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Here are five choice articles from the business schools, the business press and major consulting firms to start off your work week. I'm pointing you to articles about adjusting strategies, social networking and collaboration, Apple's "mea copout," mining your attic for innovation, and Barnes & Noble.

From Strategy + Business: It Makes Sense to Adjust
"It used to be that a business transformation was a once-in-a-lifetime event, the sort of fundamental reset prompted by a rare, short-lived disruption such as a new technology, a devastating scandal, or a dramatic shift in costs. But if the recent economic upheaval reveals anything, it is that companies of all sizes, in all industries, are operating in a more volatile, less predictable environment, and that change has become a way of life. To navigate such a rocky landscape, companies must be ready to repeatedly transform themselves — indeed, to institutionalize the capacity to alter strategies again and again — as business conditions require."

Wally's Comment: If change has become a way of life, then adaptation or adjustment, are going to be far more important than great planning and super forecasting.

From Wharton: Frontiers of Collaboration: The Evolution of Social Networking
"Social networking tools such as Twitter and the emerging Google Wave web application are taking individuals and organizations to the frontiers of real-time communication and collaboration. The technology has the potential to make it easier to discover and share information, interact with others, and decide what to buy or do. But the key word is "potential": Social networking's evolution is still in its early stages. What makes the current crop of services more promising than those that came before? What are the obstacles to further progress?"

Wally's Comment: This article concentrates on the ways in which evolving social networks make collaboration and serendipitous discovery, easier and more effective. For some companion reading consider the 2007 article, "Customer-Controlled Innovation," by Patricia Seybold.

From the Financial Post: Apple's mea copout
"When someone says they are “not perfect,” it implies that at some point there may have been some confusion on the matter. Apple Inc. chief executive Steve Jobs says his company isn’t perfect. Whether he believes that or not is a different story entirely."

Wally's Comment: I've been observing Steve Jobs and Apple (once Apple Computer) since the late 1970s. I remain fascinated and perplexed by the mix of savvy, drive, and arrogance that is Steve Jobs. The public figure most like him is Ted Williams. Both men were surpassingly good at one important thing. Both believed that was enough.

From Industry Week: Assessing Product Innovation Assets: What's in Your Attic?
"Low-cost innovation doesn't have to be boring or incremental. Sometimes true innovation is as easy (and inexpensive) as evaluating the technologies and capabilities you currently have and expanding them to a new industry or customer base. It is a particularly powerful product innovation strategy during an economic downturn, yet too few companies today are taking advantage of it."

Wally's Comment: In our book, Ruthless Focus, Tom Hall and I told the stories of more than twenty-five companies, including Nucor. Everyone at Nucor is expected to come up with ideas to make things better. But no one at Nucor expects all the ideas to work.

They accept the premise that half their investments in new ideas and technologies will yield no usable results. Every plant has a storehouse for the equipment that was tried and rejected. They're kept around so Nucor's people can learn from things that didn't work or maybe get an idea about how to make it work in a different situation

From Emory: Will Barnes & Noble’s Latest Moves Pay Off?
"Since 1971, when a young New York University dropout and textbook dealer named Leonard Riggio bought a venerable but sleepy college textbook store named Barnes & Noble, the company has often been at the cutting edge of bookselling: The first to offer discounts on best sellers in the US. The first to build a national brand out of what had been a local business. The first to sell books in a big box venue that offered more selection and lower prices than the competition. And the first bookstore chain in the US to think not only about price but also about ambiance, recognizing the advantages of promoting book-browsing as a leisure activity."

Wally's Comment: Amazon gets a lot of the good press, so it's worth remembering that Barnes and Noble has been a key innovator in the bookstore business. The question is: "What will the company do in the face of a changing industry?" Another question might be, "Where, if at all, do physical stores fit in the mix?"

If you enjoy this post, you may want to check back on Wednesday when I select five excellent posts from the week's independent business blogs. Last week I highlighted posts on strategy, the dark side of leadership, working for an "uninspiring" boss, trying to make others happy (or not), and the future of the corporation.