MarketingMuses

Visuals Unlimited Inc/Science VU/Getty Images After a month with no new cases, the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) appears to be under control and weeks away from officially ending. Less than three months since it was declared, and after only about 50 cases, this outbreak’s efficient containment is a remarkable achievement that […]

HBR Staff/Douglas Sacha/Getty Images Sex-based harassment is pervasive in the workplace, and it’s disproportionately experienced by women. It can include sexual harassment but is more broadly defined, including any behavior that derogates, demeans, or otherwise humiliates someone on the basis of their sex. One study of women in the military and law found that nine out […]

HBR STAFF/wragg/Getty Images What’s the best way to boost creativity on your team? There’s really no simple answer. Even the research is split on the best approach to take. One view is that the key to creative breakthroughs is being able to combine or leverage different areas of expertise. After all, every innovation somehow recombines […]

HBR STAFF/wragg/Getty Images What’s the best way to boost creativity on your team? There’s really no simple answer. Even the research is split on the best approach to take. One view is that the key to creative breakthroughs is being able to combine or leverage different areas of expertise. After all, every innovation somehow recombines […]

HBR STAFF/wragg/Getty Images What’s the best way to boost creativity on your team? There’s really no simple answer. Even the research is split on the best approach to take. One view is that the key to creative breakthroughs is being able to combine or leverage different areas of expertise. After all, every innovation somehow recombines […]

Are you struggling with the complications of working in a family business? In this episode of HBR’s advice podcast, Dear HBR:, cohosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn answer your questions with the help of Ted Clark, who runs the Center for Family Business at Northeastern University. They talk through advancing when you’re not a member […]

Buda Mendes/Getty Images Technology is disrupting every industry and area of life, and work is no exception. One of the main career implications of the digital revolution is a shift in demand for human expertise. For instance, LinkedIn’s talent research shows that half of today’s most in-demand skills weren’t even on the list three years […]

HBR Staff/Image Source/Getty Images Cost-plus pricing is a lot like the romance novel genre, in that it’s widely ridiculed yet tremendously popular. Almost every manager I know will claim they hate pricing based only on costs. Yet cost-plus pricing remains the most widespread pricing method, used to price everything from a bottle of beer in […]

HBR Staff/Phatharapol Nopharat/EyeEm/Getty Images As a startup founder, I’m constantly struggling to recruit top talent without breaking the bank. We can’t always match market salaries, but we need exceptional (read: expensive) talent in order to build from scratch. How do you recruit a developer making well into six figures, or an experienced salesperson with four […]

Panayiotis Tzamaros/NurPhoto via Getty Images There’s a fundamental contradiction when organizations ask employees to maintain a fast pace of work and be creative. What often happens in hectic workplaces is that employees resort to autopilot or habitual ways of working. When they don’t have the time or space to incubate novel and clever ideas, they may […]

Panayiotis Tzamaros/NurPhoto via Getty Images There’s a fundamental contradiction when organizations ask employees to maintain a fast pace of work and be creative. What often happens in hectic workplaces is that employees resort to autopilot or habitual ways of working. When they don’t have the time or space to incubate novel and clever ideas, they may […]

Panayiotis Tzamaros/NurPhoto via Getty Images There’s a fundamental contradiction when organizations ask employees to maintain a fast pace of work and be creative. What often happens in hectic workplaces is that employees resort to autopilot or habitual ways of working. When they don’t have the time or space to incubate novel and clever ideas, they may […]

pm images/Getty Images Late last month, California passed a sweeping consumer privacy law that might force significant changes on companies that deal in personal data — and especially those operating in the digital space. The law’s passage comes on the heels of a few days of intense negotiation among privacy advocates, technology startups, network providers, Silicon […]

Tara Moore/Getty Images In a famous scene in the 1967 movie The Graduate, a family friend takes aside Dustin Hoffman’s character, Benjamin Braddock, and whispers in a conspiratorial tone, “Plastics… There’s a great future in plastics.” It’s seems quaint today, but back then plastics really were new and exciting. If the movie had been set […]

Patricia de Melo Moreira/bloomberg/Getty Images It’s widely believed that the most successful entrepreneurs are young. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg were in their early twenties when they launched what would become world-changing companies. Do these famous cases reflect a generalizable pattern? VC and media accounts seem to suggest so. When we analyzed founders who have […]

Patricia de Melo Moreira/bloomberg/Getty Images It’s widely believed that the most successful entrepreneurs are young. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg were in their early twenties when they launched what would become world-changing companies. Do these famous cases reflect a generalizable pattern? VC and media accounts seem to suggest so. When we analyzed founders who have […]

Howard Yu, Lego Professor of Management and Innovation at IMD Business School in Switzerland, discusses how the industrial cluster in the Swiss city of Basel is a unique example of enduring competitive advantage. He explains how early dye makers were able to continually jump to new capabilities and thrive for generations. He says the story […]

HBR Staff/Richard Newstead/Getty Images “Tell me about your career goals.” How often have you said this to a person you’re managing or mentoring, only to get a blank stare in return? Perhaps the person confides that they don’t know what their goals should be, or even whether there are opportunities to advance at your company. How do you begin to provide support? Career […]

Tim Robberts/Getty Images There is a crying need for companies to enlist their supply chain management departments in the fight against cyberattackers. According to our research, over 60% of reported attacks on publicly traded U.S. firms in 2017 were launched through the IT systems of suppliers or other third parties such as contractors, up from less than one-quarter […]

Alexander Spatari/Getty Images Sometimes the wrong people get promoted. They might be deceitful and unscrupulously manipulative (what psychologists call “Machiavellian”); or impulsive and thrill-seeking without any sense of guilt (psychopathic); or egotistically preoccupied with themselves, having a sense of grandiosity, entitlement, and superiority (narcissistic). Employees with one or more of these three personality traits, known as the “dark […]

hbr staff/matthew henry/unsplash The #MeToo and #TimesUp movements continue to create a tidal wave of media activity and increased awareness of sexual harassment and misconduct. But have they created positive changes in workplaces? Are people seeing healthy and lasting improvements in their organizations as a result of these movements? To answer these questions, we asked […]

hbr staff/matthew henry/unsplash The #MeToo and #TimesUp movements continue to create a tidal wave of media activity and increased awareness of sexual harassment and misconduct. But have they created positive changes in workplaces? Are people seeing healthy and lasting improvements in their organizations as a result of these movements? To answer these questions, we asked […]

HBR Staff/Image Source/Getty Images The stigma of asking for or being assigned an executive coach is vanishing quickly. The growth of the industry tells us so. In the U.S. alone, $1 billion was spent on business, personal and relationship coaches last year, according to IbisWorld, up about 20% from five years earlier. And the number […]

Dell Technologies surveyed 3,800 business leaders from around the world to uncover their forecasts for the next decade. The research revealed a divided vision of the future but common ground on the need to transform and how. Live from Dell Technologies World conference in May 2018, Matthew Saleski, global enterprise account executive at LinkedIn, sits […]

hbr staff/Yury Vinokurov/EyeEm/Getty Images Finding digital talent is one of the biggest challenges facing companies today. But it’s particularly difficult for large, traditional firms, especially those which operate in consolidated, non-growth industries (think pulp and paper, steel, airlines) and which are often located away from the metropolitan areas where data scientists live. Because these firms […]

baranozdemir/Getty Images There is a healthcare crisis in the U.S. which cries out for breakthrough healthcare delivery innovations that aim at significant cost reductions and wider coverage. In 2016, the U.S. spent a staggering $3.2 trillion, or almost 18% of its GDP, on health care — that’s $10,000 per person, twice as much as any […]

baranozdemir/Getty Images There is a healthcare crisis in the U.S. which cries out for breakthrough healthcare delivery innovations that aim at significant cost reductions and wider coverage. In 2016, the U.S. spent a staggering $3.2 trillion, or almost 18% of its GDP, on health care — that’s $10,000 per person, twice as much as any […]

baranozdemir/Getty Images There is a healthcare crisis in the U.S. which cries out for breakthrough healthcare delivery innovations that aim at significant cost reductions and wider coverage. In 2016, the U.S. spent a staggering $3.2 trillion, or almost 18% of its GDP, on health care — that’s $10,000 per person, twice as much as any […]

Karyna Aslanova/EyeEm/Getty Images Being laid off is one of the most difficult experiences that you can face in your career. As an executive coach, I’ve seen firsthand the shock, grief, and anxiety that generally accompanies this type of job loss. Layoffs can trigger a sense of powerlessness and self-doubt in the form of a scary lack of […]

Maskot/Getty Images Many efforts to apply machine learning get stuck due to concerns about the “black box” — that is, the lack of transparency around why a system does what it does. Sometimes this is because people want to understand why some prediction was made before they take life-altering actions, as when a computer vision […]

Maskot/Getty Images Many efforts to apply machine learning get stuck due to concerns about the “black box” — that is, the lack of transparency around why a system does what it does. Sometimes this is because people want to understand why some prediction was made before they take life-altering actions, as when a computer vision […]

afp/stringer/Getty Images Who killed GE? Of course, GE is not dead, and it may well revive and flourish as a company. After all, IBM came back from the dead in the 1990s. But the GE model is dead — and there’s a long list of possible suspects. The GE conglomerate combined a wide range of industrial […]

hbr staff/shannon miller/Getty Images There is a small, disheveled baby robin making her very first steps in my garden today. She looks a bit dazed and exhausted, her lovely yellow down all awry. I know exactly what she feels like. She looks like a lot of people I know right now. At almost every age, […]

mattjeacock/Getty Images We all have life events that distract us from work from time to time — an ailing family member, a divorce, the death of a friend. You can’t expect someone to be at their best at such times. But as a manager what can you expect? How can you support the person to […]

mattjeacock/Getty Images We all have life events that distract us from work from time to time — an ailing family member, a divorce, the death of a friend. You can’t expect someone to be at their best at such times. But as a manager what can you expect? How can you support the person to […]

yagi studio/Getty Images Chun Hin is a senior manager at a Hong Kong investment bank. Every morning, he listens to Bloomberg radio on his way to work and used to read each issue of the Economist from cover to cover in an effort to continuously improve his English. As a Hong Kong native who grew […]

hbr staff/Benne Ochs/Getty Images Online reviews can play a big role in influencing people’s purchase decisions, but what makes a review most persuasive one way or the other? Certainly bad reviews can dissuade customers, but it turns out that some good reviews can too. Our research on persuasion and marketing is the first to find […]

dave king/Getty Images No one wants to hire the wrong person. The recruitment, interviewing, hiring, and on-boarding of even one new employee is a time-intensive process every manager takes seriously. It’s also one of the hardest skills for a new manager to learn, in part because — unless you’re working at a very fast-growing company — you […]

dave king/Getty Images No one wants to hire the wrong person. The recruitment, interviewing, hiring, and on-boarding of even one new employee is a time-intensive process every manager takes seriously. It’s also one of the hardest skills for a new manager to learn, in part because — unless you’re working at a very fast-growing company — you […]

Bich Tran/pexels Do you get to the end of the day and feel that you’ve met your most pressing deadlines but haven’t accomplished anything that’s fundamentally important? You’re hardly alone. In a series of studies recently published in the Journal of Consumer Research, people typically chose to complete tasks that had very short deadlines attached to them, even in […]

HBR Staff/Caspar Benson/Getty Images With the EU’s passage of the Circular Economy Package in April, many European companies are now facing mandates to reuse the products they create for as long as possible. The EU is not alone in seeking ways to convince firms to recycle. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce supports companies in developing […]

Daniel Libeskind, a former academic turned architect and urban designer, discusses his unorthodox career path and repeat success at high-profile, emotionally charged projects. He also talks about his unusual creative process and shares tips for collaborating and managing emotions and expectations of multiple stakeholders. Libeskind was interviewed for the July-August 2018 issue of Harvard Business […]

Lee Powers/Getty Images People use imprecise words to describe the chance of events all the time — “It’s likely to rain,” or “There’s a real possibility they’ll launch before us,” or “It’s doubtful the nurses will strike.” Not only are such probabilistic terms subjective, but they also can have widely different interpretations. One person’s “pretty likely” […]

Lee Powers/Getty Images People use imprecise words to describe the chance of events all the time — “It’s likely to rain,” or “There’s a real possibility they’ll launch before us,” or “It’s doubtful the nurses will strike.” Not only are such probabilistic terms subjective, but they also can have widely different interpretations. One person’s “pretty likely” […]

Lee Powers/Getty Images People use imprecise words to describe the chance of events all the time — “It’s likely to rain,” or “There’s a real possibility they’ll launch before us,” or “It’s doubtful the nurses will strike.” Not only are such probabilistic terms subjective, but they also can have widely different interpretations. One person’s “pretty likely” […]

Lee Powers/Getty Images People use imprecise words to describe the chance of events all the time — “It’s likely to rain,” or “There’s a real possibility they’ll launch before us,” or “It’s doubtful the nurses will strike.” Not only are such probabilistic terms subjective, but they also can have widely different interpretations. One person’s “pretty likely” […]

malerapaso/Getty Images We love to read about the dynamics of success. We study it, celebrate it, and try to emulate how successful leaders rise to the top. I’m no different: I’ve spent my career helping executives succeed, either through coaching and development or assessments of their strengths and opportunity areas to identify the development work […]

Patrick Smith/Getty Images Agile — the management approach that relies on small, entrepreneurial, close-to-the-customer teams — has a reputation that reflects its rapid adoption in software development. It’s for techies. It’s for hip Silicon Valley startups. It is most definitely not for big, old-line companies that are facing an existential crisis and require a full-scale turnaround. In […]

ISAAC LAWRENCE/stringer/Getty Images In 2006, 26-year-old Frank Wang started up DJI in a dorm room at Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. The legend goes that Frank’s father had given him an expensive remote-controlled model helicopter for doing well in school. When the helicopter predictably crashed shortly after, Wang became determined to build a […]

ISAAC LAWRENCE/stringer/Getty Images In 2006, 26-year-old Frank Wang started up DJI in a dorm room at Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. The legend goes that Frank’s father had given him an expensive remote-controlled model helicopter for doing well in school. When the helicopter predictably crashed shortly after, Wang became determined to build a […]

ISAAC LAWRENCE/stringer/Getty Images In 2006, 26-year-old Frank Wang started up DJI in a dorm room at Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. The legend goes that Frank’s father had given him an expensive remote-controlled model helicopter for doing well in school. When the helicopter predictably crashed shortly after, Wang became determined to build a […]

ISAAC LAWRENCE/stringer/Getty Images In 2006, 26-year-old Frank Wang started up DJI in a dorm room at Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. The legend goes that Frank’s father had given him an expensive remote-controlled model helicopter for doing well in school. When the helicopter predictably crashed shortly after, Wang became determined to build a […]

ISAAC LAWRENCE/stringer/Getty Images In 2006, 26-year-old Frank Wang started up DJI in a dorm room at Hong Kong University of Science & Technology. The legend goes that Frank’s father had given him an expensive remote-controlled model helicopter for doing well in school. When the helicopter predictably crashed shortly after, Wang became determined to build a […]

Nicolo Campo/Getty Images Many companies have soared on the wings of radical ideas, from Polaroid’s instant camera to the sharing economy of firms like Airbnb. Chef Massimo Bottura likewise upended convention in 1995 when he opened his restaurant, Osteria Francescana, in Modena, Italy, and started serving radically reinvented Italian dishes in a culture that placed […]

Nicolo Campo/Getty Images Many companies have soared on the wings of radical ideas, from Polaroid’s instant camera to the sharing economy of firms like Airbnb. Chef Massimo Bottura likewise upended convention in 1995 when he opened his restaurant, Osteria Francescana, in Modena, Italy, and started serving radically reinvented Italian dishes in a culture that placed […]

Nicolo Campo/Getty Images Many companies have soared on the wings of radical ideas, from Polaroid’s instant camera to the sharing economy of firms like Airbnb. Chef Massimo Bottura likewise upended convention in 1995 when he opened his restaurant, Osteria Francescana, in Modena, Italy, and started serving radically reinvented Italian dishes in a culture that placed […]

Do performance reviews fill you with anxiety? In this episode of HBR’s advice podcast, Dear HBR:, cohosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn answer your questions with the help of Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and host of the podcast WorkLife. They talk through how to handle […]

hbr staff/stan honda/Getty Images The General Electric story, of a long-proud initial member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling out of that index — and appearing to be in competitive free fall — provides a powerful illustration of two effects we see throughout today’s corporate world: clueless, but deep-pocketed, activist investors and mergers and acquisitions folks masquerading […]

Maskot/Getty Images If you knew about a technology that would help you improve organizational alignment, cut meeting times, and increase engagement in discussions, surely you’d use it all the time, right? You may be surprised to learn this powerful tool is already at your disposal. It’s videoconferencing, a technology that has been around for years […]

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TommyL/Getty Images Developing good relationships is a crucial aspect of leadership. Research shows that when people have a good relationship with their leaders, they’re more motivated, they perform better, and they’re more likely to go the extra mile to support their team. These positive effects have appeared across a wide range of jobs and cultures. […]

TommyL/Getty Images Developing good relationships is a crucial aspect of leadership. Research shows that when people have a good relationship with their leaders, they’re more motivated, they perform better, and they’re more likely to go the extra mile to support their team. These positive effects have appeared across a wide range of jobs and cultures. […]

TommyL/Getty Images Developing good relationships is a crucial aspect of leadership. Research shows that when people have a good relationship with their leaders, they’re more motivated, they perform better, and they’re more likely to go the extra mile to support their team. These positive effects have appeared across a wide range of jobs and cultures. […]

TommyL/Getty Images Developing good relationships is a crucial aspect of leadership. Research shows that when people have a good relationship with their leaders, they’re more motivated, they perform better, and they’re more likely to go the extra mile to support their team. These positive effects have appeared across a wide range of jobs and cultures. […]

MATJAZ SLANIC/Getty Images William Wrigley Jr., the American chewing gum tycoon, once noted that business is built by men who disagree, and that “When two men always agree, one of them is unnecessary.” Indeed, not just in business but also in politics, sports, and the arts, there is no shortage of real-world examples of successful […]

MATJAZ SLANIC/Getty Images William Wrigley Jr., the American chewing gum tycoon, once noted that business is built by men who disagree, and that “When two men always agree, one of them is unnecessary.” Indeed, not just in business but also in politics, sports, and the arts, there is no shortage of real-world examples of successful […]

Jorg Greuel/Getty Images Blockchain technology has the potential to do amazing things. It can provide an immutable, digital audit trail of transactions, and can be used to cheaply verify the integrity of data. It can help businesses and individuals agree, on a global scale, about the true state of affairs within a market without relying […]

Tim Robberts/Getty Images When an employee at your company asks for a raise, is that person treated fairly? Most organizations would like to say yes. But new data from PayScale, a compensation software and data company (disclosure: I work there), reveals that too often this is not the case. We surveyed more than 160,000 workers […]

Tim Robberts/Getty Images When an employee at your company asks for a raise, is that person treated fairly? Most organizations would like to say yes. But new data from PayScale, a compensation software and data company (disclosure: I work there), reveals that too often this is not the case. We surveyed more than 160,000 workers […]

Dirk Anschutz/Getty Images Raymond closed down. Sandra snapped. They both had solid records and promising career prospects, and yet they felt that something was not working. Their bosses, colleagues, friends could tell too, but they were equally puzzled. How could someone so talented get so lost, or lose it, in seemingly trivial discussions, for no […]

Bhaskar Chakravorti, the dean of global business at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, analyzes the economic impact of India’s unprecedented demonetization move in 2016. With no advance warning, India pulled the two largest banknotes from circulation, notes that accounted for 86% of cash transactions in a country where most payments happen in cash. Chakravorti […]

Holger Weitzel/Getty Images Consumers almost always tell researchers that they prefer to have many versions of a product from which to choose. But, in fact, consumers’ perceptions of how many choices they prefer change depending on whether they intend to use an item for pleasure or to meet a functional need. (Think of a swimsuit […]

Pascal Deloche/GODONG/Getty Images Compared with the nerve-wracking prospect of giving a lecture, presenting on a panel may seem to be a safer option. After all, you’re responding to targeted questions rather than monologuing, and you’re not the sole focus of audience attention. But there are often hidden challenges when it comes to navigating panel discussions. Here are […]

Pascal Deloche/GODONG/Getty Images Compared with the nerve-wracking prospect of giving a lecture, presenting on a panel may seem to be a safer option. After all, you’re responding to targeted questions rather than monologuing, and you’re not the sole focus of audience attention. But there are often hidden challenges when it comes to navigating panel discussions. Here are […]

Pascal Deloche/GODONG/Getty Images Compared with the nerve-wracking prospect of giving a lecture, presenting on a panel may seem to be a safer option. After all, you’re responding to targeted questions rather than monologuing, and you’re not the sole focus of audience attention. But there are often hidden challenges when it comes to navigating panel discussions. Here are […]

xefstock2/Getty Images The Post-It note. Facebook’s “like” button. The Sony PlayStation. These products are all held up as legendary examples of the power of intrapreneurship — entrepreneurial creativity and innovation within large, established organizations. Since the term was coined in the 1980s, intrapreneurship has been sold to companies as a catch-all solution for fostering innovation. It’s […]

Peter Lourenco/Getty Images Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt. Sitting on a bench in the dog park, Elena Pelc glanced at her phone. She’d hoped to escape from work for the morning, but as the founder and CEO of 2 Proud Pups, a maker of all-natural dog care products, she didn’t have much free time. She decided to […]

hbr staff/James Worrell/Getty Images Nashville-based entrepreneur Sherry Deutschmann built her company, LetterLogic, into an enterprise with $40 million in revenue before selling it to a private equity firm in 2016. As the firm’s founder, Deutschmann went seven years without giving herself a raise, and paid herself the relatively low amount of $225,000, even after the […]

hbr staff/James Worrell/Getty Images Nashville-based entrepreneur Sherry Deutschmann built her company, LetterLogic, into an enterprise with $40 million in revenue before selling it to a private equity firm in 2016. As the firm’s founder, Deutschmann went seven years without giving herself a raise, and paid herself the relatively low amount of $225,000, even after the […]

hbr staff/James Worrell/Getty Images Nashville-based entrepreneur Sherry Deutschmann built her company, LetterLogic, into an enterprise with $40 million in revenue before selling it to a private equity firm in 2016. As the firm’s founder, Deutschmann went seven years without giving herself a raise, and paid herself the relatively low amount of $225,000, even after the […]

str/stringer/Getty Images When you’re promoted to a new job, there are a lot of relationships that need recalibrating. You have a new boss, new direct reports, and, importantly, a new set of peers — people who had been above you on the org chart but are now on the same level. How can you show […]

David Aubrey/Getty Images How often are management concepts subjected to recalls by the people who invented them? It is hard to think of a single case. If an industrial product like a car fails the manufacturer pulls it back, tests it and, if necessary, re-equips it. In case manufacturers grow careless, governments run periodic road […]

hbr staff/jake hinds/unsplash Not long ago, I asked 100 CEOs attending a conference how many of them were currently involved in a significant business transformation. Nearly all of them raised their hands, which was no surprise. According to a study by BCG, 85% of companies have undertaken a transformation during the past decade. The same […]

yangleephoto/Imazins/Getty Images It’s a concrete fact that women earn less than men do. The true gender pay-gap is not known with certainty, but, when comparing equally qualified people doing the same job, most estimates by labor economists put it at 10% – 20%.  The crucial question remains its cause. One common explanation is that women are […]

yangleephoto/Imazins/Getty Images It’s a concrete fact that women earn less than men do. The true gender pay-gap is not known with certainty, but, when comparing equally qualified people doing the same job, most estimates by labor economists put it at 10% – 20%.  The crucial question remains its cause. One common explanation is that women are […]

yangleephoto/Imazins/Getty Images It’s a concrete fact that women earn less than men do. The true gender pay-gap is not known with certainty, but, when comparing equally qualified people doing the same job, most estimates by labor economists put it at 10% – 20%.  The crucial question remains its cause. One common explanation is that women are […]

yangleephoto/Imazins/Getty Images It’s a concrete fact that women earn less than men do. The true gender pay-gap is not known with certainty, but, when comparing equally qualified people doing the same job, most estimates by labor economists put it at 10% – 20%.  The crucial question remains its cause. One common explanation is that women are […]

Nisian Hughes/Getty Images When we teach strategy to MBA students, our student want magic bullets, things they can do to make their companies thrive forever. For a long time we emphasized “network effects” as a potential secret sauce for business models. Economists use “network effects” to describe contexts where a good or service offers increasing […]

Tim Robberts/Getty Images There was a time when the American steel industry seemed invincible. The American automotive industry looked rock-solid. American consumer electronics industry seemed untouchable. In every one of these cases, global competition changed the game forever. Will the same happen to health care in the United States? By almost any measure, American health care […]

CAPTION TEXT HERE/Getty Images Across the technology industry, subscription sales models are growing in popularity. The trend is having a big impact on sales forces. For example, an enterprise software company recently transitioned from selling custom software as a one-time product to selling monthly SaaS  (software as a service) subscriptions. The company’s salespeople were used to […]

vgajic/Getty Images There are many problems with the way most meetings are run. One of the most political is the invite list. Deciding who to include can be tough but too many managers default to including everyone. In an effort to not make anyone feel left out, they unknowingly decrease the quality of the meeting. […]