From the editor.

• Author: Marshall, Jeffrey

Reading a recently published book, Seeing What's Next, prompted us to reach out to the authors for an article on corporate strategy. Indeed, one of the authors, Harvard Business School Prof. Clayton Christensen, has gained international attention and acclaim for his writing about innovation. The resulting article, written by a research partner, Scott D. Anthony, with Christensen, details how executives can use the "disruptive innovation" theory to spot early signals of industry change, predict how those signals will unfold and react appropriately.

Among its many provisions, The Sarbanes-Oxley Act has required companies to establish effective procedures for would-be whistleblowers to report ethical problems or fraud. Writer Paul Sweeney found attorneys, consultants and others with a lot of good advice for such programs--and support for the idea that a whistleblower hotline can help improve organizational behavior and performance.

Following a year (2004) in which a record number of earnings restatements were made, the Financial Executives Research Foundation (FERF) and several outside academics reviewed recent restatements and reached some interesting findings. For instance, they conclude, a restatement can create situations where some revenues, expenses or net assets will never pass through a current-period earnings statement or the balance sheet--or do so twice.

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Can privacy policies be strategic? Dr. Alan Westin, a prominent privacy expert, thinks they can--but that few companies have embraced that vision. He spoke to Managing Editor Ellen M. Heffes about a variety of trends in corporate privacy, and attorney Martin Abrams offers a global perspective on privacy notice policies.

Virtually everyone in the U.S. multinational business community has been watching and talking about the slide of the dollar, especially against the euro, and its implications. One set of implications...