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As a self-employed ghostwriter for businesses and individuals,
John Clayton produces books, articles, white papers, case studies, reports, software manuals,
training materials, and on-line Help functions. His work appears regularly in A.T. Kearney Executive Agenda
and on Microsoft.com. He has also worked with several other leading information and technology companies, including
Fiserv, the Metia Group, IBM, and
EDS.
John ghostwrites magazine articles for business executives:
In Executive Agenda,
Real Companies, Real Growth: Strategic insights from dozens of the most successful companies not named Apple, Amazon, Starbucks, or General Electric
In Chain Store Age, an article examining the
impact of social media on retail customer service
In IndustryWeek Magazine, an article instructing CEOs that it's
Time to Tell your CPOs to Collaborate with Suppliers
In Supply Chain Management Review, a column,
"Key Supplier Collaboration: New Way to Drive Value"
In Executive Agenda, an article asking
Where have all the 10-year strategies gone?
In Insurance & Technology, advice to health insurance companies
on why and how to make customer engagement a top priority
In ICIS Chemical Business, an article explaining how
chemical companies can improve their supply chain risk management capabilities
In Executive Agenda, an article dicussing how to
turn strategic vision into action
In IndustryWeek, an article examining how companies can
rebalance their quality priorities in the wake of the Toyota recalls
John ghostwrites white papers on corporate strategy:
Improving Foodservice Trade Spending: Six steps food manufacturers should take to transform the way they pay partners
Winning the Battle for Consumer Healthcare: an examination of the new market for consumer-focused products with significant health benefits
The Customer Engagement Imperative for health insurance companies to succeed in the new economy
In Executive Agenda, an article dicussing how to
turn strategic vision into action
Save the Planet, Feed the Planet a way for food companies to meet sustainability goals while helping others in the community
Some provocative questions to help businesses
more effetively simplify their product portfolios
We wanted to call this,
"Lessons from the Kasbah": How companies can access age-old wisdom to set profit-maximizing prices on the Web
John writes case studies about how companies use technology:
A
Brazilian technology services provider helped developers and managers collaborate more easily
A
retirement fund management agency improved project prioritization
A
large Jesuit university improved resource management
A
global software firm planned and tracked software engineering activities
Many of John's case studies have a particular focus on project management:
A global semiconductor maker
A chemical R&D firm
A British software consultancy
An aerospace manufacturer
Some of John's previous ghostwritten articles:
When the trend is not your friend:
How can businesses forecast discontinuities?
Two key corporate strategies for magazine publishers (both pdf links):
Eliminating the
print/digital divide to maximize revenues and efficiency for maagzines' online content
What does it take to transform a company? What is its
capacity for change?
How to spend less effort figuring out what price to set (because most companies don't think enough about their pricing strategy)
Can a "smart complexity" approach help distinguish how many varieties of products to offer?
How the marketing department can take on a more strategic role
The four archetypes of failure in sales organizations,
and ways that successful companies have broken out of them
Some of John's other ghostwritten articles cover other key elements of corporate strategy.
He has addressed industries including high tech, manufacturing,
consumer electronics, higher education, advertising, health care,
automotive, oil & gas, grocery retail, and financial services. Specific articles include:
What companies should be learning
from the recent quality crisis at Toyota
The folly of corporations pursuing growth for its own sake
The needs of low-income consumers
Implications of the food safety crisis in China
Which pieces of a corporate merger need to integrate first
How Corporate Boards (Should) Work
John has written case studies describing how a theater
chain, a multi-channel retailer, state
transportation agency, and interactive
design firm each developed business intelligence tools to improve their
knowledge of their operations, markets, and customers.
John writes about how companies can use information technology to reduce energy costs and environmental impacts
(each link goes to a case study John has written):
Mohawk Paper (industrial plant)
Dell (hardware supplier)
Sporton (testing company)
Lukoil (oil company)
John has profiled several companies worldwide that seek to help schools use technology more effectively
(each link goes to a case study John has written):
Conciety
Datenlotsen
EduWave Live from ITG
StudyWiz from Etech Group
K-12 schools in UK: Synetrix
Easily creating interactive educational content
An extensible platform for educational content
John's other work on educational technology includes case studies of the following efforts:
A research university needed to put faculty and staff on a unified calendaring system
A university wanted to encourage online conferencing among faculty, staff, adjuncts, and students at its far-flung campuses
A major university sought a way to control how much disk space was allotted to users
John also frequently writes about how companies can use better project management and enterprise resource planning software
(each link goes to a case study John has written):
Volvo IT
Carpenter Technology
Energizer
The Virginia Housing Development Authority
Computer Sciences Corporation
IFS/Business Analytics
MD Anderson Cancer Center (.doc download)
John also writes about the best ways for companies to set up their messaging and collaboration systems
(each link goes to a case study John has written):
Cell C (telecom)
Shindaiwa (manufacturing)
Subaru Canada
Thompson Coburn (law firm)
Belay Development
Catalina Marketing
Gold Systems
Del Monte Foods
Johnstons Cashmere
Edinburg's Napier University
John has written frequently about how companies virtualize their computer systems
(each link goes to a case study John has written):
McHenry Savings Bank (pdf)
U.S. Department of Energy (pdf)
Portman Building Society (pdf)
Tellabs (pdf)
Southern New Hampshire Medical Center (pdf)
John has profiled several individuals in the world of information technology:
A talented IT architect sought certification from a panel of expert peers
A solution developer wanted to advance his career using certifications in Microsoft .NET technology (.doc download)
A software designer sought training and expertise in messaging systems
Two students (one in Brazil and one in Croatia) improved their skills working on open-source development projects
John's other case studies have included:
An advertising agency sought an easy way to transfer large files
A beer distributor gave drivers wireless devices that automatically updated warehouse data
A plastic packaging manufacturer wanted to integrate computer systems after mergers
A gaming machine operator wanted to equip its field staff with incredibly smart smartphones
A major media company knew it had to address software compliance -- and discovered it could actually save money
A farm implement dealer wanted to help its salespeople quickly find needed information
A trade association needed to reduce the processing time associated with member renewals
John has also ghostwritten a variety of other articles on corporate strategy:
A case study examining how a German conglomerate found its corporate focus
A newsletter article discussing internal corporate bottlenecks in low-cost country sourcing efforts
Resources for Growth, a white paper encouraging executives to think about the
strategic assembly of resources as they decide what to outsource
Managing Risk in the Supply Chain in the specialty publication "Supply and Demand Chain Executive"
Statement
on China's High Technology Development and Challenges to U.S. High-Tech
Leadership before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission
Smart
Boxes: RFID can Improve Efficiency, Visibility and Security in the Global
Supply Chain
The
Coming Consolidation in European Financial Services
Excellence in Retail Procurement
Independent
Refiners and Marketers Spin the Value Wheel
John completed a series of documents for
the marketing department of an international technology provider for
the manufacturing industry. The documents included "message maps"
(outlining key messages across various products and industry segments),
PowerPoint presentations (complete with thorough Speaker Notes so that
they could be given by salespeople unfamiliar with the products), and
a sales handbook. He has also worked on a similar package for the communications
industry.
Previously, John wrote a series of white
papers for an international strategic consulting firm, including:
How independent grocers can compete against Wal-Mart by changing their management strategy
Succeeding at life in the coming post-merger era of the oil and gas industry
How back-office restructuring would save the airline industry
What retailers should do to combat overcapacity of retail space
How Internet retailers can use performance metrics to make strategic decisions
The coming revolution in genetics and nutrition
How to use e-business technologies to improve procurement strategies
How "bricks and mortar" firms should approach business-to-business Internet marketplaces
For an international software firm developing
a management information system for the insurance industry, John conceived,
designed, and wrote a suite of user assistance products including:
Context-sensitive online help
developed using RoboHelp
A printed user guide
Training materials (John also conducted some training sessions)
Newsletter articles explaining software updates
For a regional quality improvement organization
in the health care industry, John developed a suite of user assistance
products for a software package, including:
Interim disaster recovery
plan
User manuals
Internal procedures to manage a helpdesk
In other projects:
For an international technology firm, John wrote a report to grocery executives on coming
technological changes in the industry.
For a U.S. software firm developing a library information system, John developed software user
manuals, as well as marketing materials and a corporate newsletter.
For an international technology firm, John provided personalized on-site training on
copy-editing techniques.
For a Montana youth organization, John developed a community vision statement as well as a fundraising brochure and strategic plan.
John was a charter member of the Montana chapter
of the Society for Technical Communication,
a charter member of the Writer's Bridge
freelance cooperative, a ten-year member of the WriterL
listserv, and a member of the Mug Club at Sam's Tap Room.
John works as an independent contractor or through the agency Metia. For more information,
email John at info [at] johnclaytonbooks.com
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