Their strategic intent was to develop paper-thin solar sheets for a wide range of applications.

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The strategic intent has been to triangulate between business strategy, algorithmic math, and database structures to develop software tools that can change decisions to measurably increase shareholder value.

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Neither is certain that it knows when the other is being honest about its domestic political constraints, and both tend to take random events as reflections of strategic intent.

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And the fundamental problem is the same: a failure of alignment, by which I mean of the elusive ability to link strategic intent at the top of an organization to tactical performance at the bottom, via an unbroken internal narrative.

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But without understating any of those difficult and strategic technology choices, the massive potential of sweeping Big Data initiatives are forcing CIOs to be fully capable business leaders who can collaborate with other leaders to map out the strategic vision and intent, and imagine some of the competitive disruptions that are likely to result.

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Companies also seem more intent this time on strategic, rather than financially motivated deals building on core strengths and buying into new geographic markets are common themes in the latest round of deals, whereas costly diversifications are little in evidence.

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Intel and McAfee plan to bring the first fruits of their strategic partnership to market later this year, with the intent of tackling security and the pervasive nature of computing threats in an entirely new way.

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