve Jobs with Apple lead people to believe that only young people can come up with great ideas. These innovators are exceptions to the rule. Mots entrepreneurs start their companies in the mid years with their own savings and a passion for an idea that motivated them to start a business.

11 FOOD RETAIL

Animal Welfare and Consumer Preferences

Trends in food retail with regard to animal welfare and the "Freedom Foods" movement:

Canada is probably a decade behind Europe with regard to consumer choice and skepticism about animal welfare/organic/natural claims. European consumers are highly skeptical today and the market has evolved to a much higher level of government regulation/control vs. voluntary industry standards compared to North America because of complacency on the part of industry in the past to manage standards.

11 RETAIL

Showrooming trends in 2013

Showrooming is forcing retailers to evolve to meet changing consumer needs and embrace showrooming instead of fighting the trend.  This is especially relevant in a strategy to combat pure-play online retailers.

11 FINANCIAL SERVICES MARKETING

Canadians' affinity for credit cards

With the average consumer's total debt (excluding mortgage) increasing to $26,768, will increased debt and employment uncertainty hit Canadian Retailers in the upcoming holiday season? Arcus surveyed retail executives to find out their opinions and expectations.

11 MARKETING

Five Trends driving B2B Marketing and Sales in 2013

Here are some strategies used by leading marketers to deliver superior value to their customers. Most marketers today have experienced disappointing results from ...

11 MANAGEMENT

The Seven Biggest Mistakes a Leader Can Make -

Most leaders want to learn from others mistakes. Many agree that one of the biggest ones is to put their self-interest ahead of ...

11 GROWTH

CEO Viewpoint on Managing Growth

Mr. Jeff Cates, Managing Director of Intuit Canada talks about customer insights, growth and change as key elements of a successful business strategy.

11 GROWTH

5 steps to accelerate corporate growth

A focus on customer referrals, automation, new products and markets are the top drivers of growth.

11 MARKETING

Marketing in a recession

In a recession, consumers are likely to become cautious in their expenditures. But they don't always cut back. They tend to change the mix of brands purchased.

11 SHOPPING BEHAVIOUR

Why consumers prefer extremes

Choices customers make that can impact share. Spending money is now, strangely, its own form of entertainment. But the consequences for shopping behaviour are significant

11 MARKETING EFFECTIVENESS

Brand strategy planning tools

Arcus has created three popular matrices for Brand Strategic Planning, Marketing Effectiveness and Portfolio Performance.

11 INNOVATION

Arcus Innovation Leaders Series -

The Arcus Innovation Series is based on in-depth interviews with over 1500 senior executives from organizations like Siemens, Unilever...

11 STRATEGIC PLANNING

C-Level view on strategic planning -

A recent Arcus survey of over 1500 senior executives indicates strategic planning can be a frustrating exercise..

11 TRAVEL AND LEISURE

Hospitality Industry- Ten trends -

Ten trends that will reshape the industry over the next ten years. It used to be enough to stay at a nice hotel; these days, guests are expected...

11 SUSTAINABILITY

Arcus Green Business Report

The Arcus Green Business study found that only 17 percent of consumers are passionate about environmental issues—while 24 percent have virtually ...

11 STRATEGY

The state of the economy and impact of the financial crisis on corporate governance and business strategy.

An interview with Mr. Jim Leech, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP).

11 SUSTAINABILITY RISK MANAGEMENT

Best Practices in Sustainability Risk Management

A comprehensive program to identify, understand and manage risks provides greater certainty to employees and other stakeholders.

11 CLIMATE CHANGE

Business Implications of Climate Change

A survey of 1,200 business leaders on economic, environmental, and social performance.

11 SHOPPING BEHAVIOUR

Why Consumers Prefer the Extremes

Consumers may abandon products as soon as chic goes mainstream. When similar people buy the same brand, it translates into social meaning.

11 CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

The Challenge of Dissatisfied Consumers

Customers are bound to talk about their experiences. They are 10 times more likely to talk about bad experiences vs. good ones.

11 NON_PROFIT FUNDRAISING

Insights from the 2013 Arcus Study of Net-Worth Philanthropy

The 2013 Arcus Study of Net-Worth Philanthropy has identified some interesting trends on attitudes and giving behaviors of high net-worth donors, including reasons they give or stop giving.

11 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKET RESEARCH

New Research on Social Media Measurement

Arcus interviewed 35 market research buyers to understand the opportunities for performance improvements in social media market research, monitoring and measurement. The initiative was launched in partnership with the Market Research and Intelligence Association of Canada (MRIA).

11 MARKETING

Green Marketing Strategies

Only 17% of consumers are willing to pay a premium for green products and services. Marketers should consider a green strategy only if they can deliver on promises.

11 RETAIL

Growth in a Recession

How consumption smoothing is changing the way retailers approach growth. All things constant this means consumers use savings as a tool to compensate when incomes are low to maintain living standards.

11 FINANCIAL SERVICES

Banks and Customer Advocates

Only 27% of bank customers are advocates today. The larger banks face the biggest organic growth challenge related to advocacy. 

11PACKAGED GOODS

The Challenge of Dissatisfied Customers

Customers are bound to talk about their experiences. They are 10 times more likely to talk about bad experiences vs. good ones.

11 STRATEGY

Strategy is all about implementation

Outcomes are most predictable when initiatives and competencies are aligned. Learn about our Strategic Planning Processes.

11 INNOVATION

What is your corporate innovation index?

Benchmark your organization, process and program performance. Clients like Kraft Foods have leveraged the Innovation Index.

11 MARKETING

Why setting up a Corporate Advisory Board males sense

They can provide real world insights into businesses.

11 MARKETING

What would Steve Jobs do?

What we can learn about marketing from Steve Jobs: “Simple can be harder than complex. Steve Jobs put a computer inside a phone that made it into 120 million pockets. He was...

11 ENERGY

The Problem with Solar

What can governments learn from the bankruptcy of Solyndra last month? Once the poster child for the promise of cleantech jobs in the US, the California based solar...

11 MARKETING

Sport marketing -

An interview with Mr. Keith Wachtel, Senior Vice President of Corporate Sales & Marketing for the National Hockey League. Mr. Wachtel says it is critical to...

11 MARKETING

Senior marketers have scaled back investments in innovative marketing An Arcus Consulting Group survey of 430 senior marketing executives in Canada, conducted ...

11 MARKETING

Growth in a challenging telecom market

Mr. Anthony Lacavera, CEO of Globalive Communications Corp. says says its critical for companies to grow in a profitable and sustainable way. 

11 GROWTH STRATEGY

Siemens invests in R&D to accelerate its growth strategy

An interview with Mr. Dirk Miller, Vice President, Siemens. Mr. Miller says investments in research and development can be an effective growth strategy for companies today.

11 RENEWABLE ENERGY

Bio Fuels Report

The main support for biofuels has, to date, been through fuel duty incentives in most countries. They are also exploring input taxation methods for ...

11 MARKET RESEARCH

Deeper consumer insights and important added value at Kraft Foods

Ms. Janine Keogh, VP- Consumer Insight & Strategy, Kraft Canada Inc. argues that true innovation for products ...

11 RETAIL

The Business of Clutter

84 per cent of consumers bought things in order to deal with the excessive amount of things they have bought...

11 TELECOM

The marriage of music and mobility

Apple had the hardware expertise, the industrial design expertise and the software expertise to get it right with the next generation iPhone...

11 PHARMA SALES

Pharmaceutical sales: Challenge of access to physicians

Changing the Face of Detailing. How to motivate physicians to see Pharmaceutical sales reps. One pharmaceutical ...

11 BRAND STRATEGY

Unilever's brand strategy and corporate culture

Mr. Geoff Craig, VP and General Manager, Unilever says leadership is about creating aframework for action around the vision to allow partners ...

 Organization

11 HEALTHCARE AND SAFETY COMPLIANCE - AODA

AODA Compliance requirements

The new Accessibility Standard for Customer Service came into effect across Ontario on January 1, 2012. All employers are required to establish policies, practices and procedures on providing goods or services to people with disabilities and are asked to train employees on:

11 STRATEGY PLANNING

Viewpoint on strategy and scenario planning

A more targeted approach to strategic planning requires a focus on creativity and less of established linear processes. Here are five pillars to follow in your strategy...

11 LEADERSHIP

Lessons on Leadership

12 pivotal lessons on leadership from the Arcus Innovation Leaders Series that can help business leaders manage, lead and inspire teams.

11 HUMAN RESOURCES

Five top drivers of employee performance

An Arcus survey of 245 HR executives indicates that higher salaries do not automatically lead to higher performance levels. There are many other influencers of performance that are not based on pay, such as, commitment, work ethic, and motivation.

11 CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Leverage Change Management to address sustainability strategies

Until fall 2009, BP ranked the 18th most sustainable major company on the NASDAQ Global Sustainability 50 Index. And then on April 20th , 2010 the company had to deal with the infamous oil spill. Did BP deserve to be ranked so high on a sustainability index?

11 SUSTAINABILITY

Corporate Social Responsibility

An interview with Mr. James Gray-Donald, Sustainability Leader at Sears Canada Inc. Mr. Gray-Donald says if you’re able to respond to societal challenges and solve problems with your core business.

11 MANAGEMENT

Developing Winning Strategies.

How to develop and sustain competitive advantage.

By Merril Mascarenhas, Managing Partner, Strategy

11 CHANGE MANAGEMENT

Successful management of the rate of change

A simple formula from the fastest growing companies.

By Francine Burel, Director, Performance Improvement

11 LEADERSHIP

Lessons in Leadership -

Arcus talked to 1200 top executives about the challenges of leading and managing. The most important leadership lesson CEOs have learned ...

The future of healthcare - Forecasting the future of healthcare and health policy is an imperfect science. A lesson learned from the mortgage crisis- it is important to ...

Innovation Leaders Series- what innovations are about to reach their tipping point? Innovative businesses tend to identify new emerging trends and leverage their impact on their...
5 tips to help you innovate in uncertain times - Our research of indicates that in past recessions (1982–99), companies that invested in growth emerged stronger and ...
Successful partnerships - Arcus asked 2100 CEOs about the most important lessons they have learned about successful partnerships.The most important leadership lesson CEOs have learned is to force themselves to think about doing things that they did not think were possible.
The innovation imperative. How collobation between business, government and research organizations can deliver superior results. An interview with Jac van Beek, Vice-President, Programs and Planning, The Canada Foundation for Innovation

Patient Safety and Risk Management - A survey of 200 Healthcare CEOs on Technology, Management and Operational Challenges.

Managing the rate of change - How individuals and organizations can successfully manage change in a changing world.

The future of value: Ambidextrous Leadership.- Today’s leading CEOs are going down a road business will have to travel.
Best practices to build a great business. Today's fastest growing businesses understand the importance of deeper customer insights.

11 HUMAN RESOURCES

The Challenge with "Work@home" Telecommuting

Is Telecommunting good for organizations, employees or both?Telecommuting has achieved widespread attention from business leaders and employees this year. There seems to be enough traction for it to merit some scrutiny. The 2013 Arcus Human Capital Survey found that 18 percent of employed Canadians reporting they telecommute. 

11 HUMAN RESOURCES

Employee engagement and profitability

Even in today's soft economy, there's a competitive edge overlooked by many organizations: employee performance management.

11 STRATEGY

Appreciative Inquiry

How appreciative Inquiry is changing the way companies search for the best in people, organizations, and the business environment.

11 HEALTHCARE

Sales Deployment Strategies and Territory Alignment

High Prescribing physicians receive 3-5 times the sales calls they received ten years back. Today life science organizations are focusing their efforts on the most profitable markets.

11 MANAGEMENT

Best practices to build a great business.

Highly profitable companies and their practices. By Francine Burel, Director, Performance Improvement

11 CUSTOMER SATISFACTIONT

Link between employee and customer satisfaction 

There's a direct link between employee & customer satisfaction and improved financial performance.

11 LEADERSHIP

Taking charge in a new leadership position

Getting off to a strong start establishes the foundation for long-term success is built. 

The importance of "Real Engineering" over "Financial Engineering". Over the past decade, the focus of most CEOs has been on outsourcing to cut costs and increase...
Arcus Innovation Institute - In Pursuit of the Perfect Brainstorm - What’s clear is that in recent years, most corporations have gone meta — they have started thinking...
A Model for Reinforcing Safe and Healthy Workplaces - Safe and healthy workplaces start and end with the attitudes and behaviours of both workplace parties – employers ...
Managing Diversity - In the recent more optimistic past, many organizations have been able to utilize their hiring ability to create a more diverse workforce. Such organizations ...

Would Your Employees Recommend Your Company To Friends? On a scale of zero to 10, how likely is it that you would recommend your company to a friend as a place of ...

Solve your toughest problems - Working with experts, Arcus has identified questions and selected insights that will get you the answers to your business problems.

Change Management in Healthcare - Deployment strategies for Hand Hygiene. Many factors have contributed to poor hand washing compliance among health care workers...

Pharmaceutical sales: Challenge of access to physicians. Changing the Face of Detailing. How to motivate physicians to see Pharmaceutical sales reps. One pharmaceutical ...

CeoSight.com

Links for today's busy executive. A compilation of frequently visited sites by busy business leaders.

Health Care - 2020, Future Trends Report - Over $34 billion in federal funding is being added to Canada’s health care system over the next five years. Will it change or just ...
Employee Engagement, Customer Satisfaction and Profitability - Even in today's soft economy, there's a competitive edge overlooked by many organizations: employee performance management.
Developing Winning Strategies- How to develop and sustain competitive advantage.

 Operations

11 HEALTHCARE

Highly Reliable Organizations (HROs) 

Researchers believe a strong culture is the most critical underlying feature of their accomplishments.

11 SUSTAINABILITY

Embedding sustainability in an organization

An interview with Ms. Jody Kuzenko, General Manager, Sustainability at Vale’s Base Metals, North Atlantic Region. Ms. Jody Kuzenko says, embedding sustainability in an organization is a necessary condition to run a successful business. She adds, every...

11 SUSTAINABILITY

Best Practices in Sustainability Risk Management

A comprehensive program to identify, understand and manage risks provides greater certainty to employees and other stakeholders.

11 TECHNOLOGY

Enterprise architecture

Roadmaps towards executing on the Enterprise Architecture. By Charles E. Côté PMP P.Eng, Director, Operations Strategy

11 TECHNOLOGY

Strategies for Differentiated Enterprise Communications.

Establish a sustainable long-term vision. By Charles E. Côté PMP P.Eng, Director, Operations Strategy

Healthcare procurement trends - How physicians search for information online- important insights to strengthen egnage healthcare professionals with corporate reputation ...

Medical device and surgical supply cost containment - Arcus surveyed 55 senior executives in the healthcare sector in May, 2011 to identify best practices in ...

Sustainable Business Strategies - Can a green strategy translate into a competitive advantage in these uncertain times? By Detlev Zwick, PhD, Associate Professor ...

Healthcare technology - Why its important to document and demonstrate value. To be in a position to defend price, and thereby gain a fair return on the value your support ...

11 NON-PROFIT GOVERNANCE

Governance- Strategies to improve Board Performance

The State of Governance in the non-profit sector - Arcus interviewed 65 board directors of non-profit organizations to identify the key barriers to strengthening board performance. Most directors are interested in spending more time on strategic planning and in steering the direction of the organization. 

11 OPERATIONS

Trends in Business Transformation Strategies

Success Strategies for Differentiated Enterprises.

11 MANUFACTURING

Challenges Facing Canadian Manufacturers.

Managing complexity and increasing flexibility of operations. Arcus  survey of leaders of 200 manufacturing companies.

11 CLIMATE CHANGE

The Business of Climate Change

A survey of 1,200 business leaders on sustainable business practices. Grow profitably while engaging stakeholders.

11 HEALTHCARE

Healthcare technology trends

Why its important to document and demonstrate value.

By Merril Mascarenhas, Managing Partner, Strategy

Linking Sustainability to Share Holder Value. An interview with Ms. Charlotte Grezo, Group Director, Corporate Responsibility Strategy, Centrica plc. Ms. Charlotte Grezo says...

Remote monitoring systems market - Remote monitoring of patients with chronic problems, such as heart failure and diabetes, is growing and it’s set to become more relevant ...
Roadmaps towards executing on the Enterprise Architecture.- Roadmaps are consensus views by an organization on how to get to where they want to go or achieve desired objectives.
Success Strategies for Differentiated Enterprise Communications. - Companies need to take a close look at their operations.

Zachman Framework - Find out how the Zachman Framework can optimize your operations and lower costs.

.
   
Client Successes
Healthcare workers smiling

Healthcare

- Identified best practices in patient safety at over 450 hospitals

- Sales deployment strategy for a Fortune 500 life sciences company
sustainability risk management

Retail

- New merchandising and marketing strategy for grocery retailer

- Market potential assessment and analysis for a sports retailer

Why Consumers Prefer the Extremes

Packaged goods

- New business opportunities assessment and growth strategy

- Customer base assessment to identify the most profitable customers

New energy wind turbines

Energy

- Strategy to restructure and growth the lubricants business

- Customer base assessment and growth strategy in heating segment

Medication

Pharmaceuticals

- Repositioned pharmaceutical brand to target new markets

- Sales deployment and optimization strategy for medical device
Golf

Leisure

- Assessment in the golf market for a retailer and growth strategy

- 10 year strategic plan for specific customer segments

Financial concept

Insurance

- Corporate and business unit strategy with innovation assessment

- Knowledge and Document management strategy

telecom wireless manufacturing and marketing trends

Manufacturing

- Growth strategy in 36 business segments

- Sales deployment assessment and optimization strategy

 

Innovation and Insight

 

 

How to subscribe

Take advantage of our exclusive member benefits:

  • Get Web access to the full text of selected articles
  • Sign up for e-mail alerts on topics that matter to you
Membership Term
paypal
 

Arcus on trends

 

telecom fees
telecom long distance
retail insights pricing
Wireless fees
Telecom Trends
Retail Strategies

 

Books

Bridging Your Goals with Their Goals: A 'Context-driven Approach to Leadership'

.

Thumbnail

 

While changing jobs and shifting careers is hardly unusual in today's business world, Russ Palmer is somewhat unique in that he has been the leader of three very different organizations over the past several decades. In his new book, Palmer describes how today's leaders can adapt to, and succeed in, any business environment. Read more

     

Value acceleration: Business Process Improvement

Find out more about books that today's Business leaders are reading. Read more.

Book review - Make it work. Strategies for success in organizations.

Go to the books section.

.

Blogs

The latest ideas and insights on business from our experts.

.

Reports

The Global Information Technology Report 

The Global Information Technology Report , will be released on April 9 by the World Economic Forum. The Report has become the world’s most comprehensive assessment of the impact of ICT on the competitiveness of nations.

.

Energy Security:The New Energy Security Paradigm
A report and agenda-setting outline for forthcoming meetings of the World Economic Forum’s Energy Industry Partnership in collaboration with Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA).

.

The Leadership Challenge for CEOs and Boards 

Partnering to Strengthen Public Governance: At the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, the Global Corporate Citizenship Initiative Advisory Committee to the World Economic Forum, consisting of selected corporate heads of corporate citizenship as well as renowned experts, presented a thought leadership work stream.

.

 

_______________________________________________

Find out your company's performance against a benchmark of 500 of North America's most successful companies. Contact us for an evaluation of your corporate strategy and an ROI audit.

 

 
Follow Arcus

Bookmark and Share

  LinkedIn Twitter

  q Subscribe
  q Links for Leaders 
  news News
  patient safety Books
  climate change Blog
  pharma sales Case Studies
  employee Request a proposal
  Reports
  q Patient Safety
  q Climate Change
  q Pharma Sales
  q Innovation
  q Sustainability Risk
  q Appreciative Inquiry
  q Change Management
  q Employee engagement
  qqq Retail Consumption
  qqq Leadership Trends

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

 
Services : Strategy : Change Management : Growth : Marketing : Operations : Market Research :  Public Sector : Training : Sustainability : Probono
Industries :Healthcare : Public Sector : Packaged Goods : Energy :Telecom :Financial Services : Retail :  Renewables
Contact us : About Us : Ideas : Client Service : Client Successes : Consultants : Latest Research