This article provides a holistic framework that will help companies maximize this resource. It outlines the elements necessary to transform data into knowledge and then into business resultsManagers must understand that human elements-strategy, skills, culture-need to be attended to in addition to technology. This article examines the experiences of over 20 companies that were successful in their data-to-knowledge efforts. It identifies the critical success factors that must be present in any data-to knowledge initiative and offers advice for companies seeking to build a robust analytic capability

The U.S. and Europe exhibit very different approaches to information privacy-a condition of limited access to identifiable information about individuals-from both regulatory and managerial perspectives. Grounded in different cultural values and assumptions about the meaning of privacy (a "human rights" issue in Europe versus a contractual issue in the U.S.) these differences have led to regulatory and managerial conflicts. In this article, the differences between the two approaches are explored. U.S. corporations would be well served to embrace some of the premises of the European perspective. However, the U.S. would be poorly served by the creation of a federal regulatory structure such as some commonly found in Europe

This article presents a perceived shopping utility framework for analyzing the impact of retail price format on store choice. This, in turn, determines three key performance metrics: number of shoppers; number of trips; and average spending per trip When choosing a store, consumers evaluate both the fixed and variable utilities of shopping. The fixed utility does not vary from trip to trip whereas the variable utility depends on the size and composition of the shopping list. This article summarizes prior findings on store choice, analyzes how retailers can improve their performance, and interprets the practices of leading retailers. It presents a framework that can accommodate situations where retailers face multiple segments of buyers who have different sensitivities to fixed and variable utilities