Executives pondering which parts of their information technology function to out source usually decide to keep stratcgic services in-house and to out source commodities-especially ones that suppliers claim they can provide inexpensively. If only the decision were that simple

Economists Avinash K. Dixit believe that there can be value in postponing capital investment decisions. Indeed, for many years, managers who have required net present value to be more than merely positive before making such a decision have intuitively followed the same principle.

World View. No industrialized nation can be an economic island, yet Japan continues to behave like one. In "Letter from Japan," Kenichi Ohmae writes that consumers are tired of paying for subsidy protection and higher-priced goods.