The role of the finance function in the consumer products sector is changing. What was once considered a support service is now becoming a business partner. This podcast explores nuances of that shift and delves into other findings of a new Deloitte point of view, Finance transformation in consumer products: It's a whole new world. It's the first of several points of view from the Consumer Business & Transportation's Global Center of Excellence program, which was created to help executives in the global consumer industries address their highest-priority challenges.

Clara Jiménez, Directora de Innovación de Accenture, es entrevistada por el Club de la Innovación.

Companies will be spending more on their high performers in 2012 than they did in previous years as they continue to target resources towards those that deliver most to the bottom line, according to survey data from Mercer. However, a two tiered approach to pay is emerging with 12% of companies also stating that 25% of their staff will not get a pay rise in 2012 due to performance issues. The information comes from the 412 senior HR and Reward Specialists who attended Mercer's 2012 Compensation Planning in EMEA webinar. According to respondents, when asked if, in 2012, they would spend proportionately less, the same or more, on their top performers compared to an average performer than they had in previous years, 44% stated that they would spend more. Fifty percent said that they would spend the same while 5 percent said that they would spend less.

Michael Porter and Robert S. Kaplan, Harvard Business School professors and authors of the HBR article How to Solve the Cost Crisis in Health Care, explain why providers must start with proper measurement.

5S es una técnica desarrollado en Japón para la industria manufacturera como una manera de aumentar la eficiencia por la eliminación del derroche. Las 5S se refieren a cinco palabras japonesas, cada una empezando por la letra ´s', que indican cada uno de los cinco pasos del proceso. Un equipo de cinco personajes animados muestra como esta disciplina puede ser aplicada en la industria de servicios por medio de un tutorial animado y un ejercicio en escenarios familiares.

Teresa Amabile, Harvard Business School professor and coauthor of The Progress Principle, explains the importance of small wins at work.

Scott Anthony, managing director of Innosight and author of the HBR article How P&G Tripled Its Innovation Success Rate, outlines a proven model for new business creation.

Tony Tjan, managing partner of Cue Ball, outlines the key components on which entrepreneurial executives must focus.

Nassim Taleb is a literary essayist, hedge fund manager, derivatives trader and professor of risk engineering at The Polytechnic Institute of New York University. But he is best known these days as the author of The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. During a recent visit to Wharton as part of The Goldstone Forum, he spoke with Wharton finance professor Richard Herring -- who taught Taleb when he was a Wharton MBA student -- about events in the Middle East, the oil supply, investing in options, the U.S. economy, the dollar, health care and of course, black swans.

M&A activity in the telecommunications industry has finally resumed after a long slump. Which valuation issues are topping the agenda for M&A and finance departments? Find out here and use our insights for your own tactical strategies.

The introduction of the Dodd-Frank Act and new SEC proxy disclosure rules has changed the way businesses view traditional enterprise risk management. Now more than ever, boards are seeking greater transparency and better mechanisms to carry out their risk oversight responsibilities.

Surveying 125 insurance companies, Accenture found customers decreasingly loyal, trusting and committed to a single buying channel, according to study respondents. In this report and podcast, Accenture recommends that insurers consider honing their responses to these trends by developing new customization strategies and integrated multichannel distribution models.

Global entertainment and media outlook: 2010-2014 reveals that over the next five years we will see digital technologies increase their dominance across all segments of E&M, as digital transformation continues to expand and escalate. While the industry has a long history of experimenting and fragmenting in response to change, the current advances in technologies and consumer behavior are unprecedented both in their speed and also in their simultaneous impact across all segments. As a result, the industry will become more fragmented and diverse than ever before.

There is a growing sense that Machine-to-Machine (M2M) technology now offers a significant opportunity for operators to grow revenues through service innovation and diversification. M2M has been around for some time, and some companies have been employing a form of M2M operation for over a decade. It is only now, however, that the concept is really starting to permeate the mainstream mobile operators' psyche. Key variables, such as technological advances in mobile, supply-chain maturity and the need for operators to offset declining voice revenues in the Person-to-Person (P2P) space are spurring interest. Regulation will undoubtedly play a part in defining the market too over the next five years, but the revenue-generating opportunity that M2M represents is now too great for operators to ignore. The fact that some tier one mobile operators are already cranking up their investment in this market testifies to this.

Variety is key in the technology sector for the coming year. Deloitte predicts that people will use a diverse array of devices at home and at work. Learn more in this podcast with Eric Openshaw and Paul Lee.