A simple sales cycle consists of the following five phaseslead qualification; prospecting or marketing; proposal development; deal closure; sales follow-up.  The outcome of the follow-up phase (step 5) should feed back into step 3 where new proposals are developed, shortcutting the...

The American psychologist, Douglas McGregor, studied leadership styles. McGregor argued that managers operate from their personal view of how employees function. He separated managers into two groups based on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. He related Theory X managers to lower order needs in the hierarchy and Theory Y managers to higher order needs. Theory...

Michael Porter published the Value Chain Analysis in 1985 as a response to criticism that his Five Forces framework lacked an implementation methodology that bridged the gap between internal capabilities and opportunities in the competitive landscape. This framework focused on industry attractiveness as a determinant of the profit potential of all companies...

The Canadian academic, Henry Mintzberg who had trained as a mechanical engineer, wrote his PhD thesis at the MIT Sloan School of Management analysing the actual work habits and time management of chief executive officers (CEOs). In 1973, Mintzberg's thesis on the nature of managerial work was adopted as a study and published for a wider audience. Mintzberg's...