Günter Müller-Stewens
Thumbnail Image
Title
Prof. em. Dr.
Last Name
Müller-Stewens
First name
Günter
Email
guenter.mueller-stewens@unisg.ch
Phone
+41 71 224 2761
Homepage

Filters

Reset filters

Settings
Now showing 1 - 10 of 15
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Verjüngungskur für die Zentrale

2015-04-21 , Kunisch, Sven , Müller-Stewens, Günter , Campbell, Andrew

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Are CEOs Getting the Best from Corporate Functions?

2012-03-20 , Campbell, Andrew , Kunisch, Sven , Müller-Stewens, Günter

At too many large companies, corporate functions like HR and IT don't get enough strategic direction from the CEO. Four basic steps can help. Few CEOs give enough direction to the heads of their corporate-level functions. That's the conclusion of a survey we conducted of more than 50 function heads at some of Europe's leading companies. We are referring here to larger companies in which corporate-level functions such as finance, human resources, information technology, strategy, purchasing and legal provide policies, controls and services to decentralized operating divisions. Fortunately, some CEOs have found ways to address the problem. In our survey, fewer than one in 10 function heads felt they had received sufficient guidance on how their function should contribute to the company's overall strategy. Instead, they were expected to develop their own ideas and functional strategies.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Spielentscheidend : Der Staat als M&A-Akteur

2011-02-01 , Kunisch, Sven , Wahler, Caspar , Müller-Stewens, Günter

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Paralyse durch Analyse?! Oder: Auf den Spuren der Vorgänger(in) …

2010 , Kunisch, Sven , Müller-Stewens, Günter , Kunisch, Sven , Binder, Andreas

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Why Corporate Functions Stumble

2014-12-01 , Kunisch, Sven , Müller-Stewens, Günter , Campbell, Andrew

A survey of 761 of the largest corporations in North America and Europe showed that the number of corporate functions had increased at about a third from 2007 to 2010. Leaders at three out of four companies believed that their functions' influence had grown. At the same time, complaints about the performance of those functions were increasing. The authors combined their survey data with insights from structured interviews at large European multibusiness organizations to understand why corporate functions so often underperform and what might be done about it. They learned that the performance of these functions may well be related to how they respond to the varying management challenges they face at different life-cycle stages. In "youth," for example, the function may not be seen as valuable by all the businesses. Its mandate may be unclear, its staffing problematic, and its efforts to get up and running overhasty. In "adolescence," the function may have a tendency to expand its activities without due regard for how that affects its relationships with the business divisions. In "maturity," when it is well established and its mandate is fairly stable, it may spend too much time benchmarking and searching for best practices, diverting attention from the needs of its internal clients. In the fourth stage, which calls for change, the function's managers may fall into the trap of looking for opportunities to redeploy their skills rather than acquiring new ones. The authors discuss these and other challenges and offer remedies. [http://hbr.org/2014/12/why-corporate-functions-stumble Online-Version] [https://archive.harvardbusiness.org/cla/web/pl/product.seam?c=36597&i=36599&cs=68ad625f2eb0b64cbca1120dc8370210 PDF-Version]

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

A New Look for the Head Office : Corporate Headquarters Redesigns during Times of Crisis

2012-10-14 , Kunisch, Sven , Schimmer, Markus , Müller-Stewens, Günter

Companies appear to have adopted a new perspective on the role of their corporate headquarters (CHQ). Instead of considering it a cost factor that can be easily slashed, companies seem to have recognized the need for a stronger corporate hand. By analyzing recent patterns of CHQ change, this article provides valuable lessons on how companies handle this conflict between CHQ cost efficiency and value contribution. [http://performance.ey.com/2012/11/14/chq-redesigns-during-times-of-crisis/ Snapshot] [http://performance.ey.com/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2012/11/New-look-for-head-office.pdf Full Article]

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

The Value Traps Facing Corporate Functions

2013-10-01 , Kunisch, Sven , Müller-Stewens, Günter , Campbell, Andrew

Corporate functions are the headquarters functions in a divisionalised company. These functions, such as corporate Finance, HR, IT, Marketing, and Strategy, have been increasing in their numbers, size and influence. While they can add significant value as part of the ‘corporate parent', they also often subtract value, interfering in unhelpful ways and imposing bureaucracy and delays. Our research, with 30 European companies, exposed four typical value traps that are the root causes of subtracted value. These value traps appear to occur because of the different challenges that corporate functions face at different stages in their life cycle.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

CEOs, Mind Your Own Business! : Why and How Corporate CEOs Should Pay More Attention to Corporate Functions

2013-03 , Campbell, Andrew , Kunisch, Sven , Müller-Stewens, Günter

The corporate office consists of the CEO and the corporate functions. It is the main vehicle for delivering corporate added value. Yet corporate functions often underperform and corporate offices often fail to add value. We argue that this is because CEOs focus most of their attention on portfolio strategy and business issues and give too little attention to guiding and leading their own business - the corporate office. --> http://www.europeanbusinessreview.com/?p=8459

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

To centralize or not to centralize?

2011-06-01 , Campbell, Andrew , Kunisch, Sven , Müller-Stewens, Günter

The CEO's dilemma-were the gains of centralization worth the pain it could cause?-is a perennial one. Business leaders dating back at least to Alfred Sloan, who laid out GM's influential philosophy of decentralization in a series of memos during the 1920s, have recognized that badly judged centralization can stifle initiative, constrain the ability to tailor products and services locally, and burden business divisions with high costs and poor service.1 Insufficient centralization can deny business units the economies of scale or coordinated strategies needed to win global customers or outperform rivals. Timeless as the tug-of-war between centralization and decentralization is, it remains a dilemma for most companies.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Das strategische Programm organisieren

2011 , Scheef, Christine , Kunisch, Sven , Menz, Markus , Menz, Markus , Schmid, Torsten , Müller-Stewens, Günter , Lechner, Christoph

View