Harvard Business Review Articles — General Management
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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
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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.
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 quality management, and more innovative in general. EMSs are also a useful tool for managing community relationships and dealing with key stakeholder groups with respect to potentially controversial environmental issues. Furthermore, EMS plants appear to pose less environmental risk for communities and report that their adoption and use of an EMS is an important factor in achieving this result. In the end, EMSs are an effective tool for managing environmental costs and risks inside and outside the factory in ways that add to, rather than detract from, the bottom-line. HBS Number: CMR200 Subjects: Environmental protection; Manufacturing strategy; Pollution control; Risk management Academic Discipline: General management
Article Author(s): Low, Jonathan Publication Date: 01/01/1999 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: To help a company reach its financial goals, we know to look at sales, earnings, asset productivity, and all other standard financial metrics. However, this is no longer sufficient. Past financial performance does not necessarily predict future performance. A recent study by the Ernst & Young Center for Business Innovation identified 10 variables that analysts and portfolio managers rely on to measure a company's performance and valuation, ranging from the ability of the company to execute its stated strategy to research leadership. Rather than concentrating only on traditional financial data, smart managers will focus on helping their company achieve superior performance on all measures. HBS Number: U9901E Subjects: Performance measurement; Valuation Academic Discipline: General management
Article Author(s): Coutu, Diane L. Publication Date: 10/01/2001 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0109C Subjects: Art; Attitudes; Coaching; Communication; Entrepreneurs; Human behavior; Human relations; Management teams Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: To move forward, society needs geniuses — those rare individuals whose flashes of insight and imagination change the way we live and see the world. Traditionally, we look for them in the arts and sciences, but geniuses appear in many guises. They can be engineers, designers, analysts, and even managers. Yet for all their creative energy, geniuses don't always make the best employees, colleagues, or bosses. They are notoriously prickly people, and they can be fiercely individualistic. Moreover, they can be surprisingly fragile. They frequently act with flamboyance, but inside they are deeply vulnerable. To understand how a manager might approach the challenges of genius, HBR senior editor Diane L. Coutu recently talked with choreographer and dancer Mark Morris. A MacArthur Fellowship winner, Morris has created some of modern dance's most enduring works, and his dance group is widely considered to be the most exciting company in the business. Morris' work with live music requires that he manage the genius of sopranos and virtuoso conductors who collaborate with his dance troupe. That makes him uniquely suited to discuss the realities of living with genius — from the inside as well as the outside. In this article, Morris discusses the roots of creativity, the truth about prima donnas, the dangers of living with mediocrity, and his drive toward authenticity. He also offers his candid opinion on geniuses: “These people are up against their own egos; that's why they're so delicate or flamboyant or insecure. Those qualities all amount to the same thing: vulnerability.” To work with peop
Article Von Hippel, Eric Not all ideas for new products have to come from producers; a readily available, low-cost source is their customers. Describes conditions for user innovation, and strategies for identifying consumer-developed products. When a manufacturer expresses interest in acquiring user-developed products, it must be aware of two legal mechanisms that innovators may call on to protect their innovations: patent law and trade secrecy law. The best approach for the manufacturer is to establish a strong legal position at the beginning and make sure user-innovators understand their own legal position as well. HBS Number: 82210 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 3/1/82 Subjects: Product design; Product planning & policy
Article Author(s): Ciampa, Dan Publication Date: 12/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article HBS Number: U0612A Subjects: Change management; Consultants; Leadership; Managerial skills; Mentors; Organizational behavior & leadership; Organizational development; Relationship management Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: A leader seeking advisers today finds no shortage of them: mentors, managers, board members, coaches, colleagues, and consultants are all on hand to share their words of wisdom. But to truly benefit from their help, you need to be an educated, thoughtful, and discerning consumer of advice, says Dan Ciampa, an adviser to senior managers and boards of directors. That means knowing the qualities and kind of advice you need and working to make advice relationships productive and useful.
Article Author(s): Johnson, Lauren Keller Publication Date: 01/01/2007 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article HBS Number: U0701A Subjects: Business education & training; Coaching; Employee development; Executive education; Executives; Learning; Professional development; Skills Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: A skilled executive coach can be invaluable in helping you make the most of the opportunities that cross your path —: and in helping you surmount the obstacles that corporate life throws before you. But not only does coaching require significant investment; both financial and in terms of executive time, but it is an emerging practice whose quality can vary widely. In this article, experienced coaches and executives who have benefited from coaching share their advice on getting the most from a coaching relationship.
Article Author(s): Von Hoffman, Constantine Publication Date: 01/01/1998 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Although there is no single best method for organizing yourself, this article taps into some perennially useful techniques to manage your disorganization. Through space management, organizing your schedule in collaboration with others, prioritizing your to-do list, and correctly filing things so they remain accessible, managers can reduce the hundreds of hours lost each year searching for lost items. HBS Number: U9801D Geographic Setting:Industry Setting: Subjects: Managerial skills; Time management Academic Discipline: General management
Article Author(s): Hemp, Paul Publication Date: 10/01/2008 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: F0810B Subjects: Collaboration; Virtual environments Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Forward-looking companies are using virtual venues to mimic reality, helping employees and business partners collaborate and learn. Their increasingly user-friendly and graphically sophisticated platforms may become the next-generation means of communication.
Article Author(s): Craumer, Martha Publication Date: 07/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: Contrary to what some might think, humor isn't too frivolous for a business environment--even during hard times. Humor accomplishes three main goals: it releases tension, creates a sense of acceptance, and restores a healthy perspective on a given situation. This article describes how to set the stage for workplace humor without letting it get out of control. HBS Number: C0207D Subjects: Attitudes; Business etiquette; Interpersonal behavior; Leadership; Management communication Academic Discipline: General management
Article Author(s): Adler, Paul S.; Mandelbaum, Avi; Nguyen, Vien; Schwerer, Elizabeth Publication Date: 03/01/1996 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: To many managers, the idea of introducing process management to their development organizations sounds like a sure way to destroy creativity. Product development, they contend, is not the same as manufacturing: Each project has unique challenges that require unique solutions. In fact, the authors argue, managers who need to know how many projects their development organizations can handle and how quickly those projects can deliver new products to market must think of product development as a production process in which projects move through the knowledge-work equivalent of a job shop. HBS Number: 96202 Subjects: Organizational structure; Process analysis; Product development; Project evaluation; Project management Academic Discipline: General management
Article Author(s): Ferrary, Michel Publication Date: 07/01/2003 Product Type: CMR Article Publisher: California Management Review Product Description: Using the analysis of the social networks that underlie the industrial networks of Silicon Valley, this article demonstrates that due to the nature of exchanged goods and the degree of interdependence between the economic actors, gift exchange is the principal rule of exchange in these networks. The principles of "gift exchange" govern the exchange of information among venture capitalists, lawyers, entrepreneurs, corporate managers, journalists, and academics. HBS Number: CMR265 Subjects: Information economy; Networks; Silicon Valley; Value of information Academic Discipline: General management
Article Levitt, Theodore The new commercial reality is the emergence of global markets for standardized consumer products on a previously unimagined scale of magnitude. Technology, by proletarianizing communication, transport, and travel drives the world toward a converging commonality. Well-managed companies have moved from emphasis on customizing items to offering globally standardized products that are advanced, functional, reliable, and low priced. They benefit from enormous economies of scale in production, distribution, marketing, and management. HBS Number: 83308 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 5/1/83 Subjects: Consumer marketing; Consumer products industry; Economies of scale; Globalization; International marketing; Multinational corporations; Product positioning; Standardization
Article Author(s): Clayton, John Publication Date: 06/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: Writers have traditionally been cautioned to steer clear of jargon, but sometimes using it is the best way to get your message across. Asking a few questions about your audience and intent can help you use jargon wisely, turning an often alienating practice into creative, inclusive communication. HBS Number: C0206B Subjects: Communication in organizations; Customer relations; Management communication; Writing Academic Discipline: General management
Article Publication Date: 08/01/2000 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Innovation is hot these days. Nearly every company wants to be considered inventive. But if coming up with the next breakthrough business model isn't in your foreseeable future, what can you do? Consider creating a culture of ground-level innovation, where new products or processes are developed on the shop or office floor. Examples like Starbucks's popular Frappuccino drink and Cisco Systems' famous real-time accounting system demonstrate that a culture of everyday innovation can indeed make its mark on the competitive landscape. HBS Number: U0008A Subjects: Continuous improvement; Innovation Academic Discipline: General management
Article Shapiro, Robert B.; Magretta, Joan How do we face the prospect that creating a profitable, growing company might require intolerable abuse of the natural world? Monsanto--with its history in the chemicals industry--is an unlikely candidate to be creating cutting-edge en HBS Number: 97110 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 1/1/97 Subjects: Agribusiness; Biotechnology; Corporate strategy; Environmental protection; Innovation; Product introduction; Technology; Value of information
Article Author(s): Schu, Jennifer Publication Date: 11/15/2001 Product Type: Balanced Scorecard Report Article Product Description: An increasing number of BSC software has entered the market. This piece provides an overview of the Balanced Scorecard Collective certified solutions by category and describes how they can help accelerate implementation and ease scorecard maintenance, reporting, and ongoing communications. HBS Number: B0111F Subjects: Balanced scorecard; Corporate strategy; ERP; Information technology; Software; Strategy implementation; Technology Academic Discipline: General management
Article Author(s): Lorsch, Jay W.; Tierney, Thomas J. Publication Date: 03/12/2002 Product Type: HBS Press Chapter HBS Number: 2379BC Industry Setting: Professional services Subjects: Compensation; Employee retention; Leadership development; Management development; Management of professionals; Organizational development; Partners; Strategy Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Partner level stars are a professional service firm's scarcest and most valuable resource. Whether the firm succeeds or fails depends on their performance and leadership, and ultimately on the alignment of their goals with the firm's goals. This chapter discusses how great firms guide and motivate their senior stars. 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; (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; (2383BC) Aligning Your Star: Build a Life, Not a Resume.
Article Author(s): Johnson, Lauren Keller Publication Date: 11/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article HBS Number: U0611B Subjects: Customer feedback; Customer relations; Customer service; Innovation; Market research; New product marketing; Organizational behavior; Value creation Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: In pursuing growth through innovation, companies should look at their customers as partners in creating and building value. Consumers today have near-instant access to all the information they need on virtually any product. Moreover, they are using this information to influence product development — as individuals and, more importantly, through user communities and review groups that wield increasing influence over the market's perceptions. Here is advice about how to harness the burgeoning power of the consumer to help shape products and services.
Article Author(s): Gardner, Howard; Williams, Dan; McDonough, William; Nohria, Nitin; Stewart, Thomas A.; Cares, Jeff; Craig, Claire; Halstead, Ted; von Krogh, Georg; Davis, Ged; Allen, Harris; Sullivan, Sean; Dixon, Nancy M.; Weinberger, David; Gigerenzer, Gerd; Karabell, Publication Date: 02/01/2006 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0602B Geographic Setting: Algeria; Asia; Canada; China; Geneva; India; Indonesia; Iran; Iraq; Japan; Kuwait; Libya; Long Beach, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Nigeria; North America; Oakland, CA; Portland, ME; Qatar; Saudi Arabia; Seattle, WA; South Korea; Switzerland; Tacoma, WA; United Arab Em Industry Setting: Electronics industry; Health care industry; Petroleum industry; Retail industry Subjects: Assets; Brands; Breakthrough innovation; Cartels; Collaboration; Competition; Complexity; Corporate culture; Customer relations; Decision making; Economic analysis; Employee benefits; Environmental protection; Games; Global economy; Government; Growth; Heuristics; Ideas; Information management; Innovation; Intellectual property; Internet; Leadership; Leadership development; Long term planning; Marketing; Networks; Ownership; Peers; Performance; Prices; Product development; Risk management; Security & privacy; Sourcing; Strategy; Supply & demand; Supply chain; Technology; Thinking; Uncertainty; Virtual reality; Work environment Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: We highlight 20 ideas just bubbling up to the surface in 2006. Howard Gardner contends that the ability to synthesize information will be the most valued trait for leaders. Dan Williams explores how body area networks can lower health care costs and improve safety. William McDonough describes China as a seedbed for environmental innovation. Nitin Nohria and Thomas A. Stewart say the next frontier for business will be managing incalculable uncertainty. Jeff Cares o
Article Author(s): Bremmer, Ian; McCreary, Lew; Davenport, Thomas H.; Goldstein, Noah J.; Iyer, Bala; McGrath, Rita Gunther; Saffo, Paul; Schwartz, Peter; Warnholz, Jean-Louis; Norton, Michael I.; Warren, Elizabeth; Tyagi, Amelia; Collier, Paul; Cuddy, Amy J. C. Publication Date: 02/01/2009 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0902A Geographic Setting: Africa Industry Setting: Architectural services industry Subjects: Breakthrough innovation; Business government relations; Climate change; Cognitive psychology; Consumer credit; Customer experiences; Decision making; Influence; Internet; Investments; Judgment; Loans; Networking; Outsourcing Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Our annual survey of ideas and trends that will make an impact on business: Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Tyagi believe consumer credit should be made as safe as any other product. Paul Collier and Jean-Louis Warnholz reveal an increasingly investment-friendly climate in sub-Saharan Africa. Amy J.C. Cuddy asserts that warmth and competence are not mutually exclusive. John Sviokla predicts a surge of peer-to-peer lending in the wake of the financial crisis. Noah J. Goldstein explains the impact of social pressure on customers' behavior. Raymond Fisman urges the creation of a global forensic economics lab modeled on Interpol. Paul Saffo warns of a brain drain out of the U.S. Gurdeep Singh Pall and Rita Gunther McGrath contemplate the ramifications of immortalizing business meetings in searchable, high-quality digital video. Janine M. Benyus and Gunter A.M. Pauli illustrate the advantages of innovation copied from nature. Michael I. Norton observes that an investment of effort can lead to unduly glorifying its results. Peter Schwartz dispels the illusion that global temperatures are actually falling. Nicholas A. Christakis shows that personal influence wanes beyond three deg
Article Author(s): Baum, Herb; Buchanan, Leigh Publication Date: 10/01/2004 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: CEO Herb Baum thinks R&D is not the same as innovation, and he thinks innovation should be everyone's business at Dial. HBS Number: F0410L Subjects: Competitive advantage; Creativity; Innovation; Product development; Research & development Academic Discipline: General management
Article Author(s): Calthrop, Paul Publication Date: 05/01/2007 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: F0705G Subjects: Innovation; Product lines; Profitability analysis Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: When it comes to judging the success of innovations, the important measure to track isn't sales; it's net prices.
Article Author(s): Ross, Judith A. Publication Date: 01/01/2007 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article HBS Number: U0701D Subjects: Executive selection; Hiring; Human resources management; Intangible assets; Interpersonal skills; Interview process; Interview techniques; Problem solving Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Whether you're trying to fill an executive-level position or one closer to the front lines, intangibles such as attitude can spell the difference between a hire who proves merely competent and one who goes on to shine. How do you identify the intangibles you need —: for example, creative problem solving, calm in the face of fire, teamwork, or doggedness —: and then, how do you determine whether the job candidate you are considering offers them? HMU talks with management consultant Laurence Haughton and several company executives for their suggestions on making the best hire you can.
Article Author(s): Seglin, Jeffrey L. Publication Date: 08/01/2001 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Hollywood regularly portrays business as evil. But if you're willing to scratch beneath the surface, you can learn some truly useful management lessons from the movies. Instead of looking at how businesses are portrayed, focus on what the movies have to say about common management challenges. This article looks at four of these challenges--defining leadership, harnessing innovation, managing technology, and building teams--and offers one example of how to do it and one example of how not to do it from each area. HBS Number: U0108D Subjects: Innovation; Leadership; Teams; Technology Academic Discipline: General management
Article Author(s): Raffoni, Melissa Publication Date: 06/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Is it more productive for managers to exploit their direct reports' strengths to the fullest and work around the weaknesses? No, according to the experts HMU consulted; that theory is too reductionistic. Although it seems natural to design work responsibilities to play to employees' particular strengths, you can't ignore their weaknesses. People can improve and change if they have help balancing their focus on particular strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, as a manager, you need to partner with your employees in order to shore up weaknesses. Read how to pick certain employee weaknesses to improve upon, and how to customize your approach with individual employees. HBS Number: U0206B Subjects: Decision making; Employee development; Employee problems; Human behavior; Management communication; Organizational management; Work force management Academic Discipline: General management
Article Hauser, John R.; Clausing, Don Manufacturing companies striving to compete on quality must design products that not only are technically elegant and manufacturable but also reflect customers' desires and tastes. For optimal results, marketers, designers, engineers, and strategists should work closely together from product conception to end result. A Japanese innovation, the house of quality, can help get interfunctional-team conversations started. Presented here in clear, step-by-step exhibits, the house is a conceptual map on which interdisciplinary teams can display and organize the evidence they need to set targets for design. Once all relevant facts are on the grid, the team makes its choices. The process has clarified opportunities, stimulated negotiation, and helped set an agenda. And the format is flexible. Once engineering targets have been set, the team can draw up new houses. HBS Number: 88307 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 5/1/88 Subjects: Cross functional management; Models; Planning; Product design; Product introduction; Quality control; Teams
Article Author(s): Bush, Patricia; Koziel, Diane Publication Date: 05/15/2002 Product Type: Balanced Scorecard Report Article Product Description: The importance of communicating a major change initiative like the Balanced Scorecard throughout an organization is clear. But how to communicate it--what tools and strategies to use--can mean the difference between apathy or resistance and total acceptance of the transformation. Here is a step-by-step guide to building an integrated communication campaign, with examples from two very different organizations with large, diverse workforces. Includes the sidebar "Tips for a successful communications initiative." HBS Number: B0205C Subjects: Balanced scorecard; Communication in organizations; Management communication; Management of change; Marketing strategy; Organizational change; Strategy implementation Academic Discipline: General management
Article Author(s): Allen, James; Reichheld, Frederick F.; Hamilton, Barney Publication Date: 10/01/2005 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: A recent Bain & Co. survey reveals just how commonly companies misread the market. Surveying 362 firms, the company found that 80% believed they delivered a ``superior experience'' to their customers. But when we asked customers about their own perceptions, we found that they rated only 8% of companies as truly delivering a superior experience. Clearly, it's easy for leading companies to assume they're keeping customers happy; it's quite another thing to achieve that kind of customer devotion. So what sets the elite 8% apart? They take a distinctively broad view of the customer experience. Learn how to transform your company into one that is continually led and informed by its customers' voices. HBS Number: U0510C Subjects: Business philosophy; Customer feedback; Customers; Market research; Surveys Academic Discipline: General management
Article Author(s): Harvard Business Review Publication Date: 07/01/2009 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article HBS Number: R0907J Subjects: Economic forecasts; Global business; Recessions Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: A survey of more than a thousand HBR readers showed people and businesses bracing themselves for the worst for at least another year. Asked to describe the effects of the economy on their companies and their professional lives, readers painted a fairly grim picture, though they also reported several opportunities to improve how they innovate and operate.
Article Author(s): Bennis, Warren G.; O'Toole, James Publication Date: 05/01/2005 Product Type: Harvard Business Review Article Product Description: Business schools are facing intense criticism for failing to impart useful skills, prepare leaders, instill norms of ethical behavior, and even lead graduates to good corporate jobs. These criticisms come not just from students, employers, and the media but also from deans of some of America's most prestigious B schools. The root cause of today's crisis in management education, assert Warren G. Bennis and James O'Toole, is that business schools have adopted an inappropriate -- and ultimately self-defeating -- model of academic excellence. Instead of measuring themselves in terms of the competence of their graduates, or by how well their faculty members understand important drivers of business performance, they assess themselves almost solely by the rigor of their scientific research. This scientific model is predicated on the faulty assumption that business is an academic discipline like chemistry or geology when, in fact, business is a profession and business schools are professional schools -- or should be. Business school deans may claim that their schools remain focused on practice, but they nevertheless hire and promote research-oriented professors who haven't spent time working in companies and are more comfortable teaching methodology than messy, multidisciplinary issues -- the very stuff of management. To regain relevancy, the authors say, business schools must rediscover the practice of business and find a way to balance the dual mission of educating practitioners and creating knowledge through research. HBS Number: R0505F Subjects: Business education; Business schools; Higher education; Teaching methods Academic Discipline: General management
Article Publication Date: 01/01/2001 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Recent works provide a variety of perspectives on leading a major change initiative. Theory E, for example, is a top-down approach that focuses on formal structures and systems as a means of creating economic value. By contrast, the underlying purpose of Theory O is to develop the organization's ability to implement strategy and learn from the actions it takes. Though difficult, a synthesis of these two different approaches seems possible. It would combine the pursuit of economic value and the development of organizational capability. It would employ both top-down and participative styles of leadership. And it would require leaders to focus on planning the change process without predetermining all the solutions to the problems the organization faces. HBS Number: U0101B Subjects: Leadership; Management of change; Organizational change; Organizational development Academic Discipline: General management
Article Author(s): Herrin, Angelia Publication Date: 06/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Communication Letter Article Product Description: Professionals bring different behavior styles to the workplace, differing in levels of assertiveness or responsiveness to business challenges. A new book sets forth the four basic profiles that managers need to understand: the analytical, the amiable, the driver, and the expressive. Each style has its strength, and this article describes how a skilled manager can draw out these strengths. HBS Number: C0206E Subjects: Interpersonal relations; Management communication; Managerial skills; Personnel management Academic Discipline: General management
Article Author(s): Stauffer, David Publication Date: 12/01/2002 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: Why do many leaders base present decisions on past situations that seem analogous? Because they misremember. Making a decision based on historical precedent has numerous pitfalls and, often, it is too late when you realize that the earlier situation was quite different from the current one. Although it's beneficial to use past experiences and decisions, you need to understand how to make the best decisions given today's situation. HBS Number: U0212A Subjects: Business failures; Business history; Communication in organizations; Decision analysis; Decision making; Decision theory; Management performance Academic Discipline: General management
Article Simons, Robert L.; Davila, Antonio The classic business ratios for measuring performance--return on equity, return on assets, and return on sales, to name a few--may be useful. But none is designed specifically to reflect how well a company implements its strategy. Ente HBS Number: 98110 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 1/1/98 Subjects: Control systems; Corporate strategy; Strategy implementation
Article Simons, Robert L.; Davila, Antonio 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: 3553 Type: HBR OnPoint Article Publication Date: 4/15/00 Subjects: Control systems; Corporate strategy; Strategy implementation
Article Author(s): Prewitt, Edward Publication Date: 02/01/1998 Product Type: Harvard Management Update Article Product Description: With all the focus on companies' and workers' remaining adaptive and innovative, it becomes easy to overlook the value of remaining predictable. This article reminds us of how perennially successful firms capitalize on their own predictability in order to chart their desired futures. Far from leading to ossification, predictability with respect to one's world view and one's goals allows leaders and managers to organize their resources effectively. HBS Number: U9802D Geographic Setting:Industry Setting: Subjects: Corporate culture; Corporate strategy Academic Discipline: General management
Article Isenberg, Daniel J. A two-year study of top executives shows that they do not closely follow the classical rational model of first clarifying goals, assessing the situation, formulating options, estimating likelihoods of success, making their decision, and then taking action to implement it. Nor do they select one problem at a time to solve. Most successful senior managers have overriding concerns rather than precise goals and objectives, and they think more often about how to do things than what is being accomplished. HBS Number: 84608 Type: Harvard Business Review Article Publication Date: 11/1/84 Subjects: Executives; Management styles; Managerial behavior
Article Author(s): Laufer, Daniel; Coombs, W. Timothy Publication Date: 09/15/2006 Product Type: Business Horizons Article Publisher: Business Horizons/Indiana University HBS Number: BH207 Subjects: Consumer groups; Consumer markets; Corporate image; Corporate responsibility; Product liability Academic Discipline: General management Product Description: Product harm crises such as Vioxx and Firestone can be devastating events for companies. Although lawsuits by victims tend to draw most of the attention, observers, who typically learn of product harm crises through media outlets, can also cause extensive damage to the companies involved, as they r
