“Given the current economic uncertainty, we can’t think of a more appropriate time to celebrate the top companies in the world. Seriously. Now is the time for the best public companies, many of which we first championed as startups, to reveal their strengths. After all, as Stanford Business School professor Jeffrey Pfeffer says in our story on corporate cost cutting, ‘When times are good, a jackass can run a successful company, and we’ve seen that lately.’”

“Visit the Chelsea office of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, and you’re likely to hear a lot about ‘walking the brand.’ Stroll from one end of the 150,000-square-foot floor to another and you’ll pass photo studios, test kitchens, Web operations and the Martha by Mail catalog business. It’s the realization of Martha Stewart’s insistent synergy drive, one she’s accomplished while other media companies have stumbled.”

“When droves of dot-coms were closing, often the only notice their employees had were the padlocks adorning their office doors when they got to work one morning. These folks were lucky if they could retrieve their personal affects, much less lay claim to any severance pay. But among established companies announcing layoffs these days, the counterintuitive concept of ‘competitive severance packages’ is actually emerging. Companies realize that the way they compensate laid-off employees sends as much of a message to members of their current and future workforce as salary levels and benefits packages.”

“On Monday morning, you’ve got to face the CFO and defend your budget. It would sure help if you could argue that past IT expenditures have increased the productivity of your company before you explain why your budget should go up this year. Well-prepared is well-armed, so here CIO presents two sides of the heated productivity debate. You can quote Edward Yardeni, chief investment strategist at Deutsche Banc Alex.Brown, to prove that investing in IT does enhance the productivity of your workers and will continue to do so. And you’ll be prepared for those pesty counterarguments by reading the perspective of Robert J. Gordon, the Stanley G. Harris professor in social sciences at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.”