The next China

Most of China’s biggest exporters are supported by a foreign stake. Companies dealing with Chinese labor may have to get used to higher wages and higher levels of unrest. This article informatively details the changes underlying recent labor unrest, especially the shrinking supply of migrant labor... [read more...]

If you have read previous reviews here about the value of constructive conflict, you won’t be surprised by the message of this article. The main idea is that for companies that are collaborating, low trust is detrimental to innovation, but so is very high trust. The level of trust supporting maximum... [read more...]

Smart phones and computerized gaming systems have enjoyed very rapid adoption by consumers. These tools effectively let people get more done and have more fun without running into resistance caused by forcing unwanted changes in practices. Alas, business technology adoptions have rarely proceeded... [read more...]

In his current Harvard Business Review article, “How Will You Measure Your Life?”, Clayton Christensen explains how he helps his business school students think about the life ahead of them. Christensen excels at helping both students and managers understand the structure and construction of good management... [read more...]

Back in 2004, we reviewed John Kay’s Financial Times article, “Obliquity”, in which he argued that goals may often be best achieved by pursuing them indirectly. He has now considered the topic at greater length in a book of the same title. In the current article, HBS professor Jim Heskett brings out... [read more...]

There are things that you know you know, and there are things that you don’t know that you know. You can run into trouble because of things that you know you don’t know, but at least with these you can ask the right questions to fill in the holes in your knowledge. The most tricky category is that... [read more...]

Although few firms have made significant money from intellectual property, a well-crafted IP strategy can be highly profitable, as demonstrated by rare cases such as IBM. Over the last decade, appreciation has been growing for the potential of “open innovation” to multiply potentially profitable ideas... [read more...]

Are you a clever? No, that’s not a typo (nor an attempt to sound Italian). Goffee and Jones use the term “clever” as a noun to refer to highly talented individuals with the potential to create disproportionate amounts of value from the resources that the organization makes available to them. Their... [read more...]

In tough economic times, companies are more likely to shift their strategies towards efficiency and price cuts. Except for a few companies with a lock on a low-cost position that’s likely to be a poor decision. The great majority of companies would be better off competing “on the basis of initiatives... [read more...]

Most managers surely acknowledge the value of evidence-based (or fact-based) decision making. If asked, they would probably say decisions in their organization are primarily made in this way, with intuitive or instinctive judgments being reserved for situations where no evidence is available. Yet... [read more...]

The retailers of old were shop keepers who often met their customers personally. They had few enough customers and items for sale that they could keep track of them all without external aids. Many of today’s retailers are huge, with vast numbers of customers and SKUs, which they can only keep track... [read more...]

Those who have written on the opportunities created by the growing middle classes in emerging economies have often focused on the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China). Middle classes are expanding rapidly in around a dozen emerging markets, not just the BRIC countries. (“Middle class” here... [read more...]

Poor risk management may have contributed to the deep problems in the global financial system but a greater cause, according to the authors, was complexity and an inability to handle it. As a dramatic example of how global travel and rapid communication magnify shocks in a way reminiscent of the “butterfly... [read more...]

Creativity and innovation seem to come more naturally to some people and organizations than others. You don’t have to be at the mercy of nature, however. Individuals and organizations can adopt structured methods for improving creativity and generating more innovative solutions. Different phases of... [read more...]

Banks have changed drastically during the several thousand years of their existence. The first banks were religious temples in the third millennium BC that took deposits in the form of grain and goods like cattle and agricultural tools. The first banks actually predate money. Banking got underway... [read more...]

The recession and the financial crisis have a clear upside for strategic acquirers: Prices for promising acquisitions have not been this moderate for many years. Acquisitions can be a powerful strategic tool, but until recently targets have been overpriced. Melwani and Rehm argue that this is a good... [read more...]

Acquisitions tempt companies intent on accelerating their growth. Executives continue to convince themselves that acquisitions offer a good chance of creating value—even though numerous studies show that most deals fail to do so. A wide range of strategies can motivate acquisitions, but some are more... [read more...]

Evolution or revolution? Radical political revolutions do happen and sometimes stick for years, but typically come at a high cost. Most big changes—in politics, culture, and technology—however, either never really take off or are quickly reversed. People will more readily accept enduring and major... [read more...]

What can your business do in the face of the economic, social, and technological forces shaping the global economy? Even the largest corporations may feel that there is little they can do to shape the future the way they would prefer. While they are probably right that they are largely helpless to... [read more...]

Why are so many corporate boards so passive? Why have they failed to evaluate risks and govern in a way that actually adds value to the business? As Michael Schrage notes, a passive board that adheres to the letter of the law while failing to provide meaningful oversight “is mere overhead”. Failures... [read more...]

Managers have many ways of spurring employees to greater productivity. These include extrinsic incentives such as higher pay for higher performance, profit sharing, and recognition and rewards. While effective in many cases, these methods don’t always work and, even when they do, they can be expensive... [read more...]

Entrepreneurs need loads of energy and drive. But you won’t necessarily get where you want to go by moving fast and relentlessly if you’re not heading in the right direction. Anthony Tjan has some advice for early stage CEOs struggling to focus. They should first recognize the three important business... [read more...]

How reliably do people revise their beliefs and related buying behaviors when they learn that previously-learned information was incorrect? In 2007, the editors of Consumer Reports magazine informed their readers and the general public that they had earlier published a mistaken ranking indicating... [read more...]

By the “pessimist” on your team, Amy Gallo means a team member who is persistently and unconstructively negative about the teams activities and goals. Being a nay-sayer can be highly valuable, especially when teams and their leaders have fallen unaware into the grip of excessive optimism. It is crucial... [read more...]

You are a company whose products and brands are premium. When low-cost competitors appear (or you first truly become aware of them), how should you respond? Should you ignore them and continue focusing on the premium segments, or should you revise your strategy and tactics to directly confront the... [read more...]

How do emerging markets differ from more familiar turf? Managers will usually answer this question by pointing to rapid economic growth, budding competitors, and problems such as corruption, financial crises, and weak intellectual property rights. In this Q&A plus book excerpt, HBS professors and... [read more...]

Looking forward to retiring at 65? Forget it. Michael Schrage’s message may not be new or surprising in 2010, but it is stated more abruptly than most. That may be necessary to grab the attention of those in denial about their Golden Years. Most likely, you won’t be able to retire at 65 even if you... [read more...]

You can be too productive, and you can have too much fun. That truth came more clearly into view for Peter Bregman when he bought an iPad. Although he had never done so before, he stood in line for two hours in order to snap up an iPad, and then he set about using it right away. He used it to write... [read more...]

Over the course of more than 30 books, Kets de Vries has examined the psychological influences on human and organizational behavior. In this interview, he covers a range of issues, primarily concerning the dangers of unrestrained narcissistic leaders. But he also conveys insights on how some companies... [read more...]

Information technology is not a commodity; it is not merely infrastructure. So says Michael Schrage in this interview. He says that people who see IT as a commodity are looking only at the price, which does indeed go down regularly for the same computational capabilities. Treating IT as an infrastructure... [read more...]