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Main Catalogs   Accounting Business Communication Business Law Economics Finance Insurance and Real Estate Management Information Systems Management and Organization Marketing Operations and Decision Sciences      Special Catalogs     Case Studies Text Chapters Mapped to Specific Cases How to Build a Book: Select Content Review & Arrange Personalize Request a Copy Keyword    Title, Author, Case #, Etc. ALEKS Homework Manager Discover Econ   Learning Solutions Group     Harvard Business Review Articles — General Management  • To include an item in your complimentary custom book, click the item’s Add link. If there is a View link next to an item, you can view the pages by clicking on the link.  • To review the list of items you have selected so far, click on Step 2 in the progress bar above. You have successfully added all of the items to your order. Either click here to review your order or continue to add content from another title.    Funding Eureka!   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Myhrvold, Nathan Publication Date: 03/01/2010 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R1003A Subjects: Patents; Capital markets; Innovation; Inventions Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Nathan Myhrvold, the cofounder of Intellectual Ventures, has been reviled as a patent troll - a renegade who buys up patents and uses them to hold up companies. Nothing could be further from the truth, Myhrvold argues. What he's really trying to do is create a capital market for generating and trading inventions that's akin to the venture capital market supporting start-ups and the private equity market that revitalizes inefficient companies. Without such a market, inventors who work at companies, universities, or on their own are starved of the cash and expertise they need to solve today's complex problems. A professional invention capital industry would remedy this problem, and the number of inventions would dramatically rise, transforming the world for the better.    Building a Company Without Borders   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Author(s): Becht, Bart Publication Date: 04/01/2010 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R1004K Subjects: Global business; Management philosophy; International management; Corporate vision Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: British consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser has very low corporate brand recognition-but its results speak volumes. In the past few years the company's growth has outperformed that of its competitors P&G, Unilever, and Colgate-even during the downturn. RB's CEO outlines what he thinks is the real reason for the company's strong performance: its unique culture of globe-trotting expats.    How Investors React When Women Join Boards   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): O'Connell, Andrew Publication Date: 07/01/2010 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: F1007B Subjects: Board of directors; Women in business Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: A company's stock price will tend to decline after women are appointed to the board.    No, Management Is Not a Profession   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Barker, Richard Publication Date: 07/01/2010 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R1007C Subjects: Managers; Management development; Teaching methods Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Because managers hold a status in society similar to that of doctors and lawyers, it is natural to think of business as a profession-and of business schools as professional schools. But, argues Barker, a professor at Cambridge University's Judge Business School, that can lead to inappropriate analysis and misguided perceptions. We turn to professionals for advice, he writes, because they have knowledge that we don't. We trust their advice because they've been guaranteed by professional associations that establish the boundaries of the field and reach consensus on what body of learning is required for formal training and certification. These associations make a market for professional services feasible. Although business schools might be able to reach consensus on what they should teach, the proper question is whether what they teach qualifies students to manage. After all, successful businesses are commonly run by people without MBAs. Managers' roles are inherently general, variable, and indefinable; their core skill is to integrate across functional areas, groups of people, and circumstances. Integration is learned in the minds of MBA students, whose experiences and careers are widely diverse, rather than taught in the content of program modules. Thus business education must be highly collaborative, with grading downplayed, and learning must differ according to the stage of a student's career. Business schools are not professional schools. They are incubators for business leadership.    Are You Ignoring Trends That Could Shake Up Your Business?   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Ofek, Elie; Wathieu, Luc Publication Date: 07/01/2010 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R1007M Subjects: Innovation; Consumer behavior; Consumer marketing; Product management; Product introduction; Strategy Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Virtually all managers in consumer businesses recognize major social, economic, and technological trends. But many do not consider the profound ways in which trends-especially those that seem unrelated to their core markets-influence consumers' aspirations, attitudes, and behaviors. As a result, companies may be ceding to rivals an opportunity to transform the industry. For instance, the impact of the digital revolution on consumers' daily lives is hardly a revelation. But it may be less obvious that heavy digital users tend to focus on short-term goals, demand immediate gratification, and expect to multitask. That insight, the authors argue, is as important for a company that sells lipstick as it is for one that sells smartphones. The authors present a process for identifying the trends that could reshape a business and three strategies for leveraging trends to create new value propositions: Infuse aspects of the trend into the product category to augment traditional offerings, as Coach did with its lower-priced Poppy handbags. Combine aspects of the trend with attributes of the category to produce offerings that transcend it, as Nike did with its Nike+ sports kit and web service. Or counteract negative effects of the trend with new products and services that reaffirm the category's values, as iToys did with its ME2 video game, which encourages children to be physically active.    Stop the Innovation Wars   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Govindarajan, Vijay; Trimble, Chris Publication Date: 07/01/2010 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R1007F Subjects: Innovation; Operations; Group dynamics; Conflict; Implementing strategy Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Special teams dedicated to innovation initiatives inevitably run into conflict with the rest of the organization. The people responsible for ongoing operations view the innovators as undisciplined upstarts. The innovators dismiss the operations people as bureaucratic dinosaurs. It's natural to separate the two warring groups. But it's also dead wrong, say Tuck Business School's Govindarajan and Trimble. Nearly all innovation initiatives build on a firm's existing resources and know-how. When a group is asked to innovate in isolation, the corporation forfeits its main advantage over smaller, nimbler rivals-its mammoth asset base. The best approach is to set up a partnership between the dedicated team and the people who maintain excellence in ongoing operations, the company's performance engine. Such partnerships were key to the successful launch of new offerings by legal publisher Westlaw, Lucent Technologies, and WD-40. There are three steps to making the partnership work: First, decide which tasks the performance engine can handle, assigning it only those that flow along the same path as ongoing operations. Next, assemble a dedicated team to carry out the rest, being careful to bring in outside perspectives and create new norms. Last, proactively manage conflicts. The key here is having an innovation leader who can collaborate well with the performance engine and a senior executive who supports the dedicated team, prioritizes the company's long-term interests, and adjudicates contests for resources. The most basic-and the most complicated- problem in business i    A Practical Guide to Combining Products and Services   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Shankar, Venkatesh; Berry, Leonard L.; Dotzel, Thomas Publication Date: 11/01/2009 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R0911H Subjects: Value creation; Product bundling Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Most firms are trying to combine products and services into innovative offerings in an effort to boost revenue and profit streams and balance cash flows. These hybrid solutions can help companies attract new customers and increase demand among existing ones by offering them superior value. Such offerings are commonplace - think Apple (the iPod product combined with the iTunes service). While the promise of combined offerings is great, it's easy to get them wrong. The problem is that too many companies, expecting to catch the brass ring, don't think through exactly how to structure, market, and sell their combined offerings. Over the past three years, the authors have analyzed more than 100 winning hybrid offerings from a variety of B2B and B2C companies. Their research shows that most companies stumble in at least one of four ways: failure to differentiate, failure to scale, failure to assess markets and prices appropriately, and failure to invest in the brand. The authors identify common types of hybrids: A flexible product-and-service combination allows buyers to customize their purchase. A “peace-of-mind” bundle offers the best of breed in both product and service. A multibenefit bundle offers customers an increasing number of add-on features or benefits. A “one-stop” bundle focuses on convenience shopping. The authors also offer a practical set of guidelines for identifying the opportunities to create a successful hybrid offering in your own company.    Breakthrough Ideas for 2004: The HBR List   Add   View  28 pp.  Article Author(s): Khurana, Rakesh; Fryer, Bronwyn; Meyer, Christopher; Ibarra, Herminia; Morse, Gardiner; Quadir, Iqbal; Peebles, Ellen; Shirky, Clay; Stewart, Thomas A.; Buchanan, Leigh; Kurzweil, Ray; Florida, Richard; Sutton, Robert I.; Fuller, Joseph; Slywotzky, Adria Publication Date: 02/01/2004 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R0402A Subjects: Profit planning; Developing countries; Management development; Human resources management; Marketing strategy; Information & technology Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: HBR's editors searched for the best new ideas related to the practice of management and came up with a collection that is as diverse as it is provocative. The 2004 HBR List includes emergent concepts from biology, network science, management theory, and more. A few highlights: Richard Florida wonders why U.S. society doesn't seem to be thinking about the flow of people as the key to America's advantage in the “creative age.” Diane L. Coutu describes how the revolution in neurosciences will have a major impact on business. Clayton M. Christensen explains the law of conservation of attractive profits: When attractive profits disappear at one stage in the value chain because a product becomes commoditized, the opportunity to earn attractive profits with proprietary products usually emerges at an adjacent stage. Daniel H. Pink explains why the master of fine arts is the new MBA. Herminia Ibarra describes how companies can get the most out of managers returning from leadership-development programs. Iqbal Quadir suggests a radical fix for the third world's trade problems: Get the World Bank to lend to rich countries so that there are resources for retraining workers in dying industries.    Customers as Innovators: A New Way to Create Value   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Thomke, Stefan; Von Hippel, Eric Publication Date: 04/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R0204F Subjects: Innovation; Technological change; Product development; Design; Customization; Prototypes; R&D; Computer-based modeling Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Product R&D at many companies is a major bottleneck. The difficulty is that fully understanding the needs of just a single customer can be an inexact and costly process — to say nothing of the needs of all customers or even groups of them. In the course of studying product innovation across many industries, authors Stefan Thomke and Eric von Hippel found several companies that have adopted a completely new, seemingly counterintuitive, approach to product R&D: they have abandoned their efforts to understand exactly what products their customers want; instead, they equip customers with tool kits to design and develop their own products. Doing so can create tremendous value, but capturing that value is hardly a simple or straightforward process. Not only must a company develop the right tool kit, but it must also revamp its business models and management mind-set. When companies relinquish a fundamental task — such as designing a new product — to customers, the two parties must redefine their relationship, and this change can be risky. With customers taking over more of the design, companies must now focus more on providing the best custom manufacturing. In other words, the location where value is created and is captured changes, and companies must reconfigure their business models accordingly. This article offers basic principles and lessons for industries undergoing such transformations.    The HBR List: Breakthrough Ideas for 2010   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Amabile, Teresa M.; Mitchell, Lesa; Jensen, Bill; Klein, Josh; Mullainathan, Sendhil; Romer, Paul; Ross, Carne; Kramer, Steven J.; Dixon, Ronald , M.D.; Candell, Lawrence M.; Bonabeau, Eric; Bingham, Alpheus; Schacht, Aaron; Hidary, Jack D.; Litan, Rober Publication Date: 01/01/2010 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R1001A Subjects: Investments; Developing countries; International relations; Risk management; Employee attitude; Information & technology; Computer security; Technology transfer; Green business Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: HBR's annual ideas collection, compiled in cooperation with the World Economic Forum, offers 10 fresh solutions with the potential for a huge positive impact on business and the world. Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer reveal what their research shows is the true key to employee motivation-and it's not what most managers focus on providing. Ronald Dixon proposes that the real performance breakthrough in health care will come when the medical community adopts the everyday communications technologies patients already use. Lawrence M. Candell asks why the U.S. has a Lincoln Laboratory to put public-spirited experts across the table from profit-motivated defense contractors, but no such entity to do the same in the financial sector. Eric Bonabeau, Alpheus Bingham, and Aaron Schacht urge players in the pharmaceutical industry to treat drugs as information assets; big pharma could orchestrate drug-development networks to promote innovation. Jack D. Hidary describes a market solution to achieve what no government handout can in the greening of existing buildings. Robert E. Litan and Lesa Mitchell advocate that universities' technology transfer offices loosen their monopolistic grip on their scientists' taxpayer-funded discoveries. Bill Jensen and Jos    The Customer-Centered Innovation Map   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Bettencourt, Lance A.; Ulwick, Anthony W. Publication Date: 05/01/2008 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R0805H Subjects: Innovation; Process mapping; Focusing on customers Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: This article includes a one-page preview that quickly summarizes the key ideas and provides an overview of how the concepts work in practice along with suggestions for further reading. We all know that people “hire” products and services to get a job done. Surgeons hire scalpels to dissect soft tissue. Janitors hire soap dispensers and paper towels to remove grime from their hands. To find ways to innovate, it's critical to deconstruct the job the customer is trying to get done from beginning to end, to gain a complete view of all the points at which a customer might desire more help from a product or service. A methodology called job mapping helps companies analyze the biggest drawbacks of the products and services customers currently use and discover opportunities for innovation. It involves breaking down the task the customer wants to accomplish into the eight universal steps of a job: (1) defining the objectives, (2) locating the necessary inputs, (3) preparing the physical environment, (4) confirming that everything is ready, (5) executing the task, (6) monitoring its progress, (7) making modifications as necessary, and (8) concluding the job. Job mapping differs substantively from process mapping in that the goal is to identify what customers are trying to get done at every step, not what they are doing currently. For example, when an anesthesiologist checks a monitor during a surgical procedure, the action taken is just a means to the end. Detecting a change in patient vital signs is the job the doctor is trying to get done. Within each of the discrete steps l    The Age of Customer Capitalism   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Martin, Roger Publication Date: 01/01/2010 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R1001B Subjects: Management philosophy; Corporate governance; Focusing on customers; Shareholder value added Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Modern capitalism can be broken down into two major eras. The first, managerial capitalism, began in 1932 and was defined by the then radical notion that firms ought to have professional management. The second, shareholder value capitalism, began in 1976. Its governing premise is that the purpose of every corporation should be to maximize shareholders' wealth. If firms pursue this goal, the thinking goes, both shareholders and society will benefit. Though that is the theory, in reality shareholders have not been better off since they became the center of the business universe. From 1933 to the end of 1976, when they were allegedly playing second fiddle to professional managers, shareholders of the S&P 500 earned compound annual real returns of 7.6%. From 1977 to the end of 2008, S&P 500 shareholders did considerably worse - earning real returns of 5.9% a year. Putting shareholders first forces managers into playing a game in which they focus on managing shareholder expectations rather than on managing the business. The main principle behind shareholder value capitalism is inherently flawed, and it's time we abandoned it and made a shift to a new era: customer-driven capitalism. Companies that make customers their top priority, as P&G and J&J do, generate returns that are just as high as, if not higher than, those of shareholder-focused companies, and can sustain them for longer. If companies put the customer first, they will make better decisions, because they can focus on improving operations and products and services, rather than on spinning lines to shareholder    Shattering the Myths About Enterprise 2.0   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): McAfee, Andrew P. Publication Date: 10/20/2009 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: W0911A Subjects: Social capital; Virtual environments; Outreach; Social media Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Web 2.0 technologies are now a staple of social collaboration on the internet. In 2006 Andrew McAfee, of the MIT Center for Digital Business, coined the term Enterprise 2.0 to describe how organizations use emergent social software platforms, or ESSPs, to pursue their goals. However, some organizations don't achieve the many collaboration-related benefits that internal ESSPs can offer. After studying both successful and unsuccessful E2.0 initiatives, McAfee attributes most of the failures to five misconceptions. The first two myths crop up before an E2.0 initiative is launched. One is that the risks of ESSPs, most notably from inappropriate use, will greatly outweigh the rewards. McAfee makes the case that those dangers rarely manifest in practice. The other pre-launch myth is that the ROI of an E2.0 initiative should be calculated in monetary terms. McAfee shows how Enterprise 2.0 can deliver valuable benefits in terms of developing human, organizational, and information capital - without a numerical ROI yield. The final three myths arise after an E2.0 project is deployed. One holds that people will flock to a collaboration platform once it is built. Success actually requires various types of top-down support, including active participation by senior leaders. Another is that E2.0's primary worth is in helping close colleagues work together better. In reality, the value extends to networks of expertise well beyond a user's inner circle. The importance of those far-reaching interpersonal connections also debunks the last myth: that E2.0 should be judged by the information it generates. Infor    Leading in Times of Trauma   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Dutton, Jane E.; Frost, Peter; Worline, Monica C.; Kanov, Jason M.; Lilius, Jacoba M. Publication Date: 01/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R0201D Subjects: Organizational behavior; Managing uncertainty; Leadership; Human resources management; Psychology; Morale; Employee problems; Interpersonal skills Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: An employee is diagnosed with cancer or loses a family member unexpectedly. An earthquake destroys an entire section of a city, leaving hundreds dead, injured, or homeless. At times like these, managerial handbooks fail us. After all, leaders can't eliminate personal suffering, nor can they ask employees who are dealing with these crises to check their emotions at the door. But compassionate leadership can facilitate personal as well as organizational healing. Based on research the authors conducted at the University of Michigan and the University of British Columbia's CompassionLab, this article describes what leaders can do to foster organizational compassion in times of trauma. They recount real-world examples, including a story of personal tragedy at Newsweek, natural disasters that affected Macy's and Malden Mills, and the events of September 11, 2001. The authors say compassionate leaders uniformly provide two things: a “context for meaning” — creating an environment in which people can freely express and discuss how they feel — and a “context for action” — creating an environment in which those who experience or witness pain can find ways to alleviate their own and others' suffering.    Inside Microsoft: Balancing Creativity and Discipline   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Herbold, Robert J. Publication Date: 01/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R0201F Subjects: Financial statements; Innovation; Operations; Performance appraisals; Information systems; Suppliers Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: When Robert Herbold came to Microsoft from Procter & Gamble in 1994, he saw firsthand why Bill Gates had hired him as chief operating officer: Although certain practices promoted the company's innovative culture and ability to turn on a dime, others created chaos rather than creativity and actually impeded quick course corrections. The operational mess resulted from divergent practices and incompatible systems. Herbold's mission was to bring discipline to the organization without undermining the very characteristics that had made Microsoft successful. Herbold created central systems that gave managers instant access to standardized data on each business and geographical unit. Imposing this operational discipline not only slashed operating costs as a percentage of revenue but, somewhat counterintuitively, also made the company more flexible and more responsive to business changes. The article contains useful lessons for any large company attempting to improve profitability by balancing centralized discipline and individual innovation.    How Open Innovation Can Help You Cope in Lean Times   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Chesbrough, Henry W.; Garman, Andrew R. Publication Date: 12/01/2009 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R0912F Subjects: Recession; Innovation; Project management; Spinoffs Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: A recession often forces you to cut R&D as you refocus on your core. But innovation need not go by the wayside. By placing certain assets and projects outside your walls, you can actually preserve opportunities for future growth while you shore up the fortress. Chesbrough, of Haas School of Business, and Garman, of New Venture Partners, identify five strategic moves that open the door to innovation by, ironically, letting it out of the house. Some inside-out moves permit outside firms to invest in and develop your projects; others call for spinning off projects as separate ventures that still allow you to retain some equity. Whatever the specific approach, you can meet the inherent cultural and organizational challenges of inside-out open innovation by approaching it holistically and placing it under the leadership of senior executives in strategic roles. Game-changing innovations are rare - always have been, always will be. But, as the stories in this HBR Spotlight demonstrate, the right organizational conditions can make a breakthrough more likely. Strong leadership helps (and innovative leaders behave differently from the rest of us). Breaking down the borders between “inside” and “outside” helps. Creating career paths for innovators makes a difference, as does using social media to pull your whole ecosystem into a creative conversation. Leaders who put all the pieces together will have a huge advantage.    Gilded and Gelded: Hard-Won Lessons from the PR Wars   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Martin, Dick Publication Date: 10/01/2003 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R0310B Geographic Setting: New York Subjects: Communication strategy; Crisis management; Public relations; Corporate image; Media relations; Shareholder relations; Liquidity; Divestiture; Business history; Journalists; Laws & regulations; Change management; Executive selection; Organizational culture Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: A golden statue of a winged youth once perched on the roof of AT&T's old headquarters. But when AT&T lowered the 24-foot-high statue for regilding so that it could be placed in the company's new headquarters, the chairman was shocked to discover that the figure was anatomically correct. So he decreed that it also be gelded. The altered “Golden Boy” thus became a metaphor for AT&T's recent embattled history, and it serves as a cautionary symbol for all companies operating in today's brutal business environment, where perception can be as important as reality. While image consultants and executives work to gild a company's image, special interest groups and the media can geld a company with countless little cuts. The author, a former executive vice-president of public relations for AT&T, provides an insider's view of some of the company's most painful public relations scrapes. The author offers four lessons: Don't become hypnotized by your own buzz; understand the way the business media think; address the needs of all your stakeholders; and be sensitive to the possible emotional resonance of what appear to be straightforward facts.    Galvanizing Philanthropy   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Ditkoff, Susan Wolf; Colby, Susan J. Publication Date: 11/01/2009 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R0911K Subjects: Change management; Philanthropies Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Philanthropic organizations, exempt from the accountability imposed on business by markets or on government by voters, are free to experiment and take risks. But they have little experience in objectively evaluating their own performance or figuring out how to improve it. Regardless of the economic climate, the authors say, developing a philanthropic strategy is an iterative process - one they've labeled “getting clear, getting real, and getting better.” Getting clear means selecting a few strategic anchors - people, problems, or philosophies the institution truly cares about - and using them to guide decisions about programs and grantees. In addition, hard evidence should be examined in light of values and beliefs. Getting real means pragmatically assessing the resources and time required to bring about desired change and soliciting candid feedback from the field. Getting better means regularly reviewing the organization's entire funding strategy in light of both outside perspectives and nonfinancial assets. Ditkoff and Colby outline the traps that funding institutions must avoid if they are to optimize their resources and organizational outcomes, and they offer stories from the James Irvine, Bill & Melinda Gates, Annie E. Casey, David and Lucile Packard, and Edna McConnell Clark foundations as examples of success. The pursuit of excellence, they say, can be imposed only by philanthropic investors themselves.    Kaiser Permanente’s Innovation on the Front Lines   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): McCreary, Lew Publication Date: 09/01/2010 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R1009H Subjects: Change management; Employee empowerment; Information systems; Disruptive innovation Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: The Innovation Consultancy, a small team within the health care provider Kaiser Permanente, practices an expansive, service-focused version of innovation that is both rapid and economical in comparison with the conventional version. The team's members observe how health care providers interact with one another, with technology, and with patients, and how the patients respond. They take photographs, draw pictures, write stories, and try to capture experiences from the point of view of everyone involved. During KP MedRite, a project to reduce the error rate in dispensing medication to hospital patients, the team asked nurses what they thought was wrong with the dispensing process. The nurses usually replied, “Nothing.” But when given a chance to make self-portraits, they would draw themselves with sad faces and frazzled hair. Interruptions appeared to be the leading cause of errors-so one of the resulting innovations was a bright yellow sash signaling that its wearer was not to be disturbed. KP's Chris McCarthy founded the Innovation Learning Network to accelerate knowledge transfer among peers in the nonprofit health care industry. One promising process that has emerged, Inflection Navigator, helps patients who've received a frightening diagnosis handle the consequent urgent tasks-follow-up tests, visits to specialists, decision making about treatment and care-with the aid of care coordinators. This innovation and others like it arise from a brand of creativity that transcends the media version of the health care debate.    Why Read Peter Drucker?   Add   View  20 pp.  Article Author(s): Kantrow, Alan M. Publication Date: 11/01/2009 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R0911F Subjects: Business history; Business leaders Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Peter Drucker's extensive writings, including more than 30 HBR essays, are landmarks of the managerial profession. They've influenced the practice and teaching of management for decades and no doubt line thousands of bookshelves. But does anyone read his works? More important, ought they? More important still, what will they gain if they do? In this 1980 article, Kantrow maintains that Drucker's real contribution to the discipline of management lies not so much in the cash value of his ideas but in the rigorous activity of mind by which they are formulated. One can learn far more deeply from watching Drucker think, says Kantrow, than from studying the content of his thought. Using specific passages from many of Drucker's books, the author demonstrates how Drucker's broadly contextual, logical, holistic play of thought enacts a kind of ongoing drama of perspective and how, combined with his fair-minded approach and commonsense flow of reasoning, Drucker so effectively convinces the reader. Kantrow also classifies Drucker's works into four groups - social and political thought, business and management analyses, views of what might logically develop in the future, and how-to primers on business tasks - and offers a guide for how to choose the best book for you. Accompanying Kantrow's article are essays by five leaders who write about Peter Drucker's influence on them: A.G. Lafley, of Procter & Gamble; Frances Hesselbein, of the Leader to Leader Institute; Oscar Motomura, of the Amana-Key Group; Peter Paschek, of Delta Management Consultants; and Zhang Ruimin, of Haier. Peter Drucker's contributions to Harvard Business R    Why Hard-Nosed Executives Should Care About Management Theory   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Christensen, Clayton M.; Raynor, Michael E. Publication Date: 09/01/2003 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R0309D Subjects: Business failures; Business conditions; Predictability; Success; Research methodology; Business models; Toyota production system Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Theory often gets a bum rap among managers because it's associated with the word “theoretical,” which connotes “impractical.” But it shouldn't. Because experience is solely about the past, solid theories are the only way managers can plan future actions with any degree of confidence. The key word here is “solid.” Gravity is a solid theory. As such, it lets us predict that if we step off a cliff we will fall, without actually having to do so. But business literature is replete with theories that don't seem to work in practice or actually contradict each other. How can a manager tell a good business theory from a bad one? The first step is to understand how good theories are built. They develop in stages: gathering data, organizing it into categories, highlighting significant differences, then making generalizations explaining what causes what, under which circumstances. For instance, professor Ananth Raman and his colleagues collected data showing that bar code-scanning systems generated notoriously inaccurate inventory records. These observations led them to classify the types of errors the scanning systems produced and the types of shops in which those errors most often occurred. Recently, some of Raman's doctoral students worked as clerks to see exactly what kinds of behavior cause the errors. From this foundation, a solid theory predicting under which circumstances bar code systems work and don't work is beginning to emerge. Once we forgo one-size-fits-all explanati    What Would Peter Say?   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Kanter, Rosabeth Moss Publication Date: 11/01/2009 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R0911E Subjects: Visionary management; Business leaders Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Heeding the wisdom of Peter Drucker might have helped us avoid - and will help us solve - numerous challenges, from restoring trust in business to tackling climate change. He issued early warnings about excessive executive pay, the auto industry's failure to adapt and innovate, competitive threats from emerging markets, and the perils of neglecting nonprofit organizations and other agents of societal reform. If he were still here, a century after his birth, what would he say about the path forward? The essential Drucker can be summarized in three themes: First, management should be a profession, and executives and managers should remember that their primary job is to look out for the long-term health of their organizations. That means taking responsibility for social well-being, not just wealth. Second, knowledge workers cannot be controlled; they must be motivated. Such employees must see a purpose more meaningful than personal profit. And third, nonprofits are necessary ingredients for producing a good society, one in which businesses can thrive. It is critical to invest in them. Drucker was not a revolutionary. He merely asked that we constantly challenge our assumptions. He preached steadiness and vision, recognizing that leading in turbulent times requires foresight about where things are heading as well as judgment about what not to change. Peter Drucker's contributions to Harvard Business Review spanned 54 years and were, in the aggregate, more influential than those of any other single contributor. November 2009 marks the 100th anniversary of his birth. This special Spotlight includes some wise guess    Wanted: A First National Bank of Innovation   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Author(s): Phelps, Edmund S.; Tilman, Leo M. Publication Date: 01/01/2010 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R1001G Geographic Setting: United States Subjects: Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial finance; Innovation; Managing creativity & innovation Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Historically the U.S. economy has been about ideas, experiment, and exploration. U.S. dynamism-the country's ability and proclivity to innovate-depends on multiplicity: variety among new ideas, a pluralism of beliefs among financiers, and diversity among consumers. Dynamism has been in decline over the past decade. Venture capitalists bemoan a dearth of innovative ideas, and investors bewail a precipitous drop in their returns. Total venture investment is running at less than $20 billion per year. The current financial system chokes off funds for innovation. As an antidote, this article proposes the establishment of a new government-sponsored enterprise - the First National Bank of Innovation. It would be structured as a network of “merchant” banks that invest in and lend to innovative projects, and it would have some features of the Farm Credit System in the United States. A dedicated funding arm would raise money in the capital markets at attractive rates. Banks would pass these funds on to entrepreneurs at rates commensurate with the risks of their projects. The banks in the network would be dedicated to “relationship-based” investing and lending. Thanks to comprehensive risk-based disclosure, strict oversight and transparency would emerge. As the new year dawns-and as businesses crawl out from under the weight of the global recession-our focus is on reinvention. This HBR Spotlight examines that theme from various perspectives: how to manage corporate transformation, what we un    Create Three Distinct Career Paths for Innovators   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Author(s): O'Connor, Gina Colarelli; Corbett, Andrew; Pierantozzi, Ron Publication Date: 12/01/2009 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R0912G Subjects: Breakthrough innovation Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Large companies say they want to be innovative, but they fundamentally mismanage their talent. Expecting innovators to grow along with their projects - from discovery to incubation to acceleration - sets them up to fail. Most people excel at one of the phases, not all three. By allowing innovation employees to develop career paths suited to their strengths, companies will create a sustainable innovation function. Game-changing innovations are rare - always have been, always will be. But, as the stories in this HBR Spotlight demonstrate, the right organizational conditions can make a breakthrough more likely. Strong leadership helps (and innovative leaders behave differently from the rest of us). Breaking down the borders between “inside” and “outside” helps. Creating career paths for innovators makes a difference, as does using social media to pull your whole ecosystem into a creative conversation. Leaders who put all the pieces together will have a huge advantage.    Enterprise 2.0: How a Connected Workforce Innovates   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Author(s): McAfee, Andrew P.; Raman, Anand P. Publication Date: 12/01/2009 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: R0912H Subjects: Innovation; Technology; Enterprise systems; Managing creativity & innovation Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: In this conversation with HBR senior editor Anand P. Raman, McAfee, a principal research scientist at the MIT Sloan School of Management's Center for Digital Business, explains why Enterprise 2.0 tools - wikis, tags, Twitter, Google searches, and the like - are transforming companies' innovation processes. Procter & Gamble, for instance, uses its Connect + Develop website not only to publicize what it knows and what it can do but to highlight what it needs. That's radical, says McAfee. And the communities that form around innovation challenges can help sift the ideas, so the best ones quickly rise to the top. Game-changing innovations are rare - always have been, always will be. But, as the stories in this HBR Spotlight demonstrate, the right organizational conditions can make a breakthrough more likely. Strong leadership helps (and innovative leaders behave differently from the rest of us). Breaking down the borders between “inside” and “outside” helps. Creating career paths for innovators makes a difference, as does using social media to pull your whole ecosystem into a creative conversation. Leaders who put all the pieces together will have a huge advantage.    Wall Street Is No Friend to Radical Innovation   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Kirby, Julia Publication Date: 07/01/2010 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publisher: Harvard Business School Publishing HBS Number: F1007D Subjects: Innovation; Technological change; Stock market indices Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: How Wall Street stifles innovation.    $152,000 for Your Thoughts   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Carini, Gary; Townsend, Bill Publication Date: 04/01/2007 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: F0704D Subjects: Creativity; Management techniques Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Making employees prove their ideas' worth results in better concepts and more motivated workers. Executives must give people the tools to stand behind their ideas and must follow up with strong rewards.    2001 HBR List: Breakthrough Ideas for Today’s Business Agenda   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Publication Date: 04/01/2001 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Business is shaped by ideas. But how do you separate enduring ideas from passing fancies? In this, the first edition of the annual HBR List, our editors spotlight five breakthrough ideas that are truly shaping the future of business. Even a great business model is not enough. The rise and fall of dot-coms left markets reeling and CEOs scratching their heads. The most important lesson of the debacle: squishy thinking about “business models” is no substitute for a distinctive strategy. Change is changing. In recent years, pundits have urged executives to incite revolutions within their companies. But a growing group of experts now suggests that the best companies actually evolve through incremental change — change that builds on rather than subverts their heritage. Ego makes the leader. By looking deeply into executives' psyches, we are beginning to unlock the enigma of leadership. While there will never be a single recipe for successful corporate stewardship, an understanding of the human ego can shed light on leadership's most fundamental components. Only connect. In business organizations, what's really important about people is not their individual skills but the relationships they form with one another. By investing in “social capital,” companies can often push their performance to a whole new level. The biology century dawns. In the twentieth century, product innovations tended to spring from physics. But in the new century, biology may be the central source of innovation. From genomics to biomimicry, the study of life promises to change what companies sell and even how they operate. HBS Number: R0104H Subjects: Biotechnology; Business models; Human relations; Leadership; Management of change Academic Discipline: General management    2002 HBR List: Breakthrough Ideas for Today’s Business Agenda   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Publication Date: 03/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0203D Subjects: Behavioral sciences; Business history; Customer relations; Financial statements; Innovation; Internet; Leadership Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: In the last year, war broke out, the economy took a nosedive, and an alarming number of businesses went belly up. Thus, it is with some urgency that we bring you this year's list of the seven best new business ideas to help you find your way through these complex times. History Returns. Many thought that the fall of the Berlin Wall marked the beginning of a new world order, one in which history didn't matter. But September 11, 2001, put an end to that theory. And it raised serious questions about globalization, security, and strategy. Enter the Everyday Leader — at Last. CEOs are used to getting all the glory, but leaders outside the limelight — middle managers and tempered radicals — are beginning to receive the attention they deserve. The Internet Is Not About You. The real value of the Internet may lie less in connecting individuals than in connecting databases, servers, and devices — a web not of people but of machines. Mind Your Behavior. Behavioral scientists are beginning to be able to predict accurately the ways individuals and crowds will respond to stimuli, and the implications for business are profound. Don't Delight Your Customers Away. Companies have wooed and coddled customers for too long. The truth is, people delight in being teased and are repelled by those who try too hard to befriend them. Games Are for Losers. Financial game playing and verbal politicking are seriously damaging businesses. Honesty is more than an admirable virtue; it's the foundation of every lasting enterprise. Three Cheers for Creativity (Sometimes). Creativity and best-practice replication are fundamentally different undertaki    2003 HBR List: Breakthrough Ideas for Tomorrow’s Business Agenda   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Publication Date: 04/01/2003 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: The events of this past year have prompted intense soul-searching in many quarters and led us, in this year's list of the best business ideas, to reassess some of the most basic assumptions about strategy, organizations, and leadership. We began by reconsidering the role of the leader. Discussions of leadership focus almost exclusively on the CEO. But attention also needs to be paid to the other people who make organizations work: the followers--to their responsibilities, their power, and their obligation not to follow flawed leadership. And we considered the fate of soft issues, like emotional intelligence, in hard times. It's tempting to dismiss them when your employees will do anything just to keep their jobs. But hard times are good times to employ such tools on yourself. Despite valiant efforts to lead change and eliminate inefficiencies, organizations stay messy. Perhaps it's better to learn to live with messiness. There's growth potential, too, in considering the company as a portfolio of opportunities--but only if managers can sell off poorly performing business units as easily as they've been shedding ailing stocks of late. HBS Number: R0304G Subjects: Corporate governance; Divestiture; International business; Leadership; Organizational behavior; Strategy formulation Academic Discipline: General management    A More Rational Approach to New-Product Development   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Bonabeau, Eric; Bodick, Neil; Armstrong, Robert W. Publication Date: 03/01/2008 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0803G Industry Setting: Pharmaceutical industry Subjects: Process improvement; Product development; R&D; Risk mitigation Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Companies often treat new-product development as a monolithic process, but it can be more rationally divided into two parts: an early stage that focuses on evaluating prospects and eliminating bad bets, and a late stage that maximizes the remaining candidates' market potential. Recognizing the value of this approach, Eli Lilly designed and piloted Chorus, an autonomous unit dedicated solely to the early stage. This article demonstrates how segmenting development in this way can speed it up and make it more cost-effective. Two classes of decision-making errors can impede NPD, the authors say. First, managers often ignore evidence challenging their assumptions that projects will succeed. As a result, many projects go forward despite multiple red flags; some even reach the market, only to fail dramatically after their introduction. Second, companies sometimes terminate projects prematurely because people fail to conduct the right experiments to reveal products' potential. Most companies promote both kinds of errors by focusing disproportionately on late-stage development; they lack the early, truth-seeking functions that would head such errors off. In segmented NPD, however, the early-stage organization maintains loyalty to the experiment rather than the product, whereas the late-stage organization pursues commercial success. Chorus has significantly improved NPD efficiency and productivity at Lilly. Although the unit absorbs just one-tenth of Lilly's investment in early-stage development, it delivers a substantially greater fraction of the molecules slated f    Acquiring Intellect: Managing the Integration of Knowledge-Intensive Acquisition   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Author(s): Birkinshaw, Julian Publication Date: 05/15/1999 Product Type: Business Horizons Article Publisher: Business Horizons HBS Number: BH027 Subjects: Intellectual capital; Acquisitions; Change management; Managing professionals; Strategic planning Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: To ensure that acquisitions generate value, what should the priorities of the new management team be? If it starts with rationalization (closing duplicate facilities, reducing the head count), it will make rapid progress on the cost side, but risk a demotivated work force. If it emphasizes acculturation (building relationships, fostering a common culture), it will have happy employees, but little cost savings. Doing both at the same time is no answer, either. Intensive analysis of three case studies suggests a model for the acquiring firm in deciding whether to pursue the “high road” by first emphasizing human integration before concentrating on operational synergies, or the “low road” of attending to cost savings initially and subsequently focusing on relationships. Evidence supports the case for a “high road” approach when the acquired firm's key assets are R&D and knowledge-intensive. A three-phase model — initial actions, follow-up, and second wave — is offered to help top management avoid the perils on either side of an optimal integration path. Specific examples are drawn from the experiences documented in the three case studies.    Advice and Dissent: Rating the Corporate Governance Compact   Add   View  9 pp.  Article Wharton, Clifton R., Jr.; Lorsch, Jay W.; Hanson, Lord Three experts on corporate governance lend their views to the Working Group on Corporate Governance's "New Compact for Owners and Directors." Clifton R. Wharton, Jr., chairman and CEO of TIAA-CREF, offers refinements to the Compact's proposals and describes how TIAA-CREF is trying to use its leverage to bring delinquent directors to task. Harvard Business School professor Jaw W. Lorsch explains why institutional investors neither can nor should function as owners and why the key to developing more effective corporate control is to strengthen the role of outside directors. Lord Hanson, chairman of Hanson PLC, reaffirms the importance of two traditional corporate governance principles: maintaining a unitary board of directors and maximizing shareholder value. HBS Number: 91603 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 11/1/91 Subjects: Board of directors; Business policy; Corporate governance; Corporate strategy; Organizational structure; Outside directors; Stockholders    Advice to Leaders in New Jobs: Act Fast When the Economy Is Slow   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): McFarland, Jennifer Publication Date: 04/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Even in good economic times, there's precious little time to celebrate landing your dream job--division head, a position on the senior management team, or even CEO. You've got to hit the ground running. But with the economy still sputtering, assuming the mantle of leadership carries added significance and attracts extra scrutiny. If you enter your new job with guns blazing, attacking on all fronts, you risk alienating important allies. Here, experts give their advice on how you can implement a fast-break philosophy at your company without steamrollering the people you need most. Includes the sidebar "Something They Can Take to Heart: The Power of See-Feel-Change." HBS Number: U0204A Subjects: Corporate culture; Leadership; Learning; Management communication; Management of change; Management performance; Management styles; Managerial behavior; Work force management Academic Discipline: General management    After September 11th: The Heightened Role for Cost Performance and Management   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Kaplan, Robert S. Publication Date: 01/15/2002 Product Type: Balanced Scorecard Report Article Product Description: Robert S. Kaplan, one of the originators of the Balanced Scorecard, argues that there is now a renewed need for organizational leaders to communicate to employees the importance of their roles and the value their organizations contribute to society. Recommitment to the measurement and management systems that support and demonstrate value and empower employees is key. In this article, Kaplan outlines ways of attacking waste and identifying opportunities during an economic downturn. HBS Number: B0201D Subjects: Balanced scorecard; Business & society; Employee morale; Financial strategy; Leadership; Managerial behavior Academic Discipline: General management    After the Deal Is Done: Four Keys to Managing an Alliance   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Bernhut, Stephen Publication Date: 12/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: An alliance is an agreement between two or more partner companies to make certain decisions jointly. It's not a merger, and it's not an acquisition. So how can you effectively manage an alliance when so many others today are coming undone? Read the four building blocks for keeping a successful alliance in tact, and help your company practice long-term alliance relationship management. HBS Number: U0212D Subjects: Alliances; Business growth; Loyalty; Management communication; Organizational management; Strategic alliances; Strategic market planning; Strategy formulation Academic Discipline: General management    Aligning One Division’s HR to the Corporate Strategy at Lockheed Martin   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Ross, Judith A. Publication Date: 11/15/2006 Product Type: Balanced Scorecard Report Article HBS Number: B0611D Subjects: Alignment; Balanced Scorecard; Horizontal integration; Human resources management; Information technology; Operations management; Organizational structure; Strategic planning Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Who would dispute the value of aligning HR to strategy? Yet the list of organizations that have done so remains regrettably short. Lockheed Martin's HR alignment is all the more impressive, since the organization has no enterprise BSC. A few years back, when then-president (now CEO) Robert Stevens instituted a new growth strategy, Enterprise IT used his five “corporate imperatives” to craft its own BSC. Enterprise HR followed suit. Describes how, with visible links between strategy and objectives and initiatives, HR has reaped broad-ranging benefits — from bolstering internal partnerships to securing its future talent pipeline.    Aligning Your Star: Build a Life, Not a Resume   Add   View  20 pp.  Article Author(s): Lorsch, Jay W.; Tierney, Thomas J. Publication Date: 03/12/2002 Product Type: HBS Press Chapter HBS Number: 2383BC Industry Setting: Professional services Subjects: Alignment; Management of professionals; Motivation; Personal strategy & style; Success; Work life balance Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Because professional service firms depend on outstanding professionals, the personal needs, motivation, and careers of individuals are of the utmost importance. This chapter turns the spotlight on the reader, looking at why — and how — the concept of alignment can be as powerful on a personal level as it is when applied to the direction of the firm overall. May be used with: (2375BC) Introduction: A Reader's Guide: How to Succeed When Professionals Drive Results; (2376BC) Impact and Influence: The World of Professional Services; (2377BC) Strategy: Necessary but Not Sufficient: Aligning Star Performers with Strategic Goals; (2378BC) Turning Talent into Stars: The Enduring Edge; (2379BC) Guiding Your Brightest Stars: The Three-Hat Challenge; (2380BC) Organization: Aligning Stars and Strategy; (2381BC) Culture: A Force for Alignment; (2382BC) Leadership without Control: The Power to Persuade: The CEO's Role in a Professional Service Firm.    All for One: Why 100% Involvement Is Necessary for Balanced Scorecard Success   Add   View  3 pp.  Article Author(s): D'Attoma, Todd Publication Date: 09/15/2000 Product Type: Balanced Scorecard Report Article Product Description: When Mobil first adopted the Balanced Scorecard in 1995, its North American Marketing and Refining division was at the bottom of its industry class in terms of profitability. Within one year, Mobil's performance went from worst to first--a position the company maintained through its merger with Exxon in 1999. Todd D'Attoma, a former executive at Exxon Mobil Corp., attributes the company's success with the Balanced Scorecard to translating the strategy into operational terms and opening the channels of communication to engage employees. HBS Number: B0009F Subjects: Accountability; Balanced scorecard; Communication; Corporate strategy; Petroleum Academic Discipline: General management    All in a Day’s Work   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Gilmartin, Raymond; Hesselbein, Frances; S Publication Date: 12/01/2001 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Executives are busy people. They have too much to do and certainly too much to read. Yet, judging from the books and magazines they buy, executives are never too time pressed or information saturated to learn more about leadership. In this roundtable, six experts from the corporate world, the nonprofit sector, and academia tackle tough questions about leadership. The discussion, which began with what leaders ought to do, touched on three common themes: the need to formulate and communicate a vision for an organization; the need for a leader to add value to an enterprise; and an organizational imperative for a leader to motivate followers. Conversation then turned to how leaders ought to lead, focusing on topics such as the leadership role of the generalist in organizations and the need to remain calm and decisive in a crisis. Reflecting their widely varying backgrounds, the participants drew on their experiences to help them drive home their views on developing new leaders, rewarding extraordinary effort, and keeping organizations focused on their missions. HBS Number: R0111D Subjects: Leadership; Management development; Management styles; Performance effectiveness; Personal strategy & style; Vision Academic Discipline: General management    Alternatives to Performance Reviews   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Publication Date: 06/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Companies can get rid of those troublesome yearly evaluations if they really want to. But it isn't an easy move to make. Managers have to change some fundamental assumptions about what really produces high performance. Companies have to work with employees differently on a variety of fronts, from feedback to compensation. HBS Number: U0606D Subjects: Compensation; Feedback; Human resources management; Management communication; Performance appraisal; Performance management; Performance objectives Academic Discipline: General management    Alterra Health Care’s Fast Track to Results   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Koch, Janice Publication Date: 11/15/2001 Product Type: Balanced Scorecard Report Article Product Description: Alterra HealthCare Corp., the nation's largest private-page assisted living provider, implemented a fast-track Balanced Scorecard program that began to achieve visible results in less than a year. This case study explains how Alterra used enterprise and HR scorecards to create strategic alignment in a company that that had seen rapid growth, but a lack of coherent strategy and profitability, as well as high turnover. HBS Number: B0111D Subjects: Balanced scorecard; Corporate reorganization; Corporate strategy; Financial strategy; Health care; Health organizations management; Human resources management; Leadership Academic Discipline: General management    Ambidextrous Innovation   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Gary, Loren Publication Date: 04/01/2003 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: With the American economy in a seemingly endless downturn, many established companies are not planning for long-term growth or looking for the next big thing. But concentrating on small improvements to help your bottom line right now isn't necessarily the best course of action. To be successful, your company must be capable of managing different innovation streams at once. Incremental innovations help your company's bottom line right now, architectural innovations reconfigure your technology to plan for the future, and discontinuous innovations involve new operating principles in core subsystems. By dealing with all three innovation streams at the same time, you can ensure that your company will be around when this downturn is finally over. HBS Number: U0304B Subjects: Corporate culture; Corporate strategy; Innovation; Management of change; Organizational change; Organizational structure Academic Discipline: General management    Analyze This: Can Personality Theory Help You Lead Your Unit?   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Jordan, Kathleen Publication Date: 02/01/2003 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Did you ever think that using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to learn about an individual's personality would help you understand your unit's strengths and weaknesses as well? By applying personality theory to groups, you can take advantage of those individual personalities and make your group work harder and more productively together. The better you understand how your group processes information and makes decisions, the better you can build new strengths. HBS Number: U0302D Subjects: Communication; Decision making; Group behavior; Interpersonal behavior; Organizational management; Personality; Teams Academic Discipline: General management    Another Look at How Toyota Integrates Product Development   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Sobek, Durward K., II; Liker, Jeffrey K.; Ward, Allen C. Challenged by world-class competitors, manufacturing companies in the United States have greatly improved their product development efforts as well as their factory operations. Today, however, U.S. companies are beginning to see the ef HBS Number: 98409 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 7/1/98 Subjects: Automobile industry; Automobiles; Engineering; Innovation; Japan; Product development; Project management    Appraising Boardroom Performance   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Conger, Jay; Finegold, David; Lawler, Edward E., III Rare is the company that does not periodically review the performance of its staff, business units, and suppliers. But rare, as well, is the company that does such a review of one of its most important contributors--its board of direct HBS Number: 98102 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 1/1/98 Subjects: Board of directors; Performance measurement; Stockholders    Are Managers Obsolete?   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Hout, Thomas M. The theory of complexity, which began as a way to understand complicated natural phenomena, has attracted growing attention in business circles interested in the new economy. In Open Boundaries, Howard Sherman and Ron Schultz of the Sa HBS Number: 99207 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 3/1/99 Subjects: Complexity; Corporate strategy; Leadership; Management of change; Managers; New economy    Are You Asking the Right Questions?   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Baldoni, John Publication Date: 03/01/2003 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: Asking questions can be a subtle and effective management tool. But dishing out difficult and harsh question after question to your employees may make them hide information for fear of not having the right answer or keep bad news from their bosses--a communications recipe for disaster. But questions are still very important for managers--both to ask them and to encourage them to be asked. Read our expert advice and learn why you need to ask the right questions, how you should ask them, and what you should be asking when--all of which will can help create a culture of learning at your organization. HBS Number: C0303C Subjects: Communication; Communication in organizations; Employees; Learning; Management communication; Meetings Academic Discipline: General management    Are You Managing Your Identity?   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Field, Anne Publication Date: 11/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: Identity management allows you to manage the information you need to service customers, vendors, and employees while giving you a golden opportunity to solidify your company's image and brand. But if it's done wrong, your organization can appear disorganized and unprofessional to your customers and to your own employees. Learn why good identity management is critical to good business communications today. HBS Number: C0211D Subjects: Brand management; Communication; Communication in organizations; Communication strategy; Management communication Academic Discipline: General management    Are You Prepared to Lead?   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Johnson, Lauren Keller Publication Date: 03/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: ``Be Prepared'' isn't only the Boy Scout motto -- it's a critical prerequisite for success in today's fast-moving, fast-changing business world. The prepared leader anticipates change, envisions the new opportunities that change proffers, and enables the organization to seize the advantages of change. This article focuses on the work of Bill Welter and Jean Egmon, authors of The Prepared Mind of a Leader, to identify eight essential skills that hone this quality. Learn how to use them to develop not only your own readiness but to develop and retain forward-looking talent in your organization. HBS Number: U0603B Subjects: Change management; Leadership; Management development; Managerial skills; Organizational management; Strategic intent Academic Discipline: General management    Are You Rewarding Solo Performance at the Team’s Expense?   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Field, Anne Publication Date: 08/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article HBS Number: U0608A Subjects: Collaboration; Employee development; Individual performers; Leadership; Organizational structure; Performance appraisals; Performance management; Teamwork Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: A stated commitment to teamwork is the norm at most companies today, as standard a part of corporate life as cubicles and yearly performance reviews. Yet, many performance management and incentive systems are so focused on individual contributors that they inadvertently undermine the very teamwork organizations claim to support and encourage. This article presents advice from thought leaders and practitioners on achieving the delicate balance between motivating individual contributors to shine while simultaneously shaping them to be strong ensemble players.    Are You Sending Your Problems Offshore?   Added   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Puryear, Rudy; Detrick, Christine Publication Date: 02/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: It seems straightforward enough -- why not simply outsource routine financial reporting functions offshore? Sure, you'll save some money. But if these processes are flawed to begin with, you only transplant their inefficiencies elsewhere, missing the greater opportunity to streamline. The authors contend that while outsourcing can be a central piece in an effort to improve operations, a significant chunk of any program's benefits comes from changing attitudes, behaviors, and cultures within the company's own walls. Read this article to learn how to look within and revamp existing functions before heading offshore. HBS Number: U0602B Subjects: Change management; Offshoring; Operations management; Optimization; Outsourcing; Process analysis; Strategic planning; Strategy Academic Discipline: General management    Are You Spending Your Time the Right Way?   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Raffoni, Melissa Publication Date: 07/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Sure, you set goals and make to-do lists, but are they the right ones? Although you understand intellectually that time is your scarcest resource, you probably find it difficult to gain a strategic perspective on how you actually spend your time each workweek. Using a three-step plan — breaking your job responsibilities into distinct categories, asking yourself what percentage of time you should spend in each category, and checking for alignment with your superiors and colleagues — you can keep track of how your job expectations align with the time you give them during your week. This article includes a sample weekly time log for a management consultant. HBS Number: U0607B Subjects: Alignment; Goal setting; Human resources management; Performance; Process improvement; Strategy; Time management; Work force optimization Academic Discipline: General management    Are Your Employees Invested in the Bottom Line?   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Stack, Jack Publication Date: 10/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Are your employees invested in the bottom line? If not, they can't help you hit your financial targets. Read what Jack Stack, a pioneer of the concept of open book management and the president and CEO of Springfield Remanufacturing Corp., believes are some of the most important ingredients for creating a company culture in which knowledgeable and concerned employees focus on the bottom line. Includes the sidebar "Listening to the Ratios." HBS Number: U0210B Subjects: Corporate culture; Employee attitude; Employee empowerment; Employees; Management styles; Open book management; Organizational management Academic Discipline: General management    Are Your Global Team Members Miles Apart?   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Guttman, Howard M. Publication Date: 02/01/2007 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article HBS Number: U0702A Subjects: Culture; Global business; Group decision making; Human resources management; Operational effectiveness; Performance improvement methodologies; Strategy alignment; Teams Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Creating high-functioning teams is challenging under any circumstance. But when a team crosses national boundaries, time zones, and cultures, how do you meld individuals' different talents, temperaments, and communication styles? In this article, Howard M. Guttman, a consultant to Global Fortune 1000 companies, describes the three areas he and his colleagues at Guttman Development Strategies have found to be critical to creating a team whose performance transcends the limits imposed by culture and geography.    Are Your Prices Too Low?   Add   View  3 pp.  Article Author(s): Urbany, Joel E. Publication Date: 10/01/2001 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: The answer is probably "yes." Managers often unintentionally sap their businesses' profits by ignoring the complexities of pricing. Find out what they're doing wrong. HBS Number: F0109D Subjects: Pricing strategy Academic Discipline: General management    Art of Keeping Management Simple: An Interview with Ken Iverson of Nucor   Added   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Brown, Tom; Iverson, Ken Publication Date: 05/01/1998 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: In this interview with Tom Brown, Ken Iverson, chairman of Nucor Steel and author of Plain Talk: Lessons from a Business Maverick, shares his insights on managing simply. Keeping management simple has enabled Iverson to transform Nucor into the second-largest producer of steel in the United States, while also pioneering industry innovations. Some of his key beliefs are: hierarchy must be eliminated; general managers must be granted the trust and freedom to operate efficiently; and workers must be vested in the success of the business. HBS Number: U9805B Geographic Setting: Industry Setting: Subjects: Interviews; Leadership; Management styles; Managers; Steel Academic Discipline: General management    Art of the Apology   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Weeks, Holly Publication Date: 04/01/2003 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Done wrong, an apology can compound your original mistake. But done right, it just might mend your relationships--and your reputation. Read the five do's and don'ts regarding the art of the apology offered by Holly Weeks, a consultant and writer specializing in communications issues. HBS Number: U0304D Subjects: Communication; Communication in organizations; Human relations; Interpersonal behavior; Management communication Academic Discipline: General management    Attention: This Is a Security Drill   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Bierck, Richard Publication Date: 11/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: Since 9/11, communicating about security has taken on a new urgency. How do you let your employees know that you are concerned about their safety? Read what Jules Kroll, founder and executive chairman of the worldwide risk consulting company Kroll, has to say about the new security realities today. HBS Number: C0211B Subjects: Communication; Communication in organizations; Employees; Management communication; Security Academic Discipline: General management    Automated E-mail Response: What Managers Need to Know   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Plotkin, Hal Publication Date: 08/01/1999 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: A recent study showed that many top companies aren't responding quickly to e-mail inquiries. Whether it's because they are not equipped to handle the volume of inquiries or they just don't consider it a priority, these companies (and yours) should heed this wakeup call. Answering messages quickly and accurately can go a long way toward attracting and keeping customers. Several software firms now offer products that respond to incoming e-mail using a form of artificial intelligence to analyze the meaning of text messages, enabling companies to respond quickly to large volumes of e-mail. Includes a box on the costs and benefits of automated e-mail response software and a brief case study of Egghead.com, an Internet retailer that has drastically improved its e-mail response time as a result of using the software. HBS Number: U9908C Subjects: Communication strategy; Customer relations; Software Academic Discipline: General management    Ayn Rand on Writing   Add   View  3 pp.  Article Author(s): Kinni, Theodore Publication Date: 01/01/2003 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: Although Ayn Rand is best known for her two popular novels on ideas, she devoted much of her later life to writing nonfiction. She believed that the most important elements of effective nonfiction writing were "clarity, clarity, and clarity." Read five tips for writing as clearly and as powerfully as Rand herself in this insightful article. HBS Number: C0301C Subjects: Communication; Writing Academic Discipline: General management    Balanced Scorecard and Nonprofit Organizations   Add   View  6 pp.  Article Author(s): Kaplan, Robert S. Publication Date: 11/15/2002 Product Type: Balanced Scorecard Report Article Product Description: By adopting strategic performance measures, nonprofits can bring focus and discipline to their mission and much-needed information to donors and supporting organizations. The result: a more efficient marketplace that rewards effectiveness, thereby bringing bigger benefits to society. And in the post-Enron era, the stewardship and accountability that the Balanced Scorecard can help nonprofits achieve is just as relevant to the private sector as it is to the public sector. HBS Number: B0211A Subjects: Balanced scorecard; Corporate strategy; Nonprofit accounting; Nonprofit organizations; Nonprofit sector; Performance measurement; Strategy formulation; Strategy implementation Academic Discipline: General management    Balanced Scorecard and Quality Programs   Add   View  6 pp.  Article Author(s): Kaplan, Robert S.; Lamotte, Gaelle Publication Date: 03/15/2001 Product Type: Balanced Scorecard Report Article Product Description: No need to choose between a quality program and the Balanced Scorecard. Robert S. Kaplan, with co-author Gaelle Lamotte, believes that the BSC can co-exist with quality programs--like the Baldrige National Quality Program, Total Quality Management, and the European Foundation Quality Management Excellence Model. And co-exist not merely peacefully, but symbiotically. Following Kaplan's Part I article, which examined the benefits of integrating the BSC with change initiatives like shareholder value and activity-based costing, here Kaplan and Lamotte examine how the BSC enhances quality programs--providing them focus and clear linkages to improvements in strategic customer and financial outcomes. Quality programs, in turn, offer a systematic discipline for improving critical business processes that enhance customer value propositions and increase productivity. May be used with: (B9911C) The Balanced Scorecard for Public-Sector Organizations. HBS Number: B0103D Subjects: Balanced scorecard; Corporate strategy; Strategy formulation; Total quality Academic Discipline: General management    Balanced Scorecard, Competitive Strategy, and Performance   Add   View  6 pp.  Article Author(s): Olson, Eric M.; Slater, Stanley F. Publication Date: 05/15/2002 Product Type: Business Horizons Article Publisher: Business Horizons/Indiana University Product Description: Many managers have adopted a balanced scorecard approach to measuring performance. But "balance" implies that all measures are equally important in all settings. The authors endorse the multimeasure approach, but challenge the idea that all measures are equally important regardless of the product-market strategy adopted. Results of a survey of more than 200 businesses support this position. The most successful performers emphasized the measures and perspectives (customer, internal business, innovation and growth, financial) most appropriate to their strategy type (prospector, analyzer, low-cost defender, differentiated defender). HBS Number: BH075 Subjects: Balanced scorecard; Corporate strategy; Performance measurement Academic Discipline: General management    Balancing Corporate Power: A New Federalist Paper   Added   View  11 pp.  Article Handy, Charles Given that organizations are seen more and more as minisocieties, the prospect of applying political principles to management makes a great deal of sense. Federalism is particularly appropriate because it offers a well-recognized system for dealing with paradoxes of power and control: the need to make things big by keeping them small; to encourage autonomy but within bounds; and to combine variety and shared purpose. Federalism responds to these paradoxes by balancing power among those in the center of the organization, those in the centers of expertise, and those in the center of the action--the operating businesses. Federalism avoids the risks of autocracy and the overcontrol of a central bureaucracy. It ensures a measure of democracy and creates a "dispersed center" that is more a network than a place. McKinsey Award Winner. HBS Number: 92604 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 11/1/92 Subjects: Board of directors; Business policy; Corporate governance; Decentralization; Leadership; McKinsey Award Winners; Organizational structure; Subsidiaries    Becoming a Resonant Leader   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Gary, Loren Publication Date: 07/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: After the events of the past year, leaders are being asked to act with greater integrity and to be more emotionally available to their employees. Leaders need to learn to adapt to this new work environment using such things as emotional intelligence and to hone your ability to handle the emotional turbulence that comes with adaptive change. The ideas in this article are based on a panel discussion that took place this past May at the Burning Questions 2002 conference, a gathering of leading practitioners and management experts, sponsored by Harvard Business School Publishing. The leadership panelists were Kim Campbell, Daniel Goleman, Ginger Graham, and Ronald Heifetz. HBS Number: U0207B Subjects: Behavior; Leadership; Management development; Management of change; Managerial behavior Academic Discipline: General management    Been There, Read That   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Morris, Robert; Buchanan, Leigh Publication Date: 10/01/2005 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Robert Morris, an Amazon Top 10 reviewer, helps you decide which business books are worth your time and attention. HBS Number: F0510G Subjects: Business reading; Interviews; Management development Academic Discipline: General management    Behind Every Successful Manager Is a Great Inside Sales Job   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): McFarland, Jennifer Publication Date: 12/01/2001 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Whether you're lobbying for more resources, trying to rally your troops, or building cross-company support for your project, you are never just selling to the company--you're also selling to individuals with specific concerns and motivations. You must win senior management's buy-in, keep your direct reports' hearts and minds engaged, and build support for your unit's work in other departments. Here, the experts offer insight into how to sell your ideas and projects to the rest of your company. Includes the sidebar "Tailoring Your Proposal to Meet Decision Makers' Needs." HBS Number: U0112C Subjects: Business unit; Communication in organizations; Employees; Leadership; Management communication; Managers; Sales strategy Academic Discipline: General management    Best of HBR on Emotionally Intelligent Leadership, 2nd Edition (HBR Article Collection)   Add   View  68 pp.  Article Author(s): Goleman, Daniel; McKee, Annie; Boyatzis, Richard Publication Date: 09/01/2008 Product Type: HBR OnPoint Collection HBS Number: 12088 Subjects: Behavior; Leadership; Management styles; Performance improvement methodologies; Personal strategy & style; Psychology Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: What distinguishes great leaders from merely good ones? It's not toughness, vision, or industry smarts. It's their emotional intelligence — a potent combination of self-management and relationship skills. Studies strongly suggest that emotional intelligence plays a far greater role than IQ in determining leaders' effectiveness, and thus their organizations' success. To increase your emotional intelligence, start by understanding the skills that define it. Then learn how to flexibly interchange those skills to meet the needs of shifting circumstances. Finally, use mood contagion (a powerful neurological process) to create positive chemical connections between your and your followers' brains. Featuring the work of Daniel Goleman, this HBR Article Collection shows you how to foster and spread the positive emotions that drive quantifiable business results in your firm.    Betting on the Future: The Virtues of Contingent Contracts   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Bazerman, Max H.; Gillespie, James J. It happens all the time. Two parties with common interests fail to reach an agreement--about a sale, a merger, a technology transfer--because they have different expectations about the future. They are both so confident in their predic HBS Number: 99501 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 9/1/99 Subjects: Contracts; Decision making; Management communication; Negotiations    Beyond Greening: Strategies for a Sustainable World   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Hart, Stuart L. Three decades into the environmental revolution, many companies in the industrialized nations have recognized that they can reduce pollution and increase profits at the same time. But beyond corporate "greening" lies the enormous chall HBS Number: 97105 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 1/1/97 Subjects: Corporate strategy; Developing countries; Environmental protection; Growth strategy; New process; Product introduction; Technology    Beyond Takeovers: Politics Comes to Corporate Control   Add   View  11 pp.  Article Pound, John In the 1990s, politics will replace takeovers as the defining tool for corporate governance challenges, and a marketplace of ideas will replace the frenzied activity that once dominated the financial marketplace. In the transaction-driven market of the past, corporate raiders used junk bonds and other financial tools to take control of their targets. In the new marketplace of ideas, debate will replace debt as active shareholders press specific operating policies for their target corporations in a new politicized market for corporate control. Carl Icahn's battle for control of USX is an example of the emerging trend. HBS Number: 92206 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 3/1/92 Subjects: Acquisitions; Business policy; Corporate governance; Leveraged buyouts; Pension funds; Politics; Stockholders    Beyond Valuation: “Options Thinking” in IT Project Management   Add   View  24 pp.  Article Author(s): Fichman, Robert G.; Keil, Mark; Tiwana, Amrit Publication Date: 02/01/2005 Product Type: CMR Article Publisher: California Management Review Product Description: Real options can be a powerful tool for quantifying the value of strategic and operational flexibility associated with uncertain IT investments. However, they also constitute a new way of thinking about how projects can be organized and managed to maximize upside potential while minimizing downside risk. Explains how practitioners can incorporate options thinking into contemporary IT project management. Options thinking means recognizing real options and how they add value. Just as important is managing projects so that the option value that exists in theory is realized in practice. Several real-world examples illustrate how the value of embedded real options can be realized through active project management. There are pitfalls associated with each option, as well as benefits and limitations of different approaches to valuing options. Organizations must decide whether to undertake the challenges of adopting options thinking as a project management philosophy. HBS Number: CMR304 Subjects: Information technology; Options; Project management; Valuation Academic Discipline: General management    Big Comeback   Add   View  3 pp.  Article Author(s): Skinner, Al; Fusaro, Roberta Publication Date: 01/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: In the 2000-2001 season, the men's basketball team at Boston College rebounded from last place to first--with essentially the same five starters. Coach Al Skinner discusses the two principles he used to turn his team around. HBS Number: F0201C Subjects: Coaching; Employee development; Organizational development; Teams Academic Discipline: General management    Blended Value Proposition: Integrating Social and Financial Returns   Add   View  18 pp.  Article Author(s): Emerson, Jed Publication Date: 07/01/2003 Product Type: CMR Article Publisher: California Management Review Product Description: Value is often viewed in either economic or social terms. The Blended Value Proposition asserts that true value is nondivisible, consisting of a blend of economic, social, and environmental components. This perspective requires us to re-examine our understanding of the nature of capital, the methodology for calculating rates of real return to investors, and the role of for-profit and nonprofit organizations in the value creation process. HBS Number: CMR261 Subjects: Capital; Economic theory; Nonprofit organizations; Social issues Academic Discipline: General management    Branding from the Inside Out, and from the Outside In   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): McFarland, Jennifer Publication Date: 02/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: A brand should serve as a trustworthy guide to help consumers make choices. But before your product or service leads customers through a crowded, information-sodden marketplace, it must set itself apart from the rest. So how can your brand capture consumers' attention? The advice given in this article centers on being genuinely different, relying on publicity rather than advertising, and improving your brand's emotional associations through cobranding and partnerships. HBS Number: U0202C Subjects: Brand management; Brands; Consumers; Customer retention; Employee development; Partnerships; Publicity Academic Discipline: General management    Breaking Out of the Innovation Box   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Wolpert, John D. Publication Date: 08/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0208E Subjects: Competitive advantage; Innovation; Institutional investments; Networks; R&D; Technological change Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: In most companies, investments in innovation follow a boom-bust cycle. For a time, the cash flows. Then, as the economy sours or companies rethink their priorities, the taps go dry. But when research budgets are slashed, the strong projects are often abandoned along with the weak ones. When disruptive changes in the competitive landscape come, companies are caught flat-footed. Sustainable innovation requires a new approach: Instead of being largely isolated projects, innovation initiatives need to gain access to the insights and capabilities of other companies. But how can businesses traffic in such sensitive information without giving their competitors an advantage? The answer, the author contends, lies in a practice that's been common since the Middle Ages: the use of independent intermediaries to facilitate the exchange of sensitive information among companies without revealing the principals' identities or motives and without otherwise compromising their interests. A network of innovation intermediaries would be in a unique position to visualize new opportunities synthesized from insights and technologies provided by several companies — ideas that might never occur to businesses working on their own.    Breaking Out of the Innovation Box (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition)   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Wolpert, John D. Publication Date: 08/01/2002 Product Type: HBR OnPoint Article Product Description: This is an enhanced edition of HBR article R0208E, originally published in August 2002. HBR OnPoint articles include the full-text HBR article, plus a synopsis and annotated bibliography. In most companies, investments in innovation follow a boom-bust cycle. For a time, the cash flows. Then, as the economy sours or companies rethink their priorities, the taps go dry. But when research budgets are slashed, the strong projects are often abandoned along with the weak ones. When disruptive changes in the competitive landscape come, companies are caught flat-footed. Sustainable innovation requires a new approach: Instead of being largely isolated projects, innovation initiatives need to gain access to the insights and capabilities of other companies. But how can businesses traffic in such sensitive information without giving their competitors an advantage? The answer, the author contends, lies in a practice that's been common since the Middle Ages: the use of independent intermediaries to facilitate the exchange of sensitive information among companies without revealing the principals' identities or motives and without otherwise compromising their interests. A network of innovation intermediaries would be in a unique position to visualize new opportunities synthesized from insights and technologies provided by several companies -- ideas that might never occur to businesses working on their own. HBS Number: 1601 Subjects: Competitive advantage; Innovation; Institutional investments; R&D; Technological change Academic Discipline: General management    Breakthrough Thinking from Inside the Box   Added   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Coyne, Kevin P.; Clifford, Patricia Gorman; Dye, Renee Publication Date: 12/01/2007 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0712E Subjects: Creativity; Process improvement; Product development; Product evolution Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Companies often begin their search for great ideas either by encouraging wild, outside-the-box thinking or by conducting quantitative analysis of existing market and financial data and customer opinions. Those approaches can produce middling ideas at best, say Coyne, founder of an executive-counseling firm in Atlanta, and Clifford and Dye, strategy experts at McKinsey. The problem with the first method is that few people are very good at unstructured, abstract brainstorming. The problems with the second are that databases are usually compiled to describe current — not future — offerings, and customers rarely can tell you whether they need or want a product if they've never seen it. The secret to getting your organization to regularly generate lots of good ideas, and occasionally some great ones, is deceptively simple: First, create new boxes for people to think within so that they don't get lost in the cosmos and they have a basis for offering ideas and knowing whether they're making progress in the brainstorming session. Second, redesign ideation processes to remove obstacles that interfere with the flow of ideas — such as most people's aversion to speaking in groups larger than ten. This article offers a tested approach that poses concrete questions. For example, what do Rollerblades, Haagen-Dazs ice cream, and Spider-Man movies have in common? The answer: Each is something that adults loved as children and that was reproduced in an expensive form for grown-ups. Asking brainstorming participants to ponder how their childhood passions could be recast as adult offerings might gen    Brevity Isn’t Enough — You Need to Write Tight   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Henning, Kathy Publication Date: 02/01/2003 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: Cutting out words when you write doesn't guarantee clarity. What you should be doing is cutting out the wordiness instead. If you don't understand the difference, read the expert advice to learn how to write tight. You need clarity, accuracy, relevance, sincerity, concision, transparency, and consistency to make your writing tighter--and better overall. Includes the sidebar "How to Write Tight--in a Nutshell." HBS Number: C0302B Subjects: Communication; Communication strategy; Writing Academic Discipline: General management    Bridging the Divide   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Morgan, Nick Publication Date: 05/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: This article reviews two books: Effective Communication Skills for Scientific and Technical Professionals, by Harry E. Chambers, and How to Say It for Women, by Phyllis Mindell. Accompanied by the sidebar "Don't Overlook the Other Side of Communication: Listening," this article distills from these books strategies that technical professionals and women can employ to communicate more effectively. HBS Number: C0205C Subjects: Communication; Interpersonal relations; Women executives; Women in business Academic Discipline: General management    Bringing Discipline to Project Management   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Elton, Jeffrey; Roe, Justin How many projects in your organization have come in on time and on budget? If you're like most senior managers, the answer is likely to be none, no matter how many data-management systems, team-training programs, project-management sof HBS Number: 98203 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 3/1/98 Subjects: Product development; Project evaluation; Project management; Uncertainty    Bringing Silicon Valley Inside   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Hamel, Gary In 1998, Silicon Valley companies produced 41 IPOs, which by January 1999 had a combined market capitalization of $27 billion--that works out to $54,000 in new wealth creation per worker in a single year. Multiply the number of employe HBS Number: 99504 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 9/1/99 Subjects: Business models; Capital investments; Creativity; Innovation; Management philosophy; Silicon Valley; Venture capital    Bringing Silicon Valley Inside (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition)   Add   View  24 pp.  Article Author(s): Hamel, Gary Publication Date: 05/01/2000 Product Type: HBR OnPoint Article HBS Number: 3464 Subjects: Business models; Capital investments; Creativity; Innovation; Management philosophy; Silicon Valley; Venture capital Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: This is an enhanced edition of HBR article 99504, originally published in September/October 1999. HBR OnPoint Articles save you time by enhancing an original Harvard Business Review article with an overview and an annotated bibliography. This enables you to scan, absorb, and share management insights. In 1998, Silicon Valley companies produced 41 IPOs, which by January 1999 had a combined market capitalization of $27 billion — that works out to $54,000 in new wealth creation per worker in a single year. Multiply the number of employees in your company by $54,000. Did your business create that much new wealth last year? In Silicon Valley, ideas, capital, and talent circulate freely, gathering into whatever combinations are most likely to generate innovation and wealth. Unlike most traditional companies, which spend their energy in resource allocation — a system designed to avoid failure — the Valley operates through resource attraction — a system that nurtures innovation. In a traditional company, people with innovative ideas must go hat in hand to the guardians of the old ideas for funding and for staff. But in Silicon Valley, a slew of venture capitalists vie to attract the best new ideas, infusing relatively small amounts of capital into a portfolio of ventures. And talent is free to go to the companies offering the most exhilarating work and the greatest potential rewards. It should actually be easier for large, traditional companies to set up similar markets for capital, ideas, and talent internally. Big companies often already have extensive capital, marketing, and distribution resources,    Bringing the Environment Down to Earth   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Reinhardt, Forest The debate on business and the environment has typically been framed in simple yes-or-no terms: "Does it pay to be green?" But the environment, like other business issues, requires a more complex approach--one that demands more than su HBS Number: 99408 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 7/1/99 Subjects: Competition; Corporate strategy; Environmental protection; Investments; Pollution; Regulation; Risk    BSC and Analytic Application Integration   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Morris, Henry Publication Date: 01/15/2002 Product Type: Balanced Scorecard Report Article Product Description: With the advent of "analytic applications"--software that helps companies capture vital information from existing operational software--companies have new tools to improve decision making and, ultimately, performance. Henry Morris, vice president of the global technology industry research firm IDC, describes how the technology is being used with the Balanced Scorecard and what new applications may be developed. HBS Number: B0201F Subjects: Balanced scorecard; Corporate strategy; Decision making; Performance effectiveness; Strategy formulation Academic Discipline: General management    Build to Last or Create and Destroy: Which is the Path to Long-Term Prosperity?   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Mirazita, Lori Publication Date: 03/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Two recent book titles--Jim Collins and Jerry Porras's book, Built to Last, and Richard Foster and Sarah Kaplan's book, Creative Destruction--would have you believe that companies should either stick to their core ideology or continually reinvent themselves. A closer look at the two books reveals that the dichotomy is not as pronounced as the publicists would have you believe. Which approach will lead your company down the road to long-term prosperity? Perhaps you should use a twin strategy: Hold fast to an ideology about your core while constantly morphing in response to market forces. HBS Number: U0203B Subjects: Core competency; Corporate strategy; Leadership; Management of change; Organizational behavior; Organizational change; Strategy formulation Academic Discipline: General management    Building a Strategy-Based Culture at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Nagumo, Takehiko; Donlon, Barnaby Publication Date: 11/15/2002 Product Type: Balanced Scorecard Report Article Product Description: A major global enterprise--no matter how stunning its success--cannot run for long without a well-articulated strategy. Executives at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi's Headquarters for the Americas (BTMHQA) knew that. They also knew the bank urgently needed to enhance its corporate governance framework and performance evaluation system. One year after adopting the Balanced Scorecard, BTMHQA has made remarkable progress in fortifying and integrating these systems--and the head office has taken note. HBS Number: B0211D Subjects: Balanced scorecard; Bank management; Banking; Corporate strategy; Performance measurement; Strategy formulation; Strategy implementation Academic Discipline: General management    Building Better Global Managers   Add   View  6 pp.  Article Author(s): Rifkin, Glenn Publication Date: 03/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Though strides have been made in developing successful global managers, it is a sad truth that too many companies assume that they can do things abroad in the same manner as they do them domestically. As a result, most managers still lack the necessary cultural awareness when dealing with overseas employees and partners, as well as the experience of managing increasingly complex processes long distance. Learn the steps leaders can take to develop in prospective global managers the ``empathic qualities'' necessary for working with individuals and systems that are unlike their own. HBS Number: U0603A Subjects: Cultural intelligence; Globalization; Human relations; International management; Management development; Managerial behavior; Managerial skills; Multiculturalism & pluralism; Social psychology Academic Discipline: General management    Building Corporate Character: An Interview with Stride Rite Chairman Arnold Hiat   Add   View  11 pp.  Article Hiatt, Arnold Stride Rite is well known for its innovative child-care, intergenerational centers, and family-leave policy as well as for its outstanding financial performance. Chairman Arnold Hiatt is the driving force behind Stride Rite's social and financial innovation. Hiatt's Blue Star Shoes had gone from Chapter 11 to sales of over $5 million, before it was purchased by Stride Rite. The Blue Star experience gave Hiatt a practical education in management, markets, and human nature that has proved equally useful in running Stride Rite. Under Hiatt, Stride Rite has gone on to acquire Keds and Sperry Top-Siders, and moved from manufacturing to marketing to franchising. HBS Number: 92203 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 3/1/92 Subjects: Business policy; Corporate responsibility; Footwear; Innovation; Leadership; Management styles    Building Effective R&D Capabilities Abroad   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Kuemmerle, Walter In the past, companies kept most of their research and development activities in their home country because they thought it important to have R&D close to where strategic decisions were being made. But today many companies choose to es HBS Number: 97206 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 3/1/97 Subjects: International operations; Product development; R&D; Resource allocation    Building Effective Teams in Real Time   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Garfield, Jerry; Stanton, Ken Publication Date: 11/01/2005 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: It's hard enough to guide the disparate mix of talent that comprises long-standing groups. But when you are required to focus the efforts of people you may not even know and who may not know one another -- and to do it immediately -- the challenges are multiplied. To help managers address these challenges, the authors have developed Rapid Team Building, an approach based on many years of organizing and leading interdisciplinary project teams, both as managers and consultants. They have successfully applied this approach in a variety of organizational settings in which the need to achieve critical goals quickly and effectively with newly formed teams was essential. The approach comprises six tools to help managers form a group of employees into a unified team and get them down to work quickly and effectively. HBS Number: U0511A Subjects: Change management; Leadership; Management of professionals; Team building; Urgency Academic Discipline: General management    Building Strategy Maps, Part One: Planning the Campaign   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Norton, David P. Publication Date: 11/15/2000 Product Type: Balanced Scorecard Report Article Product Description: Balanced Scorecard strategy maps are a powerful tool for describing and ultimately implementing a business strategy. This article explains how to move from a broad corporate vision to an outline of a strategy. HBS Number: B0011A Subjects: Action planning; Balanced scorecard; Banking industry; Insurance companies; Strategic planning; Strategy formulation; Strategy implementation Academic Discipline: General management    Building Strategy Maps, Part Two: Testing the Hypothesis   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Norton, David P. Publication Date: 01/15/2001 Product Type: Balanced Scorecard Report Article Product Description: In Part One of this series, "Planning the Campaign" (BSR, November/December 2000), we described how to translate the broad corporate vision into an outline of a strategy. In Part Two, we look at the strategy map as hypothesis, a set of assumptions to be continually tested and revised. Statistical correlation analysis offers powerful new ways to test the hypothesis--and often yields surprising insights that can have strategic and bottom-line implications. HBS Number: B0101A Subjects: Action planning; Balanced scorecard; Banking industry; Insurance companies; Strategic planning; Strategy formulation; Strategy implementation Academic Discipline: General management    Building the Strategy Implementation Network   Add   View  10 pp.  Article Noble, Charles H. Too often, promising strategic plans never come to fruition. A common cause of such failures is a breakdown in implementation--the internal processes and events needed to bring a strategy to life. Results from a large-scale research pr HBS Number: BH040 Type: Business Horizons Article Publication Date: 11/15/99 Subjects: Corporate strategy; Implementation; Strategic planning; Strategy implementation Publisher: Business Horizons/Indiana University    Business Case Against Revolution: An Interview with Nestle’s Peter Brabeck   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Brabeck, Peter; Wetlaufer, Suzy Publication Date: 04/01/2001 Product Type: HBR OnPoint Article Product Description: HBR OnPoint Articles save you time by enhancing an original Harvard Business Review article with an overview that draws out the main points and an annotated bibliography that points you to related resources. This enables you to scan, absorb, and share the management insights with others. One of the world's most enduring companies, Nestle epitomizes everything that today's high-flying, headline-grabbing companies are not. It respects technology but doesn't consider it central to strategy. It values growth but prefers it controlled. It seeks talented professionals but wants only those who are modest in word and deed. Nestle CEO Peter Brabeck is skeptical of the relentless push for radical transformation heard from every quarter. He believes, instead, in continuous improvement through slow and steady change. While he acknowledges that every company must change in order to compete in today's turbulent marketplace, Brabeck makes the focus of his work identifying and strengthening those aspects of Nestle that should stay the same. For example, Nestle eschews the noise and energy swirling around technology. Many companies make technology the focal point of strategy, Brabeck says, but Nestle is about people, products, and brands. Brabeck also talks candidly about how to fight complacency in a successful company, how to institutionalize collaboration in a decentralized organization, and how to resist pressure from analysts and money managers and focus on long-term, sustainable and profitable growth — in short, how to win the war without the revolution. HBS Number: 6501 Subjects: Food; Interviews; Leadership; Management of change; Management philosophy; Values Academic Discipline: General management    Business Case Against Revolution: An Interview with Nestle’s Peter Brabeck   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Brabeck, Peter; Wetlaufer, Suzy Publication Date: 02/01/2001 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: One of the world's most enduring companies, Nestle epitomizes everything that today's high-flying, headline-grabbing companies are not. It respects technology but doesn't consider it central to strategy. It values growth but prefers it controlled. It seeks talented professionals but wants only those who are modest in word and deed. Nestle CEO Peter Brabeck is skeptical of the relentless push for radical transformation heard from every quarter. He believes, instead, in continuous improvement through slow and steady change. While he acknowledges that every company must change in order to compete in today's turbulent marketplace, Brabeck makes the focus of his work identifying and strengthening those aspects of Nestle that should stay the same. For example, Nestle eschews the noise and energy swirling around technology. Many companies make technology the focal point of strategy, Brabeck says, but Nestle is about people, products, and brands. Brabeck also talks candidly about how to fight complacency in a successful company, how to institutionalize collaboration in a decentralized organization, and how to resist pressure from analysts and money managers and focus on long-term, sustainable and profitable growth--in short, how to win the war without the revolution. HBS Number: R0102H Subjects: Food; Interviews; Leadership; Management of change; Management philosophy; Values Academic Discipline: General management    Business Leadership and a Creative Society   Added   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Collier, Abram T. Publication Date: 01/01/1968 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: The business of business is discovery and innovation. The manager's job is to maintain creativity with order -- and order with creativity. Creativity without order breeds chaos, and order without creativity is a living death. Creativity depends on nurturing differences between individuals and groups, and these differences are kept in control by individuals understanding each other and respecting rights and obligations, and by our faith in growth. HBS Number: 68103 Subjects: Corporate responsibility; Creativity; Diversity; HBR Classics; Innovation Academic Discipline: General management    Business Literacy: Five Ways to Get Started   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Publication Date: 02/01/2000 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Nearly every company's employees need to know more about business. Here's a handful of techniques to get the ball rolling. This article also includes a sidebar entitled "Seeing the Big Picture--Literally," which describes the Root Learning Map visuals that have been used by many top companies to help their employees better understand their businesses. HBS Number: U0002B Subjects: Employee development; Employee training; Financial management Academic Discipline: General management    Business of Innovation: An Interview with Paul Cook   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Cook, Paul M. An interview with the founder and CEO of Raychem Corp., Paul M. Cook. Raychem's strategy since its founding has been to master a set of core technologies and to create thousands of proprietary products based on those technologies. Cook offers his ideas on innovation and encouraging corporate creativity. HBS Number: 90203 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 3/1/90 Subjects: Corporate strategy; Creativity; High technology products; Innovation; Product development; R&D; Technological change

Buyer’s Guide to the Innovation Bazaar   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Nambisan, Satish; Sawhney, Mohanbir Publication Date: 06/01/2007 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0706H Subjects: Innovation; Innovation & entrepreneurship Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Companies seeking new ideas or product concepts from outside sources may find the “innovation bazaar,” with its wide array of choices and methods of acquiring them, a confusing, chaotic place. Nambisan and Sawhney have crafted a conceptual guide for managers who understand the importance of going outside their firms for innovation but are uncertain about how to do it. The authors' “external sourcing continuum” shows at a glance how shopping for, say, raw ideas compares with shopping for market-ready products in terms of cost, risk, multiplicity of options, and speed of commercialization. Raw ideas, whether acquired directly from the inventor or through a patent broker, licensing agent, or some other intermediary, tend to be low cost but high risk and take a long time to bring to market. Market-ready products, often acquired as stand-alone businesses through a venture capitalist or business incubator, are more expensive and narrow one's choices, but they can be launched quickly and with less risk. Between these two approaches lies a third, facilitated by the “innovation capitalist.” This new kind of intermediary provides client companies with access to a broad range of innovative product or technology ideas that are nearly market ready, thereby mitigating early-stage risks and lowering the time to market without significantly increasing acquisition costs. The authors compare the advantages and disadvantages of using intermediaries associated with the three approaches and provide a checklist of factors to consider when placing your company on the external sourcing continuum. If you've been oriented toward one end of the co    Buying into Japan, Inc.   Add   View  3 pp.  Article Author(s): Itoh, Ryoji; Vestring, Till Publication Date: 11/01/2001 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: After a decade of economic weakness, the doors of Japan Inc. are opening for outsiders. In fact, research shows that foreign acquirers now have considerable advantages over domestic acquirers. Here's how companies can seize those advantages. HBS Number: F0110C Subjects: Acquisitions; International business; Japan Academic Discipline: General management    Can Big Owners Make a Big Difference?   Add   View  10 pp.  Article Taylor, William By the year 2000, the 20 largest pension funds and the 10 largest money managers will own up to 30% of the 10 largest companies in the United States. Pension fund shareholders are now looking for ways to express their "voice." The author describes the advantages and disadvantages of three options: elections; advisory committees; and collegial monitoring. HBS Number: 90512 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 9/1/90 Subjects: Stockholders;    Can This Merger be Saved?   Added   View  12 pp.  Article Cliffe, Sarah In this fictional case study by HBR Senior Editor Sarah Cliffe, a merger that looked like a marriage made in heaven to those at corporate headquarters is feeling like an infernal union to those on the ground. The merger is between Syne HBS Number: 99103 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 1/1/99 Subjects: Acquisitions; Banking; Corporate strategy; Executives; Financial services; HBR Case Discussions; Implementation; Mergers; Vertical integration    Can You Boost Knowledge Work’s Impact on the Bottom Line? (Guest Column)   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Davenport, Thomas H. Publication Date: 11/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Knowledge workers--people with a high degree of education or expertise whose work primarily involves the creation, distribution, or application of knowledge--are difficult to define and count, but they are undoubtedly a major component of the United States and other advanced economies. Increasing the productivity of knowledge work has been a long-standing goal at many companies. What will it take to reach it? Read what Tom Davenport, director of the Accenture Institute for Strategic Change, has to say about boosting knowledge work's impact on your company's bottom line. HBS Number: U0211E Subjects: Business plans; Knowledge workers; Organizational development; Productivity; Technology Academic Discipline: General management    Capturing the Real Value in High-Tech Acquisitions   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Chaudhuri, Saikat; Tabrizi, Behnam Eager to stay ahead of fast-changing markets, more and more high-tech companies are going outside for competitive advantage. Last year in the United States alone, there were 5,000 high-tech acquisitions, but many of them yielded disapp HBS Number: 99503 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 9/1/99 Subjects: Acquisitions; Corporate strategy; High technology; Management of professionals    Case for Slack: Building “Incubation Time” into Your Week   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Sandberg, Kirsten D. Publication Date: 06/01/2001 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Companies are constantly striving to cut the slack time in their processes. But this zeal for lean operations has led many companies to cut the slack, or thinking time, out of human processes as well. In an era of tight production deadlines--and even tighter margins--how can you be sure to build in the "down time" workers at your company need to generate breakthrough ideas and strategies? Real-world managers and several academics discuss the merits of slack time and offer advice on how to fit this new essential into your business. HBS Number: U0106C Subjects: Creativity; Employees; Innovation; Time management Academic Discipline: General management    Case of the China Diary   Add   View  17 pp.  Article Webber, Alan M. In 1979, Geoff Parker leads U.S.-based Thurmond Textiles into China. In 1985, after a false start or two, his factory finally begins making shirts. In 1988 Parker opens discussions with officials over plant expansion. Then the events of summer 1989 leave Parker asking "What is our China strategy now? After ten years was it all a mistake?" Seven authorities on China - A.J. Robinson, Portman Overseas; Wan Runnan, Stone Group; Virginia Ann Kamsky, Kamsky Associates; David Chang, David Chang and Associates; Sidney Jones, Asia Watch; Chi-Ning Liu, Hewlett-Packard; and Sumio Takeichi, Mitsubishi Corp. - consider Thurmond's alternatives. HBS Number: 89614 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 11/1/89 Subjects: Foreign investment; HBR Case Discussions; International operations; Multinational corporations    Case of the Downsizing Decision   Added   View  10 pp.  Article Train, Alan S. A division manager must decide whether to fight 11% across-the-board personnel cuts or, if he is to go along with the decision, how to implement the layoffs in his division. He receives conflicting advice from his vice presidents: one suggests he make up a new cost-cutting plan that will help the company while not hurting his division; the other wants him to support the downsizing decision wholeheartedly. HBS Number: 91210 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 3/1/91 Subjects: Business policy; Decision making; HBR Case Discussions; Layoffs; Management of change; Policy implementation    Case of the Environmental Impasse   Add   View  10 pp.  Article Stern, Alissa J. Vermillion Paper Co. saw a proposed eucalyptus plantation in the tropical country of Equitania as an opportunity to do right by the environment after years of insensitivity. Vermillion spent almost two years obtaining the support of national and local government officials and environmentalists. But soon a renegade group broke with the Equitanian environmentalists and joined a militant U.S. group in publicly condemning the project. Four experts on environmental strategy discuss Vermillion's option. HBS Number: 91311 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 5/1/91 Subjects: Boycotts; Environmental protection; Forest products; Government & business; HBR Case Discussions; Public relations    Catalyst for Convergence: The BSC Makes News at Media General   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Hunt, Avery Publication Date: 01/15/2003 Product Type: Balanced Scorecard Report Article Product Description: Through the 1990s, Media General, the Virginia-based independent communications conglomerate, underwent a massive transformation, shedding old business and acquiring others that fit the company's new regionally focused strategy. Competitive pressures and technological changes in the media business demanded rapid revenue growth and greater synergy among its many (and disparate) media businesses. Here's how CEO J. Stewart Bryan orchestrated a successful reorganization, with the help of the Balanced Scorecard, that positions Media General for the 21st century. HBS Number: B0301C Subjects: Balanced scorecard; Conglomerates; Corporate strategy; Future; Mergers & acquisitions; Newspapers; Reorganization; Strategic planning; Strategy formulation; Strategy implementation Academic Discipline: General management    Central Dilemmas of Managing Innovation in Large Firms   Add   View  20 pp.  Article Author(s): Sharma, Anurag Publication Date: 04/01/1999 Product Type: CMR Article Publisher: California Management Review Product Description: Based on a multi-year field study of internal ventures in several established firms, this article highlights the central dilemmas that confront innovation from concept to commercialization. The chief difficulties in generating innovation arise from five key dilemmas encountered in locating, seizing, and then methodically navigating creative sparks through the maze and haze of large organizations. To systematically address these dilemmas, firms must endeavor to integrate their entire innovation effort. Three overarching themes are useful for understanding how to holistically manage the dilemmas of innovation in large firms: Strategic Envelope, Strategic Pacing, and Strategic Partnerships. HBS Number: CMR152 Subjects: Corporate strategy; Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Organizational management Academic Discipline: General management    Change Without Pain   Add   View  7 pp.  Article Abrahamson, Eric Change or perish is a corporate truism, but so is its unhappy corollary: many companies change and perish. The process of change can tear an organization apart. Drawing on his research over ten years, the author suggests that companies HBS Number: R00401 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 7/1/00 Subjects: Leadership; Management of change; Organizational change; Organizational development    Change Without Pain (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition)   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Abrahamson, Eric Publication Date: 04/01/2001 Product Type: HBR OnPoint Article Product Description: This is an enhanced edition of HBR article R00401, originally published in July/August 2002. HBR OnPoint articles save you time by enhancing an original Harvard Business Review article with an overview that draws out the main points and an annotated bibliography that points you to related resources. This enables you to scan, absorb, and share the management insights with others. Change or perish is a corporate truism, but so is its unhappy corollary: many companies change and perish. The process of change can tear an organization apart. Drawing on his research over ten years, the author suggests that companies alternate major change initiatives with carefully paced periods of smaller, organic change, using processes he calls tinkering and kludging (kludging is tinkering on a large scale). The result is dynamic stability, which allows change without fatal pain. Citing examples from General Electric to Barnesandnoble.com, the author describes dynamic stability as a process of continual but relatively small reconfigurations of existing practices and business models rather than the creation of new ones. As they tinker and kludge, successful companies would be wise to follow these four guidelines: reward shameless borrowing; appoint a chief memory officer who can help the company avoid making the same old mistakes; tinker and kludge internally before searching for solutions externally; and hire generalists, because generalists tend to be more adept at tinkering and kludging. As a paradigm of successful pacing, the author cites the efforts of Lou Gerstner at IBM, American Express Travel Related Services, and RJR Nabisco. HBS Number: 6498 Subjects: Change management; Leadership; Organizational change; Organizational development Academic Discipline: General management    Changing Leaders: The Board’s Role in CEO Succession   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Lorsch, Jay W.; Khurana, Rakesh Publication Date: 05/01/1999 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: 99308 Subjects: CEO; Corporate governance; Executive selection; Executives; Management development; Managerial selection; Succession planning Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: The selection of a CEO is one of the most important — and risky — events in the life of any company. Yet the way CEOs are chosen remains little discussed and little understood. The succession process has traditionally unfolded behind closed doors — some observers have even likened it to the election of a pope. To shed light on what works and what doesn't in CEO succession, the authors lead a roundtable discussion with five distinguished corporate directors: Philip Caldwell, George D. Kennedy, G.G. Michelson, Henry Wendt, and Alfred M. Zeien. Collectively, the five directors have participated in dozens of successions, either as board members or as CEOs. In a lively and frank exchange of views and experiences, the roundtable participants explore a broad range of questions: What can a company do to ensure a successful succession? How should management-development and succession processes be managed? How should the board work with the sitting chief executive during the process? What makes for a strong CEO candidate? When should outside candidates be considered? How much competition should be encouraged among potential CEO candidates? What role should executive search firms play? What role should former CEOs play after they are succeeded? Their conversation illuminates a corporate challenge that is as difficult as it is important.    Changing Leaders: The Board’s Role in CEO Succession (HBR OnPoint Enhanced)   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Lorsch, Jay W.; Khurana, Rakesh Publication Date: 12/01/2002 Product Type: HBR OnPoint Article Product Description: This is an enhanced edition of HBR article 99308, originally published in May 1999. HBR OnPoint articles include the full-text HBR article, plus a synopsis and annotated bibliography. The selection of a CEO is one of the most important — and risky — events in the life of any company. Yet the way CEOs are chosen remains little discussed and little understood. The succession process has traditionally unfolded behind closed doors — some observers have even likened it to the election of a pope. To shed light on what works and what doesn't in CEO succession, the authors lead a roundtable discussion with five distinguished corporate directors: Philip Caldwell, George D. Kennedy, G.G. Michelson, Henry Wendt, and Alfred M. Zeien. Collectively, the five directors have participated in dozens of successions, either as board members or as CEOs. In a lively and frank exchange of views and experiences, the roundtable participants explore a broad range of questions: What can a company do to ensure a successful succession? How should management-development and succession processes be managed? How should the board work with the sitting chief executive during the process? What makes for a strong CEO candidate? When should outside candidates be considered? How much competition should be encouraged among potential CEO candidates? What role should executive search firms play? What role should former CEOs play after they are succeeded? Their conversation illuminates a corporate challenge that is as difficult as it is important. HBS Number: 2373 Subjects: Board of directors; CEO; Corporate governance; Executive selection; Executives; Management development; Managerial selection; Succession planning Academic Discipline: General management    Charting the Territory of Nonprofit Boards   Add   View  9 pp.  Article Chait, Richard P.; Taylor, Barbara E. Executives who become trustees for nonprofit organizations frequently get bogged down in operating details while ignoring issues that could determine the enterprise's success or failure. An administrative model, identifying six policy levels - major, secondary, functional, minor, standard operating procedures, and rules - can guide their interventions. In general, board members should devote their energies to policy levels having the most impact on the organization's future and let the rest of the issues go. They also must attend to the four phases of policy development - establish objectives, formulate a statement, implement, and evaluate. Finally they must recognize that information is their most critical resource. HBS Number: 89101 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 1/1/89 Subjects: Managerial skills; Nonprofit organizations; Policy making    Coevolving: At Last, a Way to Make Synergies Work   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Eisenhardt, Kathleen M.; Galunic, D. Charles The promise of synergy is the prime rationale for the existence of the multibusiness corporation. Yet for most corporations, the "1-plus-1-equals-3" arithmetic of cross-business synergies doesn't add up. Companies that do achieve syner HBS Number: R00103 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 1/1/00 Subjects: Corporate strategy; Diversified companies; Entrepreneurial management; Strategy implementation    Coevolving: At Last, a Way to Make Synergies Work (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition)   Add   View  20 pp.  Article Author(s): Eisenhardt, Kathleen M.; Galunic, D. Char Publication Date: 01/01/2001 Product Type: HBR OnPoint Article Product Description: HBR OnPoint Articles save you time by enhancing an original Harvard Business Review article with an overview that draws out the main points and an annotated bibliography that points you to related resources. This enables you to scan, absorb, and share the management insights with others. The promise of synergy is the prime rationale for the existence of the multibusiness corporation. Yet for most corporations, the "1-plus-1-equals-3" arithmetic of cross-business synergies doesn't add up. Companies that do achieve synergistic success use a corporate strategic process called coevolving; they routinely change the web of collaborative links among businesses to exploit fresh opportunities for synergies and drop deteriorating ones. The term "coevolution" originated in biology. It refers to the way two or more ecologically interdependent species become intertwined over time. As these species adapt to their environment, they also adapt to one another. Today's multibusiness companies need to take their cue from biology to survive: They should assume that links among businesses are temporary and that the number of connections--not just their content--matters. Rather than plan collaborative strategy from the top, as traditional companies do, corporate executives in coevolving companies should simply set the context and then let collaboration (and competition) emerge from business units. HBS Number: 5866 Subjects: Corporate strategy; Diversified companies; Entrepreneurial management; Strategy implementation Academic Discipline: General management    Coming of Knowledge-Based Business   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Davis, Stan; Botkin, Jim The next wave of economic growth is going to come from knowledge-based businesses. What will those businesses and their products look like? A tire that notifies the driver of its air pressure and a garment that heats or cools in respon HBS Number: 94505 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 9/1/94 Subjects: High technology products; Innovation; Organizational change; Product design; Technological change    Communicate to Set Up Strategy, Not Roadblocks   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Allen, Peter L. Publication Date: 12/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: Managers, take note. For employees to do their best work, they need to really believe that they matter to your organization--and to you. But building work relationships based on empathy, concern, and trust is easier said than done. People can learn to work productively together if they recognize they share common goals. The path to that goal, according to a new book, The Communication Catalyst, is authentic communication. HBS Number: C0212E Subjects: Communication; Communication in organizations; Communication strategy; Management communication Academic Discipline: General management    Communication as a Change Tool   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Robbins, Stever Publication Date: 07/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: Fostering real and lasting change in an organization takes more than issuing a directive from the top--it means getting involved with employees at all levels so that they understand the need for change and are willing to get involved. As this article demonstrates, sometimes it takes a bit of visual flair to communicate the urgency of a proposed change. Beyond that, it also takes the sustained effort of middle management to see the initiative through to completion. HBS Number: C0207C Subjects: Communication in organizations; Management communication; Middle East; Organizational change Academic Discipline: General management    Communication Secrets of Executive Coaches   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Morgan, Nick Publication Date: 09/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: Executive coaches seek to change their clients' dealings with employees through one-on-one conversations at key moments in executives' careers. And the best ones are masters of focused talk; through their conversations, they look to make lasting changes in their clients' behavior. Learn how you can adapt some of their insights to your own business and personal conversations so that you know what to say and when to say it. HBS Number: C0209B Subjects: Communication; Communication in organizations; Communication strategy; Executives; Interpersonal behavior; Interpersonal relations; Management communication Academic Discipline: General management    Compensation: What’s the Big Secret?   Added   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Krattenmaker, Tom Publication Date: 10/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: Even in today's transparent and open workplace, talking about pay--who gets how much and why--is often considered taboo. But a new Knowledge of Pay study shows that more and better communication about compensation can actually boost employees' satisfaction with their pay, leading to stronger commitment to the organization and enhanced trust in management. Learn more about the study and how you can make its findings work for your organization. HBS Number: C0210A Subjects: Business policy; Communication; Communication in organizations; Compensation; Corporate culture; Employee compensation; Management communication; Wages & salaries Academic Discipline: General management    Confrontation Without Conflict   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Craumer, Martha Publication Date: 06/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: Most of us are reluctant to confront a colleague about behavior that's distracting, unprofessional, or just plain rude. But avoiding the problem can affect morale and productivity. This article explains how to defuse potential workplace conflicts while they're still manageable, with a sidebar on how to approach a difficult conversation. HBS Number: C0206A Subjects: Employee morale; Interpersonal behavior; Interpersonal relations; Management communication Academic Discipline: General management    Consensus, Continuity, and Common Sense   Add   View  10 pp.  Article Canion, Rod; Webber, Alan M. Compaq Computer Corp. has established a remarkable performance record: the most successful first and second years of sales in U.S. history; the first company to reach the Fortune "500" in less than five years; the fastest company to hit the $1 billion mark in sales. According to its founder, president, and CEO Rod Canion, the company's growth stems from a strong corporate culture that puts a premium on teamwork and consensus management. Top management tries to retain the continuity and commonsense approach to decision making that was a part of Compaq when it was a startup. The company prides itself on a methodical decision-making process. It ranks costs relatively low on its list of manufacturing priorities. HBS Number: 90404 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 7/1/90 Subjects: Computer industry; Corporate culture; Growth strategy; Interviews; Management styles; Strategic planning    Consequences: The Secret to Holding People Accountable (Guest Column)   Add   View  3 pp.  Article Author(s): Booth, Lila Publication Date: 09/01/2001 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Lila Booth, an executive coach and consultant specializing in organizational culture, discusses the difficulties many managers have at holding their employees accountable for their actions. By drafting an agreement, monitoring performance, applying agreed upon consequences, and updating performance expectations, you will have an easier time holding your employees accountable for their actions. Similarly, your employees will be aware of your expectations and the consequences if they don't uphold their end of the bargain. HBS Number: U0109F Subjects: Accountability; Communication in organizations; Employees; Motivation; Performance effectiveness; Performance measurement Academic Discipline: General management    Control in an Age of Chaos   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Taylor, William How do we build organizations that are skilled enough, smart enough, and, most of all, enduring enough to maneuver through a treacherous competitive environment--without choking on the systems and procedures that create that strength? HBS Number: 94610 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 11/1/94 Subjects: Business policy; Corporate strategy; Management philosophy; Social change    Control in an Age of Empowerment   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Simons, Robert L. A problem facing managers in the 1990s is how to exercise adequate control in organizations that demand flexibility, innovation, and creativity. How do senior managers protect their companies from control failures when employees are encouraged to redefine how they do their jobs? Today's managers must permit employees to initiate process improvements and new ways of responding to customers' needs--but in a controlled way. Fortunately, the tools to reconcile the conflict between creativity and control are at hand: Belief systems communicate core values and inspire all participants to commit to the organization's purpose. Boundary systems establish rules and identify pitfalls. Diagnostic control systems allow managers to ensure that employees are meeting goals efficiently and effectively. And interactive control systems enable top-level managers to focus on strategic uncertainties. HBS Number: 95211 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 3/1/95 Subjects: Control systems; Employee empowerment; Innovation; Organizational behavior    Control in an Age of Empowerment (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition)   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Simons, Robert L. HBR OnPoint Articles save you time by enhancing an original Harvard Business Review article with an overview that draws out the main points and an annotated bibliography that points you to related resources. This enables you to scan, a HBS Number: 3545 Type: HBR OnPoint Article Publication Date: 4/15/00 Subjects: Control systems; Employee empowerment; Innovation; Organizational behavior    Controversial Practice of Forced Ranking   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Gary, Loren Publication Date: 10/01/2001 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: With layoffs the order of the day, bell curve-based methods of identifying a company's worst performing employees are becoming more prevalent. The intentions--ratcheting up the quality and motivation of the workforce--are certainly laudable. But in practice, does forced ranking cause more harm than good? And, is it the best means of improving the average quality of the workforce? Talent management experts offer the positives and negatives of forced ranking and the possible effects it can have in your organization. HBS Number: U0110A Subjects: Discrimination; Employees; Motivation; Performance appraisal; Performance measurement; Work force management Academic Discipline: General management    Conventional Wisdom...with Frances Frei: “Don’t bring me problems — bring me solutions!”   Add   View  3 pp.  Article Author(s): Frei, Frances X.; Bielaszka-Duvernay, Christina Publication Date: 03/01/2007 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article HBS Number: U0703B Subjects: Accountability; Corporate culture; Employee empowerment; Interpersonal relations; Organizational behavior & leadership; Problem management; Problem solving; Process quality Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: One of the more counterproductive things a manager can say is “Don't bring me problems — bring me solutions.” So says Frances Frei, an associate professor at Harvard Business School, who is interviewed in this article by HMU's Christina Bielaszka-DuVernay on how to improve your company's performance — by creating an environment that encourages the identification and solving of problems.    Conversation with... Warren Bennis: Leaders — Don’t Go It Alone   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Bielaszka-DuVernay, Christina Publication Date: 12/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article HBS Number: U0612D Subjects: Corporate culture; Delegation of authority; Executives; Leadership development; Managerial skills; Organizational behavior & leadership; Performance effectiveness; Trust Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: In this interview with noted authority on leadership Warren Bennis, HMU talks with Bennis about the nature of leadership and advice Bennis has for newly appointed leaders.    Co-opting Customer Competence   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Prahalad, C.K.; Ramaswamy, Venkatram Major business trends such as deregulation, globalization, technological convergence, and the rapid evolution of the Internet have transformed the roles that companies play in their dealings with other companies. Business practitioners HBS Number: R00108 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 1/1/00 Subjects: Consumer behavior; Consumer marketing; Corporate strategy; Customer relations; Distribution channels; Marketing strategy; New economy; Product development    Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing Well by Doing Good   Added   View  8 pp.  Article Author(s): Falck, Oliver; Heblich, Stephan Publication Date: 05/15/2007 Product Type: Business Horizons Article Publisher: Business Horizons/Indiana University HBS Number: BH235 Subjects: Corporate social responsibility; Ethics; Principles; Shareholder relations; Stakeholders; Strategic management Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Saving the rain forest from yet another palm oil plantation would certainly garner a company favorable attention from environmentalists, but how would its shareholders react? Shows that by strategically practicing corporate social responsibility (CSR), a company can 'do well by doing good'; in other words, it can make a profit and make the world a better place at the same time. CSR is regarded as voluntary corporate commitment to exceed the explicit and implicit obligations imposed on a company by society's expectations of conventional corporate behavior. Hence, CSR is a way of promoting beneficial social trends in order to enhance society's basic order, which we define as consisting of obligations that cover both the legal framework and social conventions. Due to globalization, companies are now less constrained by society's basic order than they have been in the past. Because different countries have different laws and standards, there are more ways to get away with less than ideal behavior in the quest for greater profits. Nearly everyone agrees that this is not a good thing, but what can be done? Offers an understanding of CSR that could be the answer and contends that practicing CSR is not altruistic do-gooding, but rather a way for both companies and society to prosper. This is especially true when CSR is conceived as a long-range plan of action.    Corporate Strategy: A Manager’s Guide   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Publication Date: 01/01/2000 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Strategy is on every company's agenda, and operating managers are expected to contribute. The first step: knowing which questions to ask. Includes a sidebar entitled "Strategy: Classic Conundrums," and an extensive, annotated list of strategy-related resources. HBS Number: U0001A Subjects: Competitive advantage; Core competency; Corporate strategy; Strategic planning; Strategy formulation Academic Discipline: General management    Cost Center That Paid Its Way   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Kirby, Julia Publication Date: 04/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Eric Palmer arrived at the top floor of Camden Robotics, a supplier of industrial automation tools, excited to tell CEO Tom O'Reilly about his latest win: a print ad account with a well-known local software maker. ``You pulled in more business?'' the boss responded. ``It's really working out, then, isn't it?'' Six months earlier, Palmer, the head of marketing communications at Camden, had been in a less optimistic mood as he'd walked into the executive suite. His department had recently expanded and hired some pricey designers, but because of the economic slowdown, Camden was launching fewer marketing campaigns, and Palmer had feared that his department would be targeted for layoffs. Instead, O'Reilly proposed recasting the marketing function as a business unit. It would continue to provide services to other units within the company, but it would also be free to engage in ``value pricing'' and could propose project work internally just as outside agencies might. In addition, the new group, Creative Central, could serve customers outside Camden in its spare time to earn revenue to defray its expenses. At first, the reaction to the news was overwhelmingly positive across the company. Palmer was thriving in the role of corporate entrepreneur. But several months into the change, the complaints started. As the discontent grows, O'Reilly is left to decide whether this organizational change is working. HBS Number: R0204A Subjects: Competition; HBR case discussions; Marketing strategy; Organizational design; Organizational structure Academic Discipline: General management    Creating an Informal Learning Organization   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Publication Date: 07/01/2000 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: According to some estimates, people learn 70% of what they know about their jobs informally, through processes not sponsored by the company. Managers who recognize the competitive advantage of organizational knowledge want to capture this learning. A first step: foster communities of practice. A second step: capture what is discussed and shared within these learning ecologies. Includes a list of additional resources and the sidebars, "Guide, Don't Micromanage" and "Training: Only the Beginning of Learning." HBS Number: U0007A Subjects: Employee training; Knowledge management; Organizational learning; Organizational structure Academic Discipline: General management    Creating Breakthroughs at 3M   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Von Hippel, Eric; Thomke, Stefan; Sonnack, Mary Most senior managers want their product development teams to create breakthroughs--new products that will allow their companies to grow rapidly and maintain high margins. But more often they get incremental improvements to existing pro HBS Number: 99510 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 9/1/99 Subjects: Corporate strategy; Innovation; Medical supplies; Product development    Creating Breakthroughs at 3M (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition)   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Von Hippel, Eric; Thomke, Stefan; Sonnack, Mary Publication Date: 02/01/2001 Product Type: HBR OnPoint Article HBS Number: 6110 Industry Setting: Medical supplies Subjects: Corporate strategy; Innovation; Product development Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: This is an enhanced edition of HBR article 99510, originally published in September/October 1999. HBR OnPoint articles save you time by enhancing an original Harvard Business Review article with an overview and an annotated bibliography. This enables you to scan, absorb, and share the management insights. Most senior managers want their product development teams to create new products that will allow their companies to grow rapidly and maintain high margins. But more often they get incremental improvements to existing products. That's partly because companies must compete in the short term. In addition, developers simply don't know how to achieve breakthroughs, and there is usually no system in place to guide them. By the mid-1990s, the lack of such a system was a problem even for an innovative company like 3M. Then a project team in 3M's Medical-Surgical Markets Division became acquainted with a method for developing breakthrough products: the lead user process. The process is based on the fact that many commercially important products are initially thought of and even prototyped by “lead users” — companies, organizations, or individuals that are well ahead of market trends. Their needs are so far beyond those of the average user that lead users create innovations on their own that may later contribute to commercially attractive breakthroughs. The lead user process transforms the job of inventing breakthroughs into a systematic task of identifying lead users and learning from them. The authors explain the process and how the 3M project team successfully navigated through it. In    Creating Budget-less Organizations with the Balanced Scorecard   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Boesen, Thomas Publication Date: 11/15/2000 Product Type: Balanced Scorecard Report Article Product Description: Six years ago, Borealis, a leading European plastics company, decided it was time to do away with budgets--no small task for a global company operating in a cyclical, highly technical, and fast-changing industry. Borealis' then-controller Thomas Boesen explains how, thanks to the Balanced Scorecard and other innovative management techniques, the company was able to drop its budgets and gain an edge on the competition. HBS Number: B0011B Subjects: Balanced scorecard; Budgeting; Forecasting; Innovation; Investment management Academic Discipline: General management    Creating Project Plans to Focus Product Development   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Wheelwright, Steven C.; Clark, Kim B. The long-term competitiveness of most manufacturers depends on their product development capabilities. Yet most companies' development process is unruly and unfocused, with a collection of projects that do not match business objectives and consume far more development resources than are available. An "aggregate project plan" can help managers to focus on a set of projects, rather than individual ones. A central element of the plan is the project map, which categorizes projects into five types: breakthrough, platform, derivative, R&D, and partnerships. With the plan, managers can improve resource allocation, project sequencing, and critical development capabilities. HBS Number: 92210 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 3/1/92 Subjects: Aggregate planning; Instruments; Product development; Project management; R&D    Creative Benchmarking   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Iacobucci, Dawn; Nordhielm, Christie Publication Date: 11/01/2000 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Many companies know they should benchmark their business practices against those of companies outside their own industry. But how to begin? Here's a practical guide. HBS Number: F00603 Subjects: Benchmarks; Business processes; Customer service; Process innovation Academic Discipline: General management    Creative Destruction or Concentrating on Your Core: Which Is the Right Path to G   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Mello, Adrian Publication Date: 01/01/2003 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: The path to sustained profitable growth is rarely linear. Instead, it often requires a blend of approaches. Learn how to integrate different approaches and figure out which combination might work best at your company. The ideas in this article are based in part on the discussions of leading practitioners and experts that took place this past October at the Next Generation Growth conference in Cupertino, CA, sponsored by Harvard Business School Publishing. HBS Number: U0301D Subjects: Business growth; Core competency; Corporate strategy; Organizational management; Profitability; Strategic planning; Strategy formulation Academic Discipline: General management    Creative Leadership: Be Your Team’s Chief Innovation Officer   Add   View  6 pp.  Article Author(s): Ross, Judith A. Publication Date: 03/01/2007 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article HBS Number: U0703A Subjects: Brainstorming; Communication in organizations; Creativity; Goals; Ideas; Innovation; Organizational behavior; Work environments Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Creativity drives the innovations that fuel your company's growth, extend its reach, and revitalize its processes. Substantial research demonstrates the connection between the characteristics of a work environment and the quality of the creative problem solving that comes out of it. This article condenses the advice of CEOs, experts on creativity in the workplace, and heads of company research divisions to insightful, workable suggestions for encouraging innovative thinking in your workplace.    Creativity and the Role of the Leader   Added   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Amabile, Teresa M.; Khaire, Mukti Publication Date: 10/01/2008 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0810G Subjects: Collaboration; Creativity; Diversity Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: In today's innovation-driven economy, understanding how to generate great ideas has become an urgent managerial priority. Suddenly, the spotlight has turned on the academics who've studied creativity for decades. How relevant is their research to the practical challenges leaders face? To connect theory and practice, Harvard Business School professors Amabile and Khaire convened a two-day colloquium of leading creativity scholars and executives from companies such as Google, IDEO, Novartis, Intuit, and E Ink. In this article, the authors present highlights of the research presented and the discussion of its implications. At the event, a new leadership agenda began to take shape, one rooted in the awareness that you can't manage creativity — you can only manage for creativity. A number of themes emerged: The leader's job is not to be the source of ideas but to encourage and champion ideas. Leaders must tap the imagination of employees at all ranks and ask inspiring questions. They also need to help their organizations incorporate diverse perspectives, which spur creative insights, and facilitate creative collaboration by, for instance, harnessing new technologies. The participants shared tactics for enabling discoveries, as well as thoughts on how to bring process to bear on creativity without straitjacketing it. They pointed out that process management isn't appropriate in all stages of creative work; leaders should apply it thoughtfully and manage the handoff from idea generators to commercializers deftly. The discussion also examined the need to clear paths through bureaucracy, weed out weak ideas, and maximize the organization's learning from fai    Creativity Is Not Enough (Classic)   Added   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Levitt, Theodore Publication Date: 08/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Creativity is often touted as a miraculous road to organizational growth and affluence. But creative new ideas can hinder rather than help a company if they are put forward irresponsibly. Too often, the creative types who generate a proliferation of ideas confuse creativity with practical innovation. Without understanding the operating executive's day-to-day problems or the complexity of business organizations, they usually pepper their managers with intriguing but short memoranda that lack details about what's at stake or how the new ideas should be implemented. They pass off onto others the responsibility for getting down to brass tacks. In this classic HBR article from 1963, the author, a professor emeritus at Harvard Business School and a former HBR editor, offers suggestions for the person with a great new idea. First, work with the situation as it is--recognize that the executive is already bombarded with problems. Second, act responsibly by including in your proposal at least a minimal indication of the costs, risks, manpower, and time your idea may involve. Extolling corporate creativity at the expense of conformity may, in fact, reduce the creative animation of business. Conformity and rigidity are necessary for corporations to function. HBS Number: R0208K Subjects: Accountability; Creativity; HBR Classics; Innovation; Organizational behavior; Organizational structure; Product development Academic Discipline: General management    Creativity Is Not Enough (Classic) (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition)   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Levitt, Theodore Publication Date: 08/01/2002 Product Type: HBR OnPoint Article Product Description: This is an enhanced edition of HBR article R0208K, a 1963 classic article republished in August 2002. HBR OnPoint articles include the full-text HBR article, plus a synopsis and annotated bibliography. Creativity is often touted as a miraculous road to organizational growth and affluence. But creative new ideas can hinder rather than help a company if they are put forward irresponsibly. Too often, the creative types who generate a proliferation of ideas confuse creativity with practical innovation. Without understanding the operating executive's day-to-day problems or the complexity of business organizations, they usually pepper their managers with intriguing but short memoranda that lack details about what's at stake or how the new ideas should be implemented. They pass off onto others the responsibility for getting down to brass tacks. In this classic HBR article from 1963, the author, a professor emeritus at Harvard Business School and a former HBR editor, offers suggestions for the person with a great new idea. First, work with the situation as it is--recognize that the executive is already bombarded with problems. Second, act responsibly by including in your proposal at least a minimal indication of the costs, risks, manpower, and time your idea may involve. Extolling corporate creativity at the expense of conformity may, in fact, reduce the creative animation of business. Conformity and rigidity are necessary for corporations to function. HBS Number: 1628 Subjects: Accountability; Creativity; HBR Classics; Innovation; Organizational behavior; Organizational structure; Product development Academic Discipline: General management    Creativity Step by Step: A Conversation with Choreographer Twyla Tharp   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Author(s): Tharp, Twyla; Coutu, Diane L. Publication Date: 04/01/2008 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0804B Industry Setting: Performing arts Subjects: Change management; Creativity Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Most people believe that creative genius is a predetermined personality trait reserved for only a gifted few. Tharp — an award-winning choreographer who has revolutionized dance in our time — firmly rejects that notion. “Everyone can be creative,” she says, “but you have to prepare for it with routine.” The winner of a MacArthur fellowship, a Tony award, and two Emmys, Tharp has been the artistic force behind her own dance company, Broadway shows, and TV productions, and has created choreography for movies (including Hair and Amadeus) and leading ballet companies around the world. In this conversation with senior editor Diane Coutu, Tharp shares her thoughts about what it takes to achieve creative breakthroughs: hardheaded practicality, discipline, and ruthlessness about the work. She is unsentimental in her advice to aspiring innovators who worry that they don't have the right stuff: Get over yourself. Get angry, throw a tantrum — just do whatever it takes to get moving, and stop wasting time. Creativity is the result of habit, hard work, and constantly pursuing new challenges. Don't get hung up on originality or on failure; if you never fail, you'll stagnate. Mentors may help guide you to your goals, but don't choose people who will hold your hand. Choose mentors who can teach you, and invent them if you have to. In her no-nonsense way, Tharp also talks about her commitment to being uncompromising in her work, even when it exacted a price (such as forgone vacations and personal relationships) or was otherwise painful (when it involved firing extraordinary people). “It's a te    Crucible of Leadership (Guest Column)   Add   View  3 pp.  Article Author(s): Nelson, Stephen J. Publication Date: 04/01/2001 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Stephen J. Nelson, author of Leaders in the Crucible: The Moral Voice of College Presidents (Princeton University Press, 2000), looks at the challenges that two university presidents had to face as soon as they were chosen to lead. The challenges they faced were similar to ones that many business leaders have to deal with. In both cases, the two presidents sacrificed their own reputations and agendas for the greater good of their institution. HBS Number: U0104D Subjects: Colleges & universities; Communication; Leadership; Management of crises Academic Discipline: General management    Culture: A Force for Alignment   Add   View  29 pp.  Article Author(s): Lorsch, Jay W.; Tierney, Thomas J. Publication Date: 03/12/2002 Product Type: HBS Press Chapter HBS Number: 2381BC Industry Setting: Professional services Subjects: Alignment; Corporate culture; Employee retention; Management of professionals; Organizational change; Organizational development Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: The firms that endure manage their culture to minimize the stress of change, turn to it as a reminder of their course in the face of new challenges, and work to change it to adapt to new circumstances. This chapter focuses on culture as central to shaping behavior and attracting and retaining stars, and discusses how it can be — and must be — managed. May be used with: (2375BC) Introduction: A Reader's Guide: How to Succeed When Professionals Drive Results; (2376BC) Impact and Influence: The World of Professional Services; (2377BC) Strategy: Necessary but Not Sufficient: Aligning Star Performers with Strategic Goals; (2378BC) Turning Talent into Stars: The Enduring Edge; (2379BC) Guiding Your Brightest Stars: The Three-Hat Challenge; (2380BC) Organization: Aligning Stars and Strategy; (2382BC) Leadership without Control: The Power to Persuade: The CEO's Role in a Professional Service Firm; (2383BC) Aligning Your Star: Build a Life, Not a Resume.    Customer-Driven Innovation (HBR Article Collection)   Add   View  48 pp.  Article Author(s): Bettencourt, Lance A.; Ulwick, Anthony W.; Christensen, Clayton M.; Cook, Scott; Hall, Taddy Publication Date: 05/01/2008 Product Type: HBR OnPoint Collection HBS Number: 10098 Subjects: Consumer marketing; Corporate strategy; Customers; Disruptive innovations; Focus; Innovation Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Ninety percent of newly launched consumer products languish on store shelves. Why? Many companies develop supposedly innovative offerings by defining a statistically average customer “type” and then envisioning products that will satisfy that type. But human beings don't behave like statistical averages. So, most new offerings aren't meeting real people's needs. To correct the problem, innovate from real people's perspective — by determining what they want your products or services to do for them. For example, what jobs do they want to accomplish that you could make easier? U-Haul made the job of moving easier by developing prepackaged moving kits containing the right number and types of boxes required for each customer's move. Also, what outcomes do consumers want to generate? Medical-device maker Cordis discovered that cardiologists' desired outcomes included minimized recurrence of arterial blockage in patients. Cordis's resulting innovation — the artery stent — vaulted its stock price fivefold.    Customers as Innovators: A New Way to Create Value (HBR OnPoint Enhanced)   Add   View  20 pp.  Article Author(s): Thomke, Stefan; Von Hippel, Eric Publication Date: 04/01/2002 Product Type: HBR OnPoint Article HBS Number: 9640 Subjects: Computer based modeling; Customization; Innovation; Product design; Product development; Prototypes; R&D; Technological change Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: This is an enhanced edition of the HBR reprint R0204F, originally published in April 2002. HBR OnPoint articles save you time by enhancing an original Harvard Business Review article with an overview that draws out the main points and an annotated bibliography that points you to related resources. This enables you to scan, absorb, and share the management insights with others. Product R&D at many companies is a major bottleneck. The difficulty is that fully understanding the needs of just a single customer can be an inexact and costly process — to say nothing of the needs of all customers or even groups of them. In the course of studying product innovation across many industries, authors Stefan Thomke and Eric von Hippel found several companies that have adopted a completely new, seemingly counterintuitive, approach to product R&D: they have abandoned their efforts to understand exactly what products their customers want; instead, they equip customers with tool kits to design and develop their own products. Doing so can create tremendous value, but capturing that value is hardly a simple or straightforward process. Not only must a company develop the right tool kit, but it must also revamp its business models and management mind-set. When companies relinquish a fundamental task — such as designing a new product — to customers, the two parties must redefine their relationship, and this change can be risky. With customers taking over more of the design, companies must now focus more on providing the best custom manufacturing. In other words, the location where value    Debriefing Dianne Durkin: Secure Your Employees’ Devotion   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Johnson, Lauren Keller Publication Date: 02/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: In a time of declining birthrates and an aging labor force, it's more important than ever to build employee loyalty in the tightening labor market. How do you get employees to commit their minds and hearts to your company? First, recognize that loyalty is a different game now: you need to gain not employees' lifetime commitment but their full dedication while you have them. Then, understand what workers want -- a part in shaping the company's vision, meaningful work, a chance to be heard, trust -- and give it to them. In this debriefing, Dianne Durkin, president and founder of the consulting firm Loyalty Factor, shows you how. HBS Number: U0602D Subjects: Employee attitude; Employee morale; Human resources management; Loyalty; Organizational behavior; Personnel management Academic Discipline: General management    Debriefing Jeswald Salacuse: Communicating Strategically with Direct Reports   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Ross, Judith A. Publication Date: 10/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article HBS Number: U0610C Subjects: Communication in organizations; Communication strategy; Employee development; Human resources management; Interpersonal communications; Leadership; Management communication; Trust Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: The best leaders inspire their direct reports to carry out their organizations' goals enthusiastically. But galvanizing speeches, cogent e-mails, and meticulously prepared PowerPoint presentations go only so far in mobilizing a diversely talented group of people. In this article, HMU talks with Jeswald W. Salacuse, author of Leading Leaders: How to Manage Smart, Talented, Rich, and Powerful People, about how to communicate strategically with your employees to forge bonds, build engagement — and develop valuable human assets for your organization.    Debriefing John Maxwell: When to Push, When to Back Off   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Johnson, Lauren Keller Publication Date: 05/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: In an environment where there is ever more information coming in, an unfiltered approach to information sharing and idea sharing doesn't help anyone. You want to count on your direct reports to make smart choices regarding which information and ideas warrant your attention and when. And your boss counts on the same thing from you. In this debriefing, John Maxwell, co-founder of leadership consultancy Maximum Impact, presents probing questions to help you decide whether to share vital information or advocate an idea — or to back off. HBS Number: U0605B Subjects: Alternatives; Communication; Decision analysis; Ideas; Information sharing; Interpersonal relations; Managing superiors Academic Discipline: General management    Debriefing Luc de Brabandere: Boost Your Company’s Creativity   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Johnson, Lauren Keller Publication Date: 04/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Today, popular tastes mutate continually, and technologies advance at a blistering pace. Businesses must continually innovate to keep up. But leaders who can't detect and respond to rumblings of change — that is, who can't be creative — stand little chance of generating these innovations. The key to creativity, according to Luc de Brabandere, a partner in the Boston Consulting Group, is learning to articulate and change the stereotypes that limit us. In this debriefing, he outlines four rules managers can follow to circumvent these blocks and hone creative powers. HBS Number: U0604C Subjects: Competitive decision making; Competitive strategy; Creativity; Innovation; Management development Academic Discipline: General management    Debriefing Robert Fritz: Telling the Hard Truth About Poor Performance   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Johnson, Lauren Keller Publication Date: 07/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: When confronted by subpar performance — whether from an employee or a division — many of us employ work-arounds rather than directly address the problem, note authors Bruce Bodaken and Robert Fritz in their book The Managerial Moment of Truth. In this debriefing, Harvard Management Update talks with Fritz about the price of these work-arounds and the managerial moment of truth (MMOT) strategy that he and Bodaken assert establishes a cycle of continuous improvement and enhanced employee job satisfaction. MMOT, which can be employed with colleagues as well as with direct reports, involves acknowledging the problem, analyzing it, developing an action plan, and creating a feedback system. HBS Number: U0607C Subjects: Action planning; Conflict; Employee attitude; Feedback; Honesty; Human resources management; Performance; Process analysis; Process improvement Academic Discipline: General management    Debriefing Robert Mittelstaedt: Will Your Next Mistake Be Fatal?   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Johnson, Lauren Keller Publication Date: 12/01/2005 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: In the view of Robert Mittelstaedt, dean of Arizona State University's W. P. Carey School of Business, success breeds dangerous attitudes -- myopia, hubris, egocentricity. These traits, if unchecked, lead to repeated and costly mistakes. In the worst cases, they can bring down companies. By understanding the attitudes that spawn a culture of mistakes, successful organizations can avoid fatal errors. This is not to say that they won't make big mistakes. But by creating detection and analysis systems, seeking outside perspectives, and never taking their eyes off customers' interests, these companies can make fewer mistakes, discover them earlier, and fix them more skillfully and aggressively than less savvy firms. HBS Number: U0512B Subjects: Decision making; Human behavior; Leadership; Organizational behavior; Risk management; Success Academic Discipline: General management    Debriefing Samuel Bacharach: Sharpen Your Political Competence   Added   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Johnson, Lauren Keller Publication Date: 01/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Political competence is often equated with Machiavellianism, but Samuel Bacharach, director of Cornell University's Institute for Workplace Studies, defines this concept in far more positive terms. For Bacharach, it is simply part of being an effective manager. He argues that mastering political competence is a three-step process: (1) mapping your terrain to determine your stakeholders' goals and how your goals will be received, (2) assembling a coalition — a politically mobilized collection of individuals committed to implementing your idea because doing so will generate benefits they value, and (3) getting things done through coalition members who will network with others in your organization to propagate your ideas and translate your message to inspire further action. Read on how to achieve this competence — and how to avoid the complacency that can threaten it. HBS Number: U0601B Subjects: Communication in organizations; Decision making; Group dynamics; Politics; Psychology; Strategic planning Academic Discipline: General management    Debriefing Scott Eblin: Set Yourself Up for Success at the Next Level   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Phoel, Cynthia M. Publication Date: 02/01/2007 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article HBS Number: U0702B Subjects: Communication; Competencies; Executives; Management development; Managers; Promotion from within; Team leadership Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Moving up to an executive role is among the most difficult transitions of a manager's career, says Scott Eblin, author of “The Next Level: What Insiders Know About Executive Success,” the book he wrote to help newly promoted executives step up to the challenge successfully. In this article, HMU talks with Eblin about the practices his book recommends to novice executives as they navigate the sought-after, yet unfamiliar, terrain of their new position.    Debriefing Sunil Gupta: So...How Well Are Your Customers Serving YOU?   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Field, Anne Publication Date: 11/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article HBS Number: U0611C Subjects: 80/20 principle; Business growth; Competition; Customer & client analysis; Customer profitability; Customer retention; Market segmentation; Marketing strategy Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: In this debriefing, HMU spoke with Sunil Gupta, author of Managing Customers as Investments. Gupta maintains that not all customers are created equal. Some simply aren't worth the effort and expense necessary to acquire and retain them. Careful attention to customer profitability helps yield top-line and bottom-line growth — and allows a company to focus its resources on the customers most likely to appreciate the effort. Gupta presents four questions companies should ask themselves to be sure the customers they woo and strive to satisfy are worth their time, money, and creativity.    Debriefing Thomas Davenport: Are You Getting the Most from Your Knowledge Workers?   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Johnson, Lauren Keller Publication Date: 06/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: The knowledge workers who make up 25% to 50% of the workforces of advanced economies invent your new products and services, design your marketing programs, and create your strategies. But how do you know if your knowledge workers are pulling their full weight or are even in a position to do so? Their work is intangible and often invisible. So, according to business guru Tom Davenport, managers of knowledge workers must manage these workers and measure performance in new ways that constitute nothing less than a managerial revolution. HBS Number: U0606C Subjects: Knowledge workers; Management of professionals; Managerial skills; Organizational behavior; Organizational development; Performance management; Performance measurement Academic Discipline: General management    Decision-Making Exercise (A)   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Garvin, David A.; Roberto, Michael A. Students read Growing Pains, a Harvard Business Review (HBR) case study, and then work in teams to come up with recommendations using a consensus approach to decison making. The next day using Decision-Making Exercise (B) and (C) they read Case of the Unhealthy Hospital, another HBR case study, and working in the same teams, use either a dialectical inquiry or devil's advocacy approach to decision making. Questionnaires are used to compare their experiences with the different decison-making processes. Teaching Purpose: To introduce students to different types of decision-making processes, approaches to conflict, and ways that general managers can effectively direct and shape decision making. May be used with: (9-397-032) Decision-Making Exercise (B); (9-397-033) Decision-Making Exercise (C); (91506) The Case of the Unhealthy Hospital; (96408) Growing Pains. HBS Number: 9-397-031 Type: Exercise Publication Date: 8/16/96 Revision Date: 2/23/00 Subjects: Decision making; Teams Supplementary Materials: Teaching Note, (5-398-100), 25p, by David A. Garvin, Michael A. Roberto   Add     25 pp.  Teaching Note For use with 9-397-031 HBS Number: 5-398-100 Subjects: Decision making; Teams    Decisions Don’t Wait   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Grove, Andrew S. Publication Date: 01/01/2003 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: According to Andrew S. Grove, chairman of the board at Intel, when a company's understanding of itself shifts, it goes through a journey akin to moving from one mountain peak to another through a "valley of death." So, how can leaders sort through the confusion to identify what peak to move to next? At Harvard Business School Publishing's Next Generation Growth conference in Cupertino, CA this past October, Grove sat down with Clayton Christensen, Harvard Business School professor, and Walter Kiechel, editorial director of HBSP, to discuss this and other important questions facing business leaders today. HBS Number: U0301B Subjects: Board of directors; Business growth; Business models; Decision making; Innovation; Leadership; Managerial behavior; Strategic planning Academic Discipline: General management    Decisions: Will You Help or Heave Your Underperformers?   Add   View  3 pp.  Article Author(s): Michelman, Paul Publication Date: 03/01/2004 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Experts advise on what to do with underperforming managers. Finding and replacing key managers is an arduous and time-consuming task -- but you can't tolerate underperformance. In making the choice whether to keep an underperforming manager, you owe it to yourself, your organization, and the manager in question to take at least one shot at diagnosing and addressing the underlying causes of unsatisfactory performance -- especially if the employee has shown value in the past. HBS Number: U0403D Subjects: Employee problems; Employee retention; Leadership; Management performance; Management philosophy; Performance appraisal; Performance effectiveness Academic Discipline: General management    Dedicated Assets: Japan’s Manufacturing Edge   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Dyer, Jeffrey H. U.S. managers know that the formidable success of Japanese automakers stems to a great extent from their close relationships with suppliers. Toyota, Nissan, and others, working closely with their respective lean-production networks of HBS Number: 94603 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 11/1/94 Subjects: Automobiles; Japan; Manufacturing strategy; Suppliers    Defining Next-Generation Products: An Inside Look   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Tabrizi, Behnam; Walleigh, Rick The continued success of technology-based companies depends on their proficiency in creating next-generation products and their derivatives. So getting such products out the door on schedule must be routine for such companies, right? N HBS Number: 97610 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 11/1/97 Subjects: Computer industry; Product development; Product introduction; Technology    Defining Property Rights: The Case of Knowledge-Based Resources   Add   View  14 pp.  Article Author(s): Costello, Ayse Olcay; Costello, Thomas G. Publication Date: 04/01/2005 Product Type: CMR Article Publisher: California Management Review Product Description: Advances in information technology, together with increasing economic globalization, are creating dilemmas regarding the levels of definition of property rights that exist with respect to knowledge-based resources. The issues at stake include enforcing property rights of companies without alienating consumers and making knowledge-based resources affordable. Proposes a framework to help resolve these dilemmas and predict the costs vs. benefits of defining the property rights over resources. The costs vs. benefits are mainly determined by: capture costs and rent dissipation created by nonexclusivity of the resource; exchange and policing costs related to the resource; costs of reduced investment created by nonexclusivity of the resource; exchange value of the resource; and the social costs of exclusivity of the resource. HBS Number: CMR314 Subjects: Copyright; Cost analysis; Intellectual property; Knowledge management Academic Discipline: General management    Delivering on the Promise of Nonprofits   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Stone, Nan; Tierney, Thomas J.; Bradach, Jeffrey L. Publication Date: 12/01/2008 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0812G Subjects: Goal setting; Nonprofits Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: As U.S. nonprofits take on an increasing share of society's work, they face mounting pressure from stakeholders — donors, boards, employees — to show results. To make the greatest possible impact, they need to explicitly state the outcomes they're aiming for and how they plan to accomplish those goals. The authors, of the Bridgespan Group, say organizations should start by rigorously addressing a few interdependent questions: Which results will we hold ourselves accountable for? How will we achieve them? What will the results really cost, and how can we fund them? How do we build the organization we need to deliver those results? Together, those questions provide a framework for developing pragmatic, specific plans of action. Rheedlen Centers for Children and Families stepped up its performance by using such a framework. Ten years ago, the agency offered a host of programs — including an initiative called the Harlem Children's Zone — designed to improve the lives of poor children in devastated U.S. communities. Despite Rheedlen's efforts, supported by a $7 million budget, the prospects for Harlem's children appeared to be getting worse. So the organization changed its name simply to the Harlem Children's Zone, and linked its mission to a concrete statement of intended impact: namely, that 3,000 children, ages 0 to 18, living in the zone should have demographic and achievement profiles consistent with those found in an average U.S. middle-class community. HCZ's leaders discontinued or transitioned out of activities that were not in line with that outcome and took on new ones that were. They also diversified HCZ's funding, sh    Desperately Seeking Growth: The Virtues of Tending to Your Core (Guest Column)   Add   View  3 pp.  Article Author(s): Zook, Chris Publication Date: 06/01/2001 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Chris Zook, author of Profit from the Core (Harvard Business School Press, 2001), looks at the idea of profitability in today's economy. If you think that Internet companies distinguish themselves from the rest of the economy by failing to turn a profit, Zook explains that even in the best of times, 9 out of 10 management teams fail to sustain profitable growth. Zook believes that the answer to profitability lies in examining your core businesses. Among his suggestions: narrow your focus, think inside the box, assume your core business is underperforming, and reinvest in your core. HBS Number: U0106E Subjects: Business growth; Business models; Growth management; Profitability; Profitability analysis Academic Discipline: General management    Desperately Seeking Synergy   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Goold, Michael; Campbell, Andrew Managers can separate the real opportunities for synergy from the mirages, say Michael Goold and Andrew Campbell of the Ashridge Strategic Management Centre, by taking a more disciplined approach to synergy. Corporate executives have s HBS Number: 98504 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 9/1/98 Subjects: Corporate culture; Corporate strategy; Management philosophy; Management styles; Organizational behavior; Organizational management    Detours in the Path toward Strategic Information Systems Alignment   Add   View  23 pp.  Article Author(s): Hirschheim, Rudy; Sabherwal, Rajiv Publication Date: 10/01/2001 Product Type: CMR Article Publisher: California Management Review Product Description: In studying strategic information systems (IS) alignment, it is important to examine the associated processes over time rather than view alignment as an isolated event. This article focuses on how organizations undergo a series of interdependent changes in business strategy and IS strategy to increase the alignment between them. Based primarily on detailed case studies of changes over long time periods in three organizations, the research suggests that this process of adaptation and change, which allows alignment to occur, is more complex than previously believed. Although efforts to achieve alignment between IS and the business do sometimes succeed, they often go astray. There are three such potentially problematic trajectories--excessive transformation, paradoxical decisions, and uncertain turnarounds. This article identifies some factors explaining why organizations might pursue these problematic trajectories and offers some suggestions for avoiding them. HBS Number: CMR216 Subjects: Corporate strategy; Information systems; Management of change; Organizational change Academic Discipline: General management    Developing Products on Internet Time   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Iansiti, Marco; MacCormack, Alan The rise of the World Wide Web provided one of the most challenging environments for product development in recent history. The market needs that a product is meant to satisfy and the technologies required to satisfy them can change ra HBS Number: 97505 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 9/1/97 Subjects: Information technology; Innovation; Product development    Development Projects: The Engine of Renewal   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Bowen, H. Kent; Clark, Kim B.; Holloway, Charles A.; Wheelwright, Steven C. During the last decade, U.S. manufacturers have narrowed if not eliminated the competitive gap between themselves and such foreign rivals as the Japanese and the Germans. But how can they take the lead and retain it? What will it take HBS Number: 94501 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 9/1/94 Subjects: Competition; Corporate strategy; Innovation; Organizational development; Product development; Project management    Digital Strategist or Traditional Strategy Firm — Which Is Best for You?   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Publication Date: 11/01/2000 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: When the so-called digital strategists exploded onto the scene about two years ago, they stole good deal of business from their old-guard consulting counterparts. Then came the April tech-stock correction and many e-consultants folded alongside their dot-com clients. Now, many digital strategists position themselves as general management experts with e-capabilities. So which is right for your organization--a traditional management consulting firm or a digital strategist? Here's what you need to consider before making that decision. HBS Number: U0011A Subjects: Consultants; Consulting firms; Electronic commerce; Strategic planning Academic Discipline: General management    Direct from the C-Suite: Managing Through Mergers   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Denman, Ken Publication Date: 12/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article HBS Number: U0612B Subjects: Acquisitions; Change management; Communication; Integration planning; Mergers; Organizational change; Uncertainty; Vision Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Ken Denman, CEO of iPass, a company that provides Internet/intranet/e-mail connectivity solutions for corporations having traveling and telecommuting employees, shares five critical lessons about mergers drawing from his recent experience of managing three acquisitions in under three years.    Discipline of Creativity   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Baldoni, John Publication Date: 03/01/2003 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: In this tough economic environment, it's easy for companies to talk about "returning to the basics" until conditions improve. But some companies will do the opposite: crank up the energy, increase creativity, and innovate their way out of the downturn. But to accomplish this, you need to develop new ways of being creative, and certainly innovation can't happen without excellent communication from the top. Learn how to send out strong, clear messages to your employees to encourage their creativity and to keep their great ideas bubbling up to the surface. HBS Number: C0303A Subjects: Communication; Communication in organizations; Communication strategy; Creativity; Innovation; Interpersonal relations; Management communication; Organizational behavior Academic Discipline: General management    Discipline of Execution   Add   View  3 pp.  Article Author(s): Contrada, Michael Publication Date: 03/15/2003 Product Type: Balanced Scorecard Report Article Product Description: As the business world recovers from the irrational exuberance of the new economy--and its reliance on rosy forecasts instead of real financial disclosures--executives are rediscovering the fundamentals of strategy execution. The tenacious bestseller Execution, by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan, makes the case that getting results consistently comes from practicing the "discipline of execution." In effect, the authors are pointing to the Strategy-Focused Organization and its foundation system, the Balanced Scorecard. HBS Number: B0303E Subjects: Balanced scorecard; Executives; Strategy formulation; Strategy implementation Academic Discipline: General management    Discipline of Innovation   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Drucker, Peter F. In this HBR Classic article, Peter Drucker, Professor Emeritus at Claremont Graduate University, argues that success is more likely to result from the systematic pursuit of opportunities than from a flash of genius. For managers seekin HBS Number: 98604 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 11/1/98 Subjects: Creativity; Entrepreneurship; HBR Classics; Innovation    Discipline of Innovation (Classic)   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Drucker, Peter F. Publication Date: 08/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: How much of innovation is inspiration, and how much is hard work? The answer lies somewhere in the middle, says management thinker Peter Drucker. In this HBR classic from 1985, he argues that innovation is real work that can and should be managed like any other corporate function. Success is more likely to result from the systematic pursuit of opportunities than from a flash of genius. Indeed, most innovative business ideas arise through the methodical analysis of seven areas of opportunity. Within a company or industry, opportunities can be found in unexpected occurrences, incongruities of various kinds, process needs, or changes in an industry or market. Outside a company, opportunities arise from demographic changes, changes in perception, or new knowledge. There is some overlap among the sources, and the potential for innovation may well lie in more than one area at a time. Innovations based on new knowledge tend to have the greatest effect on the marketplace, but it often takes decades before the ideas are translated into actual products, processes, or services. The other sources of innovation are easier and simpler to handle, yet they still require managers to look beyond established practices, Drucker explains. The author emphasizes that innovators need to look for simple, focused solutions to real problems. HBS Number: R0208F Subjects: Creativity; Entrepreneurship; HBR Classics; Innovation Academic Discipline: General management    Discipline of Innovation (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition)   Added   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Drucker, Peter F. Publication Date: 05/01/2000 Product Type: HBR OnPoint Article HBS Number: 3480 Subjects: Creativity; Entrepreneurship; HBR Classics; Innovation Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: This is an enhanced edition of the HBR article R0208F, originally published in August 2002. HBR OnPoint Articles save you time by enhancing an original Harvard Business Review article with an overview and an annotated bibliography. This enables you to scan, absorb, and share the management insights. In this HBR Classic article, Peter Drucker, Professor Emeritus at Claremont Graduate University, argues that success is more likely to result from the systematic pursuit of opportunities than from a flash of genius. For managers seeking innovation, engaging in disciplined work is more important than having an entrepreneurial personality. Writing originally in the May-June 1985 issue, Drucker describes the major sources of opportunities for innovation. Within a company or industry, opportunities can be found in unexpected occurrences, incongruities of various kinds, process needs, or changes in an industry or market. Outside a company, opportunities arise from demographic changes, changes in perception, or new knowledge. These seven sources overlap, and the potential for innovation may well lie in more than one area at a time. Innovations based on new knowledge, of course, tend to have the greatest effect on the marketplace. But it often takes decades before the ideas are translated into actual products, processes, or services. The other sources of innovation are easier and simpler to handle, yet they still require managers to look beyond established practices. Drucker emphasizes that in seeking opportunities, innovators need to look for simple, focused solutions to real problems. Grandiose ideas designed to revolutionize an industry rarely work. Innovation, like any other e    Discovering New Points of Differentiation   Added   View  12 pp.  Article MacMillan, Ian C.; Gunther McGrath, Rita Most profitable strategies are built on differentiation: offering customers something they value that competitors don't have. But most companies concentrate only on their products or services. In fact, a company can differentiate itsel HBS Number: 97408 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 7/1/97 Subjects: Creativity; Marketing strategy; Product design; Product development; Product management; Product positioning    Discovering New Value in Intellectual Property   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Rivette, Kevin; Kline, David Intellectual property? Five years ago, that phrase wasn't even in the vocabularies of many CEOs, let alone a part of their business strategies. Indeed, many chief executives still regard patents, trademarks, copyrights, and other forms HBS Number: R00109 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 1/1/00 Subjects: Innovation; Intellectual property; Patents    Disruptive Innovation for Social Change   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Christensen, Clayton M.; Baumann, Heiner; Ruggles, Rudy; Sadtler, Thomas M. Publication Date: 12/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0612E Subjects: Disruptive innovations; Disruptive technologies; Innovation; Microfinance; Social enterprise; Social issues Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Countries, organizations, and individuals around the globe spend aggressively to solve social problems, but these efforts often fail to deliver. Misdirected investment is the primary reason for that failure. Most of the money earmarked for social initiatives goes to organizations that are structured to support specific groups of recipients, often with sophisticated solutions. Such organizations rarely reach the broader populations that could be served by simpler alternatives. There is, however, an effective way to get to those underserved populations. The authors call it “catalytic innovation.” Based on Clayton Christensen's disruptive-innovation model, catalytic innovations challenge organizational incumbents by offering simpler, good-enough solutions aimed at underserved groups. Unlike disruptive innovations, though, catalytic innovations are focused on creating social change. Catalytic innovators are defined by five distinct qualities. First, they create social change through scaling and replication. Second, they meet a need that is either overserved (that is, the existing solution is more complex than necessary for many people) or not served at all. Third, the products and services they offer are simpler and cheaper than alternatives, but recipients view them as good enough. Fourth, they bring in resources in ways that initially seem unattractive to incumbents. And fifth, they are often ignored, put down, or even discouraged by existing organizations, which don't see the catalytic innovators' solutions as viable. As the authors show    Disruptive Innovation for Social Change (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition)   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Christensen, Clayton M.; Baumann, Heiner; Ruggles, Rudy; Sadtler, Thomas M. Publication Date: 12/01/2006 Product Type: HBR OnPoint Article HBS Number: 1683 Subjects: Disruptive innovations; Disruptive technologies; Innovation; Social enterprise; Social issues; Social programs; Social services Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Countries, organizations, and individuals around the globe spend aggressively to solve social problems, but these efforts often fail to deliver. Misdirected investment is the primary reason for that failure. Most of the money earmarked for social initiatives goes to organizations that are structured to support specific groups of recipients, often with sophisticated solutions. Such organizations rarely reach the broader populations that could be served by simpler alternatives. There is, however, an effective way to get to those underserved populations. The authors call it “catalytic innovation.” Based on Clayton Christensen's disruptive-innovation model, catalytic innovations challenge organizational incumbents by offering simpler, good-enough solutions aimed at underserved groups. Unlike disruptive innovations, though, catalytic innovations are focused on creating social change. Catalytic innovators are defined by five distinct qualities. First, they create social change through scaling and replication. Second, they meet a need that is either overserved (that is, the existing solution is more complex than necessary for many people) or not served at all. Third, the products and services they offer are simpler and cheaper than alternatives, but recipients view them as good enough. Fourth, they bring in resources in ways that initially seem unattractive to incumbents. And fifth, they are often ignored, put down, or even discouraged by existing organizations, which don't see the catalytic innovators' solutions as viable. As the author    Do You Have a Well-Designed Organization?   Added   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Goold, Michael; Campbell, Andrew Publication Date: 03/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0203K Subjects: Business unit; Corporate control; Corporate reorganization; Management controls; Matrix organization; Organizational design; Organizational structure Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: For most companies, organization design is neither a science nor an art; it's an oxymoron. Organizational structures evolve in fits and starts, shaped more by politics than by policies. Although most executives can sense when their organization designs are not working well, few take meaningful action, partly because they lack a practical framework to guide them. The authors of this article provide just such a framework; they present nine tests that can be used either to evaluate an existing organization design or create a new one. Four “fit” tests offer an initial screen: The market advantage test asks whether a design directs sufficient management attention to the company's sources of competitive advantage; the parenting advantage test determines whether the design gives enough attention to the corporate-level activities that provide real value to the company; the people test shows whether the design reflects the employees' strengths; and the feasibility test looks at constraints that may impede implementation. Five “good design” tests can help a company refine its prospective design. The specialist cultures test ensures that there's sufficient insulation for units that need to be different from the prevailing culture; the difficult-links test determines whether a design offers solutions for potentially problematic unit-to-unit links; the redundant-hierarchy test asks whether the design has too many parent levels; the accountability test looks at whether every unit has suitable controls; and the flexibility test ensures th    Do You Know What’s in Your Leadership Pipeline?   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Nelson, Stephen J. Publication Date: 05/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Some recent indicators suggest that the U.S. economy is emerging from the doldrums. Although this is good news, it might bring with it a hard realization for some companies looking to accelerate growth: they lack the leadership talent to do so. The solution to this performance gap has less to do with hiring more or new people than it does with addressing the underlying problem: your company's leadership gap. Companies often use gap analysis to identify competitive weaknesses, but few think about applying gap analysis techniques to their leadership-development issues. Learn how to use gap analysis to identify your company's leadership needs and to develop the talent to fill them. HBS Number: U0205A Subjects: Communication in organizations; Employee development; Employee empowerment; Leadership; Learning; Managerial skills; Managers; Organizational management Academic Discipline: General management    Doing Business in a Dangerous World   Add   View  3 pp.  Article Author(s): Bremer, L. Paul; Morse, Gardiner Publication Date: 04/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: U.S. businesses face many dangers in the global marketplace these days, from threats of political violence to shifting investment risks in emerging markets. Ambassador L. Paul Bremer, the former chair of the National Commission on Terrorism, discusses ways to mitigate these threats. HBS Number: F0204C Subjects: Globalization; Investment management; Political risk Academic Discipline: General management    Don’t Homogenize, Synchronize   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Sawhney, Mohanbir Publication Date: 07/01/2001 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: To be more responsive to customers, companies often break down organizational walls between their units--setting up all manner of cross-business and cross-functional task forces and working groups and promoting a "one-company" culture. But such attempts can backfire by distracting business and functional units and by contaminating their strategies and processes. Fortunately, there's a better way, says the author. Rather than tear down organizational walls, a company can make them permeable to information. It can synchronize all its data on products, filtering the information through linked databases and applications and delivering it in a coordinated, meaningful form to customers. As a result, the organization can present a single, unified face to the customer--one that can change as market conditions warrant--without imposing homogeneity on its people. Such synchronization can lead to stronger customer relationships, more sales, and greater operational efficiency as well as sustain product innovation--goals that have traditionally been difficult to achieve simultaneously. HBS Number: R0107G Subjects: Information management; Information technology; Organizational structure; Product lines; Product management Academic Discipline: General management    Don’t Let Layoffs Ruin Customer Service   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Guterman, Jimmy Publication Date: 03/12/2009 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article HBS Number: U0903C Subjects: Customer service; Downsizing; Recessions Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: The current downturn has every leader thinking of ways to cut costs. Layoffs are an obvious response to dwindling profits, but they can be counterproductive in both the short- and the long-term. Why? Because happy customers and happy employees reinforce one another. Before resorting to layoffs, look for ways to cut costs that don't undermine the morale of your workforce or the quality of your customer service. By thinking creatively, you can support both your employees and your customers — even in a recession.    Don’t Let Stress Strain Communication   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Field, Anne Publication Date: 01/01/2003 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: Stress is endemic to the workplace today. One of the most potentially troublesome results of stress for managers is what it can do to your ability to communicate--and to others' ability to communicate with you. Just when you need to be operating at utmost efficiency, stress can complicate and distort communication in a variety of ways. Read the nine steps that you can take to avoid communication disasters caused by stress. HBS Number: C0301D Subjects: Communication; Communication in organizations; Communication strategy; Employees; Interpersonal relations; Management communication; Stress Academic Discipline: General management    Don’t Let Your Brand Falter During a Downturn   Add   View  3 pp.  Article Author(s): Pierce, Andrew; Almquist, Eric Publication Date: 08/01/2001 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: CEOs in many industries now see brands as a source of strategic control, yet brand-building has always been among the first budget cuts in a recession, observe these two Mercer Management Consulting authors. Even if the current downturn continues, maintaining or even increasing your brand-building expenditures can help your company improve its mind share and its market capitalization. HBS Number: U0108E Subjects: Brand equity; Brand management; Customer relations; Strategic market planning Academic Discipline: General management    Don’t Let Your Customer Service Suffer When Your Workforce Shrinks   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Guterman, Jimmy Publication Date: 01/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: In today's recessionary economy, nearly all the fat has been cut from many companies. Now, to remain in business, companies are finding they need to cut muscle as well. The result? Employees who survive layoffs are often less motivated and more uncertain about their futures. Service suffers, prompting customers to jump ship. Learn how you can keep remaining employees satisfied, lose nonproducing customers, and foster a loyal mix of both customers and employees. HBS Number: U0201C Subjects: Customer relations; Customer service; Employee morale; Employees; Loyalty; Managerial behavior; Work force management Academic Discipline: General management    Don’t Push That Send Button!   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Morgan, Nick Publication Date: 08/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: These days, e-mail is ubiquitous. But although users are familiar with the power and possibilities of the medium, many questions remain: How do you use e-mail effectively? When is it the right vehicle? When is it the wrong one? What is the proper etiquette? Three years ago, Harvard Management Communication Letter issued the ten commandments of e-mail. This article revisits the topic to see which commandments still hold and which are passe. HBS Number: C0208E Subjects: Business etiquette; Telecommunications; Writing Academic Discipline: General management    Don’t Throw Good Money (or Time) After Bad   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Guterman, Jimmy Publication Date: 05/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Have you ever chased after the sunk cost of an investment that was no longer recoverable? Often, people's ability to answer yes or no to this question depends on whether the investment was one of time or money. Because people tend to be more accustomed to accounting for money, they are more likely to give prior monetary investments undue importance in deciding whether to kill a failing project. To ensure that you don't escalate your company's commitment to a product, person, or strategy beyond a reasonable point, read the tried-and-true tips in this article to help you identify a sunk-cost trap before you pour too much money or time down a rat hole. HBS Number: U0205D Subjects: Business failures; Corporate strategy; Cost benefit analysis; Decision making; Investment management; Project management Academic Discipline: General management    Easy on the Eyes   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Sandberg, Kirsten D. Publication Date: 08/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: In this lively Q&A, renowned graphic designer Nigel Holmes offers his views on how graphics are used to convey information. In addition to sketching out best practices for creating charts and presentation graphics, he ruminates on a variety of related themes, including the way people take in visual information and the role and influence of PowerPoint in today's business. A sidebar distills this thinking into a handy list of do's and don'ts. HBS Number: C0208C Subjects: Communication; Presentations Academic Discipline: General management    Effective Decision   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Drucker, Peter F. Effective decision-making requires a distinct sequence of steps. The sequence includes identifying a generic or unique problem, defining the issues of the problem, determining the required specifications, deciding what is right rather than what is acceptable, building action into the decision, and using feedback which tests the validity. HBS Number: 67105 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 1/1/67 Subjects: Decision making; Managerial skills    Effective Oversight: A Guide for Nonprofit Directors   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Herzlinger, Regina E. More than ever, the public is looking to the nonprofit sector to address the pressing social problems that are hobbling the United States. As a result, all nonprofits face increased scrutiny from both benefactors and government regulators. To survive under this spotlight, a nonprofit needs a powerful and proactive board of directors to provide oversight. The board must assume the roles played in a business by owners and the market, ensuring that the nonprofit accomplishes its mission efficiently and devising its own system of measurement and control. Four questions help board members create such a system: 1) Are the organization's goals consistent with its financial resources? 2) Is the organization practicing intergenerational equity? 3) Are the sources and uses of funds appropriately matched? 4) Is the organization sustainable? HBS Number: 94404 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 7/1/94 Subjects: Board of directors; Nonprofit accounting; Nonprofit organizations; Social enterprise

Eight Ways to Build Collaborative Teams   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Gratton, Lynda; Erickson, Tamara J. Publication Date: 11/01/2007 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0711F Subjects: Collaboration; Teamwork Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Executing complex initiatives like acquisitions or an IT overhaul requires a breadth of knowledge that can be provided only by teams that are large, diverse, virtual, and composed of highly educated specialists. The irony is, those same characteristics have an alarming tendency to decrease collaboration on a team. What's a company to do? Gratton, a London Business School professor, and Erickson, president of the Concours Institute, studied 55 large teams and identified those with strong collaboration despite their complexity. Examining the team dynamics and environment at firms ranging from Royal Bank of Scotland to Nokia to Marriott, the authors isolated eight success factors: (1) “Signature” relationship practices that build bonds among the staff, in memorable ways that are particularly suited to a company's business; (2) Role models of collaboration among executives, which help cooperation trickle down to the staff; (3) The establishment of a “gift culture,” in which managers support employees by mentoring them daily, instead of a transactional “tit-for-tat culture; “ (4) Training in relationship skills, such as communication and conflict resolution; (5) A sense of community, which corporate HR can foster by sponsoring group activities; (6) Ambidextrous leadership, or leaders who are both task-oriented and relationship-oriented; (7) Good use of heritage relationships, by populating teams with members who know and trust one another; and (8) Role clarity and task ambiguity, achieved by defining individual roles sharply but giving teams latitude on approach. As teams have grown from a standard of 20 members to comprise 100 or more, te    Emergence of Emerging Technologies   Add   View  19 pp.  Article Author(s): Adner, Ron; Levinthal, Daniel A. Publication Date: 10/01/2002 Product Type: CMR Article Publisher: California Management Review Product Description: What is discontinuous about the moment of radical technological change? Discontinuity typically does not lie in a radical advancement in technology itself; rather, it stems from a shift of an existing technical lineage to a new domain of application. Seeming revolutions such as wireless communication and the Internet did not stem from an isolated technical breakthrough; rather, their spectacular commercial impact was achieved when an existing technology was reapplied in a new application domain. The biological notion of speciation events, which form the basis for the theory of punctuated equilibrium, can reconcile the process of incremental technical change with the radical change associated with the shift of an existing technology to a new application domain. This concept can assist managers to cope with, and potentially exploit, such change processes. HBS Number: CMR241 Subjects: Emerging markets; Management of change; Technological change; Technology Academic Discipline: General management    Employee-Customer-Profit Chain at Sears   Add   View  20 pp.  Article Rucci, Anthony J.; Kirn, Steven P.; Quinn, Richard T. It is no longer news that over the past five years, Sears, Roebuck and Co. has radically changed the way it does business and dramatically improved its financial results. But the now-famous Sears turnaround was more than a strategic an HBS Number: 98109 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 1/1/98 Subjects: Customer relations; Customer service; Employee attitude; Employee empowerment; Organizational management; Performance measurement; Retailing    Employee-Customer-Profit Chain at Sears (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition)   Add   View  24 pp.  Article Rucci, Anthony J.; Kirn, Steven P.; Quinn, Richard T. HBR OnPoint Articles save you time by enhancing an original Harvard Business Review article with an overview that draws out the main points and an annotated bibliography that points you to related resources. This enables you to scan, a HBS Number: 3537 Type: HBR OnPoint Article Publication Date: 4/15/00 Subjects: Customer relations; Customer service; Employee attitude; Employee empowerment; Organizational management; Performance measurement; Retailing    Enabling a Whole New (and Customer-Focused) Structure at the DLA   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Archer, Raymond A. Publication Date: 11/15/2002 Product Type: Balanced Scorecard Report Article Product Description: Whether it's spare parts for the Apache helicopters or wool socks for the Tenth Mountain Division, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) keeps the U.S. military supplied. The 28,000-person agency supplies the vast majority of products the military uses, amounting to more than $20 billion a year in sales. When the DLA decided to modernize, it realized just how handicapped it was: no strategic direction, customer focus, or established management practices. Admiral Ray Archer, the number two in command, enlisted the Balanced Scorecard in the DLA's transformation effort. Just before retiring in June, the admiral spoke to BSR. HBS Number: B0211C Subjects: Balanced scorecard; Corporate strategy; Customer relations; Defense industry; Management styles; Strategy formulation; Strategy implementation Academic Discipline: General management    Enabling the Strategy-Focused IT Organization   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Gold, Robert S. Publication Date: 09/15/2001 Product Type: Balanced Scorecard Report Article Product Description: IT must become more strategy focused--on this point IT managers and their business unit customers agree. Yet as IT organizations struggle to maintain costs, it's often difficult to remain focused on the task of creating value for the organization as well. The Balanced Scorecard can help, says Robert Gold, by creating a shared language between IT and its business unit customers and by helping to balance cost and quality with agility and innovation. HBS Number: B0109E Subjects: Balanced scorecard; Competitive advantage; Information technology; Strategy formulation Academic Discipline: General management    End of Corporate Imperialism   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Prahalad, C.K.; Lieberthal, Kenneth In order to stay competitive, multinational corporations will have to compete in the emerging markets of China, Indonesia, India, and Brazil, where a vast consumer base is rapidly developing. As powerful corporations like Unilever, Ci HBS Number: 98408 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 7/1/98 Subjects: China; Country analysis; Developing countries; Emerging markets; India; International business; International marketing; Multinational corporations; South America    Enlightened Experimentation: The New Imperative for Innovation   Add   View  20 pp.  Article Author(s): Thomke, Stefan Publication Date: 02/01/2001 Product Type: HBR OnPoint Article Product Description: HBR OnPoint Articles save you time by enhancing an original Harvard Business Review article with an overview that draws out the main points and an annotated bibliography that points you to related resources. This enables you to scan, absorb, and share the management insights with others. The high cost of experimentation has long put a damper on companies' attempts to create great new products. But new technologies are making it easier than ever to conduct complex experiments quickly and cheaply. Companies can now take innovation to a whole new level, contends Stefan Thomke, if they're willing to rethink their R&D from the ground up. Thomke argues that new technologies affect everything, from the development process itself--including the way an R&D organization is structured--to how new knowledge is created. So companies that are trying to be more innovative face both managerial and technical challenges. Drawing on his research in the pharmaceutical, automotive, and software industries, Thomke introduces the following four rules for enlightened experimentation: organize for rapid experimentation; fail early and often, but avoid mistakes; anticipate and exploit early information; and combine new and old technologies. The article uses real-world examples to explain each rule in detail. It also suggests how this system of experimentation will affect other industries and examines the implications for knowledge workers. HBS Number: 6099 Subjects: Management of change; Organizational change; Pharmaceuticals industry; Product development; Research & development; Software industry; Technological change; Value of information Academic Discipline: General management    Enlightened Experimentation: The New Imperative for Innovation   Add   View  12 pp.  Article Author(s): Thomke, Stefan Publication Date: 02/01/2001 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: The high cost of experimentation has long put a damper on companies' attempts to create great new products. But new technologies are making it easier than ever to conduct complex experiments quickly and cheaply. Companies can now take innovation to a whole new level, contends Stefan Thomke, if they're willing to rethink their R&D from the ground up. Thomke argues that new technologies affect everything, from the development process itself--including the way an R&D organization is structured--to how new knowledge is created. So companies that are trying to be more innovative face both managerial and technical challenges. Drawing on his research in the pharmaceutical, automotive, and software industries, Thomke introduces the following four rules for enlightened experimentation: organize for rapid experimentation; fail early and often, but avoid mistakes; anticipate and exploit early information; and combine new and old technologies. The article uses real-world examples to explain each rule in detail. It also suggests how this system of experimentation will affect other industries and examines the implications for knowledge workers. HBS Number: R0102D Subjects: Management of change; Organizational change; Pharmaceuticals industry; Product development; Research & development; Software industry; Technological change; Value of information Academic Discipline: General management    Essentials: Make Every Meeting Matter   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Krattenmaker, Tom Publication Date: 12/01/2007 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article HBS Number: U0712B Subjects: Collaboration; Communication in organizations; Meetings; Organizational behavior; Time management Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: In today's workplace, time is in short supply. Unfortunately, meetings aren't. Yet when meetings are at their best, they're a place where people can be creative together, where they can integrate different perspectives, knowledge, and experience. How can you make sure your meetings are productive? In this article, experts offer practical suggestions for having meetings that enhance rather than hinder your organization's success.    Essentials: Micromanage at Your Peril   Add   View  3 pp.  Article Author(s): Bielaszka-Duvernay, Christina Publication Date: 02/01/2007 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article HBS Number: U0702D Subjects: Human resources management; Management techniques; Micromanagement; Morale; Organizational behavior; Performance; Productivity; Quality Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: It's a natural tendency, even among the most seasoned managers, to think that a close examination of a direct report's work will make it better. Even though such scrutiny might reveal opportunities for improvement, too much oversight tells an employee you don't trust his or her work or judgment. The result: disengagement, costing significant losses in productivity. This article provides tips on how to avoid the pattern of micromanaging so that both you and your employees will be more productive.    Essentials: The Building Blocks of Strategy   Added   View  4 pp.  Article Publication Date: 01/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: If you haven't had a great deal of experience with formulating a strategy for your business or unit, you're in good company. It's not an everyday activity. This article walks you through the steps you need to take: (1) scan the outer environment for threats and opportunities; (2) look inside at resources, capabilities, and practices; (3) consider how you will address threats and opportunities you've identified; (4) build a good ``fit'' among strategy-supporting activities; and (5) create alignment between the people and the activities of the organization and its strategy. And remember — no strategy lasts forever, so learn to use these steps again and again to keep your strategy responsive to the ever-changing business environment. HBS Number: U0601D Subjects: Leadership; Risk assessment; Risk management; Strategic intent; Strategy formulation Academic Discipline: General management    Everything I Know About Business I Learned from Monopoly   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Author(s): Orbanes, Philip Publication Date: 03/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0203C Subjects: Human behavior; Human relations; Human resources management; Leadership; Management of change; Management of professionals; Management styles; Motivation Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: How do game designers approach their work? Perhaps in the same way that managers should. Here, the author, an expert in board-game design and the world's foremost authority on Monopoly, translates six tenets of game design into management principles. Three tenets focus on giving players the right level of structure. First, design simple and unambiguous rules: That also holds true in business; people engage most when responsibilities, objectives, and evaluation criteria are clear. Second, avoid frustrating the casual player. Just as not every game player aspires to be a grand master, not every employee wants to think like an executive. Third, establish a rhythm so that players know intuitively whether they are at the beginning, middle, or end of the game. Managers can also engineer such shifts of momentum and motivation for workers. Three more principles focus on providing entertainment. The most important is to tune into what's happening off the board. For many people, the real joy of a great game — or a great job — comes from the larger social experience surrounding it. Another key is to offer chances to come from behind. Even struggling employees want to believe, “The odds may be stacked against me, but just one great stroke and I'm right back in it.” Finally, managers, like game designers, should provide outlets for latent talents. Games themselves can be useful in the workplace. Managers may come to appreciate that games succeed depending on how well designed they are — and that many design challenges have their equivalents in    Executive Champions: Vital Links Between Strategy and Implementation   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Wreden, Nick Publication Date: 09/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: In today's business environment, the executive champion--typically a senior-level person assigned to work full time on a project--is a fixture in management. But who should an executive champion be? And should the person come from inside the company? Or is an outsider better able to identify the company's problems? According to the experts that HMU consulted, the executive champion should be an insider. Although a new perspective can help identify a company's problems, it often takes an insider's knowledge of systems and processes to follow through on a project. HBS Number: U0209B Subjects: Communication in organizations; Executive ability; Implementation; Leadership; Organizational management; Project management Academic Discipline: General management    Executive-Team Leadership   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Kaplan, Robert S.; Bower, Marvin Publication Date: 09/15/2000 Product Type: Balanced Scorecard Report Article Product Description: The single most important condition to create a successful Strategy-Focused Organization is the ownership and active involvement of the executive team. Those at the top must clearly communicate why change is needed, unfreezing the organization and creating a sense of urgency for change. If senior executives lack enthusiasm for the process, change will not take place, strategy will not be implemented, and the opportunity for breakthrough performance will be missed. HBS Number: B0009A Subjects: Balanced scorecard; Communication; Corporate strategy; Leadership; Strategic planning; Teams Academic Discipline: General management    Fairly Timeless Insights on How to Manage Your Time   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Billington, Jim Publication Date: 02/01/1997 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Too much literature on time management stresses how to do more faster--essentially how to manage a to-do list. Instead, managers should visualize the end result by "getting on the balcony--seeing the whole field of play and where their undertaking should fit in." Only work that is truly necessary should be done, and the addiction to urgency--fighting fires, fielding calls, firing off memos, and attending irrelevant meetings that can consume a manager's day but add little lasting value--should be avoided. The goal of enlightened time management is to allow people to spend most of their time on work that is truly important, but relatively non-urgent. Work and leisure should both be governed by this same philosophy, because by balancing excellence in work with excellence in relaxation, our lives become healthier and a great deal more creative. A short checklist of practical tips to increase efficiency is included. HBS Number: U9702B Subjects: Management philosophy; Managerial skills; Time management Academic Discipline: General management    Fast-Cycle Decision Making   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Prewitt, Edward Publication Date: 08/01/1998 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Rapidly changing markets in many industries have called for techniques that expedite production and product development, but this shift into high gear has made the managerial tasks of forecasting, planning, and organization rushed and erratic. Fast-cycle decision making is not just about making decisions more quickly--it is a rethinking of the decision-making model, where managerial intuition replaces extensive analysis as the main driver of decisions. Today's wired world is perfectly suited to fast-cycle decision making--time is saved by linking many managers to each other and using e-mail, the Internet, and information-sharing software to merge their knowledge bases. This article surveys some of the latest writing on the subject, and draws on the experience of several companies and leading management thinkers to provide tips for improving managers' ability to act quickly--and wisely. HBS Number: U9808C Geographic Setting: Industry Setting: Subjects: Decision making; Information technology; Knowledge management; Managerial skills; Planning Academic Discipline: General management    Faster Time to Market   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Biolos, Jim Publication Date: 11/01/1999 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: It's no secret that the company that is first to market with a viable new product or service has a distinct advantage over latecomers, who must scramble to catch up. Many companies struggle with the delicate balance of being first and being ready. Fortunately, this is a well-studied topic. Here are three key elements from innovation experts. HBS Number: U9911C Subjects: Innovation; Product development; Time to market Academic Discipline: General management    Feedback in the Future Tense   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Plotkin, Hal Publication Date: 11/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: Critiquing past performance often meets with resistance and resentment. That's a shame, because feedback is the key to unlocking the promise of continuous improvement. So how do you do it without alienating the very employees you want to help? Learn how to switch the conversation with your employees from one about performance to one of change and improvement. HBS Number: C0211A Subjects: Communication; Communication in organizations; Communication strategy; Management communication; Performance measurement Academic Discipline: General management    Feedback That Works   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Phoel, Cynthia M. Publication Date: 09/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article HBS Number: U0609D Subjects: Careers & career planning; Communication; Employee development; Feedback; Management development; Meetings; Performance improvement methodologies; Work reviews Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Fundamentally, feedback is a good thing. But most managers say they dislike giving feedback. Moreover, they don't think the feedback they do give is as effective as it could be. This article distills the expertise of several management thought leaders into eight specific suggestions for creating effective, positive feedback conversations that result in better performance for managers and career growth for employees.    Fighting the Enemy Within   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Gary, Loren Publication Date: 02/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: In the gathering uncertainty and gloom of a recession, employees naturally worry that they'll be included in the next round of layoffs. And, anxious to secure the necessary financial and human resources for their key projects, managers have to fight to keep their units intact. In such an environment, it's no wonder that negative office politics are intensified. And although you can't expect to root politics out completely, the advice given here is intended to help you head off the game playing instead of teach you how to play. This article includes the sidebar, "Interpersonal Dynamics to Avoid When Dealing with Company Politics." HBS Number: U0202B Subjects: Corporate culture; Employee attitude; Interpersonal behavior; Leadership; Management communication; Open book management; Organizational behavior; Work environment Academic Discipline: General management    Fighting the Urge to Fight Fires   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Homes, Carl; Maruca, Regina Fazio Delegating responsibility is hard. Not delegating can be disastrous. Former Oklahoma City fire chief Carl Holmes shares his best practices for efficient leadership. HBS Number: F99605 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 11/1/99 Subjects: Delegation of authority; Leadership; Local government    Find Your Sweet Spot   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Markey, Rob; du Toit, Gerard; Allen, James Publication Date: 11/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article HBS Number: U0611A Subjects: Customer & client analysis; Customer feedback; Lifetime value; Loyalty programs; Market segmentation; Product development; Target markets Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Companies understand the potential benefits of customer segmentation — but rarely seem to apply it successfully to their businesses. A recent Bain & Company survey showed that although 81% of executives say customer segmentation is critical for growing profits, fewer than 25% believe their companies use it effectively. The authors, three partners at Bain & Company, present the results of their research on practices that ensure companies get the most value from their segmentation efforts, and through two case studies, share specifics on how these principles were applied.    Finding and Grooming Breakthrough Innovators   Add   View  16 pp.  Article Author(s): Cohn, Jeffrey; Katzenbach, Jon; Vlak, Gus Publication Date: 12/01/2008 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0812D Subjects: Breakthrough innovation; Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Sustaining innovation, many agree, is crucial for a company's long-term success. But truly innovative people are rare: They have excellent analytic skills, never rest on their laurels, and can identify the solutions likeliest to win over top leadership. They are socially savvy and can bring a diverse group of constituents into alignment. They tend to be both charming and persuasive. The right talent-management procedures can help in spotting potential innovators. Reuters, for example, interviews candidates one-on-one and gives them complex, real-world scenarios in which they must reach and defend decisions, accommodate new information, and convincingly sell their point of view. Starwood and McDonald's require would-be innovators to lead cross-functional teams in developing promising ideas and then present those ideas to senior management. One global industrial products company in the UK insists that they do a stint in the sales department. Developing breakthrough innovators requires mentoring and peer networks. Mentors provide insight into the motivations, goals, mind-set, and budget constraints of managers in a variety of relevant functions. At Allstate, for example, the CEO coaches and supports the mentors themselves, sending a strong signal about the importance of the program. Peer networks provide a sense of solidarity and a uniquely fertile environment in which to exchange ideas, impart information, and instill hope. Companies that excel in developing innovative leaders often remove them from revenue-generating line positions and plant them in the middle of the organization, where they form “innovation hubs,” with easy access to influentials    Firm of the Future   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Ansoff, H. Igor The growing pace of change demands that companies structure themselves to ensure that external and internal problems are both given sustained attention, instead of having managers oscillate from one group of problems to the other. Companies need management structures conducive to innovation. A new staff function, decision analysis, will help. Managers need to be broader-minded than their predecessors. HBS Number: 65501 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 9/1/65 Subjects: Competition; Decision analysis; Innovation; Management of change; McKinsey Award Winners    Firms as Knowledge Brokers: Lessons in Pursuing Continuous Innovation   Add   View  21 pp.  Article Hargadon, Andrew A set of firms exists whose output consists solely of innovative solutions to novel problems, and whose long-term success depends on their ability to continuously innovate. These firms act as knowledge brokers, spanning multiple indust HBS Number: CMR113 Type: CMR Article Publication Date: 4/1/98 Subjects: Innovation; Knowledge management; Knowledge transfer; Product development Publisher: California Management Review    First, Don’t Write an Outline   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Clayton, John Publication Date: 08/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: Creating an outline is the best way to begin the writing process, or so the prevailing wisdom has held. Increasingly, however, experts feel that a less linear, more freewheeling approach may be more productive. This is not to say that the final product should forsake a linear path, but imposing structure too early in the exercise may stifle creativity. This article describes techniques that sidestep the outline and give your writing process the room it needs to breathe. HBS Number: C0208D Subjects: Creativity; Writing Academic Discipline: General management    Fiscal Health and Quality Care: Montefiore Medical Center Scores with the BSC   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Ross, Judith A. Publication Date: 11/15/2001 Product Type: Balanced Scorecard Report Article Product Description: Despite the pressures of escalating costs, uncertain insurance restrictions and severe nursing shortages, Montefiore Medical Center, based in the Bronx, NY, was able to go beyond cost cutting to focus on customer care, increase its revenue, and invest in new programs and technology. This case study outlines Montefiore's use of the Balanced Scorecard to create and implement a new business strategy aimed at balancing population-based health care services with centers of excellence specializing in cancer, cardiovascular disease, HIV, and women's and children's health care issues. HBS Number: B0111B Subjects: Balanced scorecard; Corporate strategy; Health care; Health organizations management; Management of change; Organizational structure Academic Discipline: General management    Five Missteps to Avoid in Volatile Times   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Stauffer, David Publication Date: 09/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Will this current economic slump ever end? When we'll reach recovery is anyone's guess. But the experts that HMU consulted say there's far less uncertainty about how companies should proceed--or, more precisely, what companies should not do--right now. We've distilled their thinking into five missteps to avoid during the recession, and for each, we offer advice to help position your company for healthier gains in the year ahead. HBS Number: U0209A Subjects: Corporate strategy; Decision making; Economic planning; Economic recovery; Leadership; Organizational management; Recessions; Uncertainty Academic Discipline: General management    Five Quick Ways to Trim Your Writing   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Clayton, John Publication Date: 04/01/2003 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: At the eleventh hour, you've got to do surgery on a crucial report to make it 30% leaner. How can you do it--quickly? Read our five tips to help you cut length, without cutting meaning out of your report, with a minimum of pain. HBS Number: C0304D Subjects: Communication; Communication in organizations; Communication strategy; Writing Academic Discipline: General management    Five Reasons Why You Still Need Scenario Planning   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Stauffer, David Publication Date: 06/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: In the last year, several extraordinary events--such as the first recession in a decade, the horrors of 9/11, and the Enron debacle--seem to have discredited scenario planning. So, is scenario planning a waste of time? Not if you understand what it is designed to do. It isn't supposed to be used for planning for a specific crisis; its purpose is to broaden the array of possible futures you may be contemplating. Here are five reasons why you still need scenario planning for your company now more than ever. Includes the sidebars "A Scenario Planning Primer: How to Do It and the Benefits It Provides" and "StarTrust Federal Credit Union: Thanks to Scenario Planning, Not 'Totally Blindsided.'" HBS Number: U0206A Subjects: Business plans; Corporate strategy; Decision making; Learning; Scenario analysis; Strategic planning; Strategy formulation Academic Discipline: General management    Five Steps to Thriving in Times of Uncertainty   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Jacobs, Peter Publication Date: 12/01/2005 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: In these times of rapid change and heightened uncertainty, the possibilities for strategic disruption seem endless. So managers must find ways to boost their company's strategic flexibility by learning how to see potential disruptions earlier and to respond more rapidly. This article offers steps organizations can take to identify major changes in their external environments, quickly commit resources to new courses of action in response to such changes, and recognize and act promptly when it's time to halt or reverse existing resource commitments. HBS Number: U0512A Subjects: Business philosophy; Change management; Forecasting; Learning; Management philosophy; Organizational behavior; Organizational change; Risk management; Strategic planning; Uncertainty Academic Discipline: General management    Fix Utilities Before They Need a Rescue   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Fox-Penner, Peter Publication Date: 07/01/2009 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: F0907C Industry Setting: Electric power; Natural gas; Water, sewage & other systems Subjects: Business models; Energy; Recessions Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: The business model of utilities is essentially broken. The solution? Start charging customers for energy services, not energy output    Followership: It’s Personal, Too   Added   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Goffee, Rob; Jones, Gareth Publication Date: 12/01/2001 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: We can't examine breakthrough leadership without acknowledging that it exists as part of a duality; leaders forge relationships with followers. So what do those followers want and need from their leaders? They're looking for significance, community, and excitement--or the deal is off. HBS Number: R0111L Subjects: Interpersonal behavior; Leadership; Management styles Academic Discipline: General management    Fostering Change While Avoiding the Road to Martyrdom   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Gary, Loren Publication Date: 04/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Does fostering change in your company, and surviving the effort, mean you have to abdicate the principles you hold dear? No, according to two recent books. Both books--Debra E. Meyerson's Tempered Radicals and Joseph L. Badaracco, Jr.'s Leading Quietly--insist on maintaining the link between ethics and effectiveness while cultivating change. Although managing that link can be complicated, both authors agree that it is possible to make waves in your company without making enemies. Includes the sidebar, "Let Us Now Praise Unsung Leaders: An Interview with Joseph L. Badaracco, Jr." HBS Number: U0204C Subjects: Communication in organizations; Corporate culture; Human relations; Leadership; Management of change; Management styles Academic Discipline: General management    Four Fatal Flaws of Strategic Planning   Add   View  5 pp.  Article Author(s): Barrows, Edward A., Jr. Publication Date: 04/01/2009 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article HBS Number: U0904A Subjects: Strategy; Strategy execution; Strategy formulation Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: As the global economic crisis forces companies to search for new ways to jump-start business growth, strategic planning is a front-and-center issue. And yet many managers make fundamental mistakes that undermine otherwise sound strategic plans. This article describes four fatal flaws that consistently creep into strategic planning processes. Avoid them — and watch both the process and the results improve significantly.    Framing for Leadership   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Raffoni, Melissa Publication Date: 12/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: An important part of a manager's job is to motivate people toward achieving a common goal. Succeeding at this job requires a gamut of communication skills, from delivering a prepared talk to helping team members negotiate the best way to move ahead on a project. But the most critical skill is learning how to frame issues effectively. Learn how to reframe issues for your employees and bring clarity to the complex. HBS Number: C0212B Subjects: Communication; Communication in organizations; Employees; Leadership; Management communication Academic Discipline: General management    From the “Ladder of Science” to the Product Development Cycle   Add   View  8 pp.  Article Gomory, Ralph E. Innovative technologies become commercial products in two ways: reduction to practice of scientific knowledge and incremental improvement governed by the product cycle. In the latter, engineers, not scientists, improve the materials and design of a model. For high-tech companies, this cyclic, incremental innovation is critical. Manufacturing engineers must participate in design from the start. Technological solutions should be pulled in at the start of the product cycle. HBS Number: 89604 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 11/1/89 Subjects: Engineering; High technology products; Innovation; Product development; Product life cycle; Product management; R&D    Fulfill the Dream of Leading a Nonprofit   Add   View  4 pp.  Article Author(s): Simms, David; Luke, Wayne Publication Date: 01/01/2009 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: F0901G Subjects: Board of directors; Career changes; Nonprofits; Volunteers Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Thinking of a second career in the social sector? You're not alone. And your current employer would be wise to help you train for it.    Gaining from Green Management: Environmental Management Systems   Add   View  22 pp.  Article Author(s): Florida, Richard; Davison, Derek Publication Date: 04/01/2001 Product Type: CMR Article Publisher: California Management Review Product Description: Environmental Management Systems (EMSs) are relatively new and rather innovative management practices that provide firms with additional sources of information and leverage over their environmental and business processes and performance. This article reports the results of a survey of manufacturing plants that have adopted EMSs. It finds that EMSs are associated with factories that are larger, more committed to total qualit